Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

TinsHeadline Touches You

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

jacobjohntaylor1 This is a very good movie. It has a great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. The Scorpion King is better. But still I give this movie 7 out of 10. It is a great fantasy movie. It very scary at times. It is a prequel. Do not know why it got a 3.8. That is just underrating it. It is not a 3.8. It is a great movie. It is one of the best fantasy horror movies from 2008. It is a prequel to The Scorpion King. It is also ha prequel to The Mummy. All The Scorpion king movie are prequels to The Mummy. If you like good horror movies you need to see this movie. I need more line and I am running out of things to say.

davemfawcett I can handle corny, silly and even bad acting if the story is good and the plot makes some sense and the action is plausible. Heck, while I liked most of the mummy movies and even felt the first scorpion king was worth watching...once; this movie was a colossal waist of time.Not often is a movie so bad I felt obligated to warn other's to stay away. The director Russell Mulcahy has done some decent movies in the past; but definitely cheated the people who financed this debacle. It is perhaps the worst job of directing I have sense since.....well ever. It was obvious they were just trying to cash in on the first Scorpion King movie, the director appeared not even to try and ensure a half way decent product; confusing plot line, jumping from one part of the earth to the other in a matter of seconds with no explanation on how they got there, (hours to get into forest, seconds to get out???) implausible fight scenes at the end (both the arena and the scorpion) that were so bad it made me angry I even watched it till the ending. I was like, Really Director...ugh

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.

kols This is a weird little Sword and Sorcerer, very much in the tradition of the old Italian Steve Reeves movies of the late 50's and early 60's. Just with better production values, better acting, better scripting and more engaging characters. But beware - the title is a Rip-off, it has nothing to do with the original Scorpion King so don't expect any connection to its far better predecessor.For all of that, I found the movie engaging and that's where the weirdness comes in - I don't know why. The three main characters are mildly attractive, the script never sinks to idiocy (though it does swing wildly through history from the rise of city-states between the Tigris and Euphrates in the early 2nd Millennium to 1st Century B.C. Greeks (Ari) with 15th Century B.C. Knossos in between) and the editing is quite good. But that's not enough to really recommend it. The secondary characters, except for the wooden Sargon, add another positive as does the pacing but still, small change.Then there's the scene with Astarte in the cave - bordering on camp but underplayed just enough to work and work well with her flowing wardrobe transforming from seductive open robe to warrior armor and back again. The scene flirts with disaster at every step yet avoids falling into the pit Layla spends a great deal of time vocally dangling above. The counterpoint between Layla, dangling with commentary, and Astarte, flirting with Mathayus, comes close to being a B movie gem. All of the elements from dialog to editing gel, elevating all of them to a greater whole.That isn't to say that is Oscar material but, for what it is, it works extremely well.It does suffer when compared to The Scorpion King or Conan but both of those movies represent the pinnacle of the genre. Rise of a Warrior ranks with best of the second tier, like The Sword and the Sorcerer (with which it shares a classic line: Who will join me . . .) or Beastmaster.