The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior

This article is about the film. For the factual pre-dynastic Egyptian pharaoh "Scorpion II", see King Scorpion.

The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior
DVD release cover
Directed by	Russell Mulcahy
Produced by	Stephen Sommers Patti Jackson Lisa Gooding
Screenplay by	Randall McCormick
Based on	Characters by Stephen Sommers
Starring	Michael Copon Randy Couture Karen David Pierre Marais
Music by	Klaus Badelt
Cinematography	Glynn Speeckaert
Editing by	John Gilbert
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	August 19, 2008 (2008-08-19)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United States South Africa Germany
Language	English

The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (previously known as The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian) is a 2008 direct-to-DVD prequel to the 2002 film The Scorpion King, which was a spin-off to The Mummy Returns, itself a sequel to the 1999 reimagining of The Mummy. Filming for the movie began on October 1, 2007, in Cape Town, South Africa. The film had a scheduled release date of August 19, 2008, in the United States, and was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD.

When young Mathayus witnesses his father's death at the hands of an evil military commander, his quest for vengeance transforms him into the most feared warrior of the ancient world.

Plot

The story begins with a man explaining to his son that the world is not fun and games and to stay away from the arena. The son ignores this and engages in a giant fight with Sargon, instructing the children to do battle, in order to receive the training of a Black Scorpion. The battle ensues and Mathayus' female friend, Layla is found out in the midst by Sargon. Being forbidden to join the games, she is forced away by Sargon, before Mathayus hits him with a staff and gets caught by the guards, trying to escape. His father Ashur protects him and a duel between him and Sargon ensues, in which the Hammurabi states Ashur's son is to be given the training, Sargon's eyes turn black and he states that he will pay.

In the night, a large dark mist travels through the city, before entering the house of Mathayus and a swarm of scorpions rip apart Ashur's flesh and kills him. Mathayus vows to become the best of the Black Scorpion soldiers to get revenge. Years later, when he has completed his training, he learns that Sargon has become the new king of Akkad. Upon re-uniting with his childhood friend Layla, his mother, and his brother, Noah, who is against the king, Mathayus is tasked by Sargon to kill Noah. Instead he breaks the chain around Noah's neck and tells him to run. He then takes this opportunity to attack his guard and eventually Sargon himself, using one of the guard's spears. When he throws the spear, it stops in mid-air in front of Sargon, before reversing direction toward Mathayus, who narrowly avoids being hit. He and Noah escape through the city on horseback, chased by a magical arrow fired by Sargon.

When Noah is killed by the arrow, Mathayus attempts to board a ship to Egypt, before noticing someone is following him, it turns out to be Layla and as he boards the ship, a Greek known as Ari informs them that the Spear of Osiris is only meant to kill Egyptian creatures, such as scarabs and mummies, and thus would be ineffective against him. (Ironically, it is the weapon that would be used to kill Mathayus himself after he became the Scorpion King in the movie Mummy Returns). Layla tells him that Sargon has been granted dark powers by the gods.

Ari tells them of the Sword of Damocles in the underworld, which can be used to kill him. Once in Egypt, they go to Greece to attempt to enter the palace, in order to get to the labyrinth and into the Underworld. On the way, they fall into a cell and are surrounded by sacrifices for the Minotaur. After defeating the Minotaur, he attempts to enlist the aid of a group of mercenaries, who were slaves, and a lost man, named Fung, who was looking to get home to China. Once they enter the Underworld, they siphon through a desert, until a forest surrounds them.

They are approached by the goddess Astarte, who forces them to beg for their lives; however, Layla and Mathayus decline and Layla and Astarte fight, whilst Fung and Ari attempt to find the sword. Ari locates and obtains the sword, whilst Mathayus tries to persuade her to allow them to leave, she declines and sends Layla to hell, but not before Mathayus frees her and they all escape back to the human realm.

Astarte orders Sargon to get her sword back for her, and he requests for more powers, she accepts in exchange for the "Ultimate Sacrifice" and places a drop of blood on his head, in which markings form. They finally reach Akkad and Sargon has organized an event at the arena, which turns out to be a machine that dumps oil into the water supply, the oil and water begins to flow through statues into the city, the city is then set on fire.

Mathayus forces himself through to Sargon and meets his father, who turns out to be Sargon in disguise. Sargon disarms Mathayus and begins to fight him to the death. Ari (who was hiding under a table writing out what he was watching) picks up the sword. Mathayus makes a smart comment and Sargon turns to Ari and says "make sure you write that down, scribe" revealing Ari's presence. Sargon then asks Ari for the sword and it turns out that Sargon had been bribing Ari with riches, Ari tosses the sword to Sargon and exits. More chaos and fighting ensues in the city and we learn that the sword that Ari gave Sargon was a fake and easily shatters. Ari bursts in and gives Mathayus the real sword and tells Sargon to never trust a Greek, a recurring joke in the movie. Ari then leaves the room with a bow, but not before telling Sargon "I am a poet, not a scribe, you jackass." As Sargon states Mathayus owes his loyalty as a black scorpion, Mathayus burns off his scorpion tattoo with the sword and Sargon's skin begins to flake as he retreats into the shadows.

Sargon turns into a giant (and oftentimes nearly or completely invisible) scorpion, which Mathayus impales with the sword. Fung and Layla put out the fires in the city and are praised. Astarte tells Mathayus that she will show him no mercy and Mathayus tells her that she will have him one day, and he awakens in a bed after being nursed by Layla. Layla then tells Mathayus that he should be king, but Mathayus decides to live a life of adventure, traveling through the desert on his camel, knowing one day he shall be destined to be known as the Scorpion King.

Cast

In August 2007, it was reported that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would not reprise his role, but instead, Michael Copon was cast as the young Mathayus, Karen David as the lead heroine, Layla, and Randy Couture as the main villain, Sargon.

• Michael Copon as Mathayus
• Karen David as Layla
• Simon Quarterman as Ari
• Tom Wu as Fong
• Andreas Wisniewski as Pollux
• Randy Couture as Sargon
• Natalie Becker as Astarte
• Jeremy Crutchley as Baldo
• Shane Manie as Jesup

Critical reaction

The movie had a widely negative reception. Beyond Hollywood said "the film is a complete loss, you have to wonder what the filmmakers could have done with a better script, a better cast, and a director who isn’t so hit-and-miss as to be infuriating." Aaron Peck of Blog Critics said, "I really wanted to like this movie. The first Scorpion King is a laugh-fest yes, but it’s fun to watch. This movie is painful."

Keith Uhlich of UGO said the film is "cheap, ugly, deadening, lacking even the common decency to be unintentionally funny, [the] sheer ineptitude increas[ing] with each passing scene." Film Jabber said The Scorpion King 2 "lacks action, excitement and, more importantly, quality," adding: "While the production values are decent enough for a film like this, you can tell from minute one that this movie was made simply to coincide with the theatrical release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor." Mark Pollard of Kung Fu Cinema said that "the lead actors [keep] the movie marginally entertaining long after the predictable plot, generic effects work, and poorly-edited screen fighting grows weary."

Sam Sloan of A Slice of Sci-Fi, said the film is "a notch up in quality from what is typically seen on a Saturday night from the Sci-Fi Channel, remarking that director Russell Mulcahy "was able to turn what should have been a totally dreadful movie into a watchable film that didn’t make me feel like I had completely wasted an hour and a half of my time." Kenneth Brown of Hi-Def Digest said The Scorpion King 2 "feels like an aborted TV pilot, [...] painfully overplotted, yet so mind-numbingly simple that it’s impossible to care about its characters or central conflicts."

Sequel

A sequel titled The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption was released on January 10th, 2012 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc with Victor Webster as Mathayus.

Timeline error

There are some errors in the timeline of the movie. In the Mummy Franchise, it is explained that the Scorpion King lived "before the time of the pyramids". In this film, Layla states that everybody should visit the land of the pyramids. Also, in this film, Mathayus is part of a whole civilization of Akkadians, mainly of peasants, with only a handful of full-fledged warriors known as the Black Scorpions.

External links

• Official website
• The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior at the Internet Movie Database
• The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior at AllRovi
• The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior at Rotten Tomatoes