After witnessing the murder of his father, Mathayus (played by Michael Capan) vows to exact revenge against the powerful commander of the Black Scorpions, Sargon (played by UFC Champion Randy Couture). Mathayus endures 6 gruelling years of intense training away from family and friends and to become a skilled member of the Black Scorpions Army, directly serving the even more powerful Sargon who is rumoured to have murdered the previous King in order to assume the throne himself. After swearing loyalty to his Scorpion King, Mathayus betrays his leader and sets in motion his plan for revenge beginning with a trip to Egypt to retrieve the Sword of Danaclease; a blade which legend tells can cut through anything, mortal or immortal, and which lies in the hands of the queen of the Underworld. With him on this heroic journey is his life long friend and love interest, Layla (played by Karen David) and a newly made acquaintance, Ari (played by Simon Quartermain). Together the three friends battle their way into the Underworld, steal the evil queen’s magical sword and return for the final dual with the Scorpion King. Sounds exciting enough, right?

There may not be any big surprises or action stunts here but “The Scorpion King 2”, does deliver non-stop fight scenes and repeated attempts at sidekick humour. A lot of these attempts at clever wit actually come across more as lame and cliché but at least they try to lighten the mood throughout the movie which all takes place in a very dark mystical atmosphere. Overall, all of the elements of a typical action movie can be found in “Rise of a Warrior”; you have the big, mean, muscular bad guy versus the young, innocent child warrior, not to mention the beautiful warrior babe and the warrior’s trusted companion who serves as the comic relief. There are also a few impressive computer effects and a couple of sci-fi-like creatures to keep the audience entertained. However the giant scorpion in the final fight scene looks more like something out of a Stephen King movie. You may not be blown away by the stunts or the computer graphics and images but you definitely will not be bored. There is enough action and humour (no matter how cheesey) to get you happily through to the end of the movie, which I might add, is obviously left open for yet another of Mathayus’ adventures. If we’re lucky, number three will concentrate a little more closely on plot, character development and dialogue.

6.5 out of 10.