Eric Stevenson I admit that I don't hate this as much as most people, but I still think this movie is bad. The main fault is how utterly clichéd it is. It features a guy who goes on an epic quest to kill the king to avenge his father. Wow, never heard of a guy killing someone to avenge his father before. The special effects are really bad. In the latter part of the movie, we even get a giant scorpion that's horribly rendered that's mostly invisible or in the shadows all the time. I couldn't help but think that this was to hide how awful the effects are. Most of this movie is predictable.I can't remember anyone's name because it was so clichéd. As someone who personally thought "The Mummy" to just be okay and "The Scorpion King" to be mediocre at best, I didn't have high expectations for this. This was apparently the first prequel to a prequel that was also a spin off that was also a prequel. Um, I guess it has some importance that way. TSK at least had a charismatic actor like The Rock starring and this practically has nothing to do with that or any of the mummy movies. You could just make it about any other character and no one would notice the difference. *1/2

breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com Matahyus can't seem to cut a break when it comes to straightforward storytelling. Originally being introduced in The Mummy Returns (2001) played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the character would earn himself enough popularity to warrant a spin-off with Johnson reprising the role in The Scorpion King (2002). Although the prequel explaining the origins of the character had a screenplay that wasn't exactly clear and suffered from goofy acting, it was still a competently made film with steady camera-work and entertaining action sequences. With the success of that, came this entry which sounds interesting but doesn't really have much to offer other than the ability to waste time if needed. Unfortunately, there just isn't much substance to this and it's surprising since this film has 17 more minutes than the original. Although labeled with a "2" in its poster art, this sequel is in fact another prequel. Why does Mathayus have to have such a backward story line?In basic plot the title speaks for itself, it explains (if that's what you call it) how Mathayus (Michael Copon) earned his way up in the ranks from childhood to young adult to overthrow and evil king named Sargon (Randy Couture). If that were the case alone it would be somewhat doable but instead the film suffers from misguided direction headed by Russell Mulcahy (The Shadow (1994) & Highlander (1986)). The story starts out with Mathayus as a kid when his father Ashur (Peter Butler) was alive. However that is quickly thrown to the wayside due to Randall McCormick's screenplay, which focuses much longer than needed on Mathayus in his young adult years on a journey for a powerful artifact. A lot of it is a borefest. Much of the journey is just Mathayus and a few followers going from point A to point B running into obstacle after obstacle. These setups quickly lose their appeal after being done time after time after time.The protagonists in their journey are all right in some respects because of their distinguished personalities. Although Michael Copon as Mathayus is perhaps too young looking for the role, he at least has the physique to look like he's on his way and he can passably act for what it's worth. Along side Mathayus is Layla (Karen David), a childhood friend/potential lover. She's fun to watch in her action sequences but her role is not defined clearly enough. Why include a possible love interest when clearly she would not return in Mathayus' future? Then there's Ari (Simon Quarterman), a Greek poet who runs into Layla and Mathayus and persuade them to find the ancient artifact. Don't expect much for special antagonists though. Randy Couture as Sargon could've possibly pulled off being an okay villain if he had more to do than scowl/stand and speak with an enhanced voice-over. It's obvious that Couture is not acting material but he at least could've done something. Sure he flips over some people but that's about it. Next to him is Natalie Becker as a goddess named Astarte. Although she actually does a couple things like battling and explaining how Sargon got his powers, she's not all that interesting to get to know. What was her motivation to even give Sargon her powers?That's the problem; even with all these issues, if the script was at least written so the audience could relate to Mathayus and his father in some fashion and developed them, perhaps the drama between them would've been more understandable. As mentioned before, the action sequences do have a certain amount of energy thrown into them. Like a lot of other ancient movie settings, sword fights and mystical devices are essential at the minimum and that's at least taken care of. It's not anything special or out of the ordinary in performance but it at least tries. The special effects on other hand looked like they were wasted. There was only one setting which actually looked decent and that was when the protagonists headed into the underworld where the dead becomes apart of the habitat. That at least looked real and like actual creativity went into it. However, that doesn't make up for everything else where every creature was either concealed entirely by darkness or up close camera shots so that the whole image could not be seen. Lame.The cinematography handled by Glynn Speeckaert was adequate however. The entire film does not have wide shots of landscape but for the moments that do, it looks believable. If the setting to this movie takes place in ancient times near Egypt, there has to be a couple of desert shots. It's where this whole spin-off franchise started. The music was a shock on the other hand. Composed by Klaus Badelt (best known for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) score), the score was not only forgettable but was also difficult to find physically. The sound is organic but unfortunately lacks any flare the original score by John Debney had with its mix of hard rock and orchestra. It is because of that the music sounds very anonymous with no recognizable signature. Plus since this is a franchise, one would expect some type of main theme by now but nope.It has okay action sequences, distinguishable protagonists, steady camera-work but with only these components that work, it makes this prequel to a prequel spin-off series not all that interesting. Its music is generic, the special effects look last minute, the direction is misguided and its villains are not anything to talk about.

Danielle I'm a little surprised at the many one-star reviews for this film. My son (age 11) and I watched it one day when he was home sick, and we found it perfectly good entertainment. The acting was fine, the effects were decent, and there was a coherent story. That's a LOT more than I can say for other straight-to-video movies that we've watched, including 2012: Supernova and others of that ilk. Of course we noticed right away that The Rock was not involved, so perhaps we adjusted our expectations accordingly, and therefore were not as disappointed as other users on this site. Of course it's derivative of other mythologies, but that's not really a bad thing, when you're looking for an escapist 2 hours. As a side note, I enjoyed the main female character, who is pretty, but also strong and feisty - so often I almost grind my teeth down to nubs at the offensive way that women are portrayed in action movies - stupid, helpless, and clearly only there so the camera can linger on their cleavage and other, er, assets.

cinefreakdude The Scorpion King is hands down one of the worst movies on earth. The acting is HORRIBLE; terrible, confusing plot; TERRIBLE special effects; annoying; a rotten film film score, I could keep going on! This is just a BAD movie in EVERY sense! NOT RECOMMENDED!!!! I liked the first Scorpion King OK, and I wasn't expecting much from this, but it was worse than I could possibly imagine! Throughout the movie, I keep thinking, "was the budget for this 5$ ?" There's one part where there fighting a minotaur, and the minotaur looks like its made out of black duct tape and melted tootsie rolls! Like I said, the special effects are truly laughable, just like every think else, in the scorpion king 2. If I could I would give this movie zero stars, as it does not even deserve one!