...but still not awfully good. Joan Severance is a pretty decent actress and at over six feet certainly looks comic bookish, but she is badly miscast as an action heroine. She works better in slower paced vehicles and lacks the nervous energy or athleticism necessary for a costumed vigilante. Severance comes off a little better here, thanks to the fact that the director went for an old school Batman approach, with kooky angles, zippy camera-work and cartoonish colors, which tend to distract the viewer from the fact that she is too statuesque and languorous to be a crime fighter. Frankly, she would have trouble beating a dazed sloth to the punch... The story is some comic book nonsense about finding a super villain with an earthquake machine, and this is actually an improvement over the first movie's straight revenge plot. The whole exercise is pretty absurd to start, so better to just go with that. As a live action cartoon, it's not bad entertainment, and the production values are adequate despite an obviously limited budget.
13 Reviews
More of the same, for better or for worse
TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews11 February 2006
If you've seen or are planning to see this film, chances are you've already seen the first. If not, I suggest you go see that, even if you only have the chance to see one of them. It's better and it basically lays the foundation for this film. This has more silliness and less style than the first, and one will be hard pressed to find someone, somewhere who wouldn't rather have seen the first, if given the choice(if the popularity-based ratings are anything to go by, at least). The plot is, much like the first, very simplistic and formulaic. It's pretty much ripped straight out of a 60's superhero comic book. The characters, most of them returning from the first film, continue to be comic relief and clichés, and a few of them, as little development as they have(in the first) actually go backwards as far as that goes. The villains both lack the originality of the one of the first film; both are rather obviously rip-offs of famous superhero villains(or super-villains, for short). The humor goes more towards the silly and campy, something the first one started nicely on. Fewer one-liners, unfortunately. The action is decent enough... it's slightly larger in scale than that of the first, but its uninspired filming costs a lot of intensity. There is more direct T&A in this installment, to appease the young males in the audience. Most of it is just there, for no actual reason, making it stand out embarrassingly. The dialog is poor, both as far as writing and delivery goes. The script has its share of clichés, but judging from the overall tone(and my experience with films that Roger Corman is involved in making), I would wager that it's fully intentional. All in all, an entertaining and fairly worthy followup to Black Scorpion. I recommend this to fans of the first and of comic book movies in general. I urge anyone to watch the first before trying their luck with this, though, and if you don't like what you see in that one, don't bother with this one. It's just more of the same. 5/10
Much worse than the original.
poolandrews29 April 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Black Scorpion II: Aftershock is set in the City of Angels where ordinary cop Darcy Walker (Joan Severance) becomes latex clad superhero the Black Scorpion to fight crime, a series of earthquake's & aftershocks have hit the City of Angels & unrest & looting is rife. Scientist Professor Ursula Undershaft (Sherrie Rose) has invented a machine to neutralise earthquakes & aftershocks but after it's sabotaged by greedy politicians she is blamed for a huge quake which devastates the city. The Professor becomes red latex clad villain Afteshock & breaks the Gangster Prankster (Stoney Jackson) out of the county jail in order to deal with the Black Scorpion so she can destroy the city with a gigantic earthquake unopposed...
Directed by Jonathan Winfrey & also known as Black Scorpion II: Ground Zero this was the sequel to Black Scorpion (1995) which rode the whole fetishistic styled superhero comic book film craze, this sequel reunites all the major players with Severance returning as the Black Scorpion, Winfrey as director, Craig Nevius is on script duties again while Roger Corman acts as a producer & even though the first Black Scorpion wasn't exactly a masterpiece this sequel is distinctly inferior. After a brief recap of the original the film plods along more concerned with the moral conflicts going on between Darcy & her new partner/lover which is also taken directly from the original, this time there are two villains but they are both poor & Aftershock in particular is a crap villain with no motivation & how does she know the mayor sabotaged her machine? The Black Scorpion herself hardly appears, she's like in three scenes, one at the start, one where she rescues Rick from the Gangster Prankster & the end where she doesn't even get to fight anyone as merely by taking her mask off she convinces Aftershock to commit suicide & stop her machine from destroying the city. There are various sub-plots like the Black Scorpions car getting stolen & the bickering between the cops at the station but these just feel like they are dragging a poor film out even more. With virtually no coherent plot that makes any sort of sense, a lack of Black Scorpion action & weak villains Black Scorpion II: Aftershock is even worse than the original & isn't even any fun on a camp level.
As with the first this looks cheap, the car chase is rubbish with very tight angles to hide the surroundings. The action is poor, the opening car chase is basically the same as seen in the original, the Black Scorpion hardly fights anyone here & the violence levels are toned down & while the original had a fair bit of nudity this has none that I can remember. The Black Scorpion costume is basically the same & the special effects of her car changing shape are taken directly from the original. Aftershock looks silly with a red latex outfit & a daft face mask that resembles a Rugby mask while the Gangster Prankster is obviously a rip-off of The Joker & Two Face from Batman.
Probably shot on an even lower budget than the original this looks cheap from start to finish. The acting is poor, Stoney Jackson as the Gangster Prankster is highly annoying while Joan Severance looks uninterested.
Black Scorpion II: Aftershock is a rubbish superhero film that doesn't even have any camp value, it's just bad on all fronts really & even worse than original. Followed by a Black Scorpion (2001) TV series which ran for twenty two episodes.
Directed by Jonathan Winfrey & also known as Black Scorpion II: Ground Zero this was the sequel to Black Scorpion (1995) which rode the whole fetishistic styled superhero comic book film craze, this sequel reunites all the major players with Severance returning as the Black Scorpion, Winfrey as director, Craig Nevius is on script duties again while Roger Corman acts as a producer & even though the first Black Scorpion wasn't exactly a masterpiece this sequel is distinctly inferior. After a brief recap of the original the film plods along more concerned with the moral conflicts going on between Darcy & her new partner/lover which is also taken directly from the original, this time there are two villains but they are both poor & Aftershock in particular is a crap villain with no motivation & how does she know the mayor sabotaged her machine? The Black Scorpion herself hardly appears, she's like in three scenes, one at the start, one where she rescues Rick from the Gangster Prankster & the end where she doesn't even get to fight anyone as merely by taking her mask off she convinces Aftershock to commit suicide & stop her machine from destroying the city. There are various sub-plots like the Black Scorpions car getting stolen & the bickering between the cops at the station but these just feel like they are dragging a poor film out even more. With virtually no coherent plot that makes any sort of sense, a lack of Black Scorpion action & weak villains Black Scorpion II: Aftershock is even worse than the original & isn't even any fun on a camp level.
As with the first this looks cheap, the car chase is rubbish with very tight angles to hide the surroundings. The action is poor, the opening car chase is basically the same as seen in the original, the Black Scorpion hardly fights anyone here & the violence levels are toned down & while the original had a fair bit of nudity this has none that I can remember. The Black Scorpion costume is basically the same & the special effects of her car changing shape are taken directly from the original. Aftershock looks silly with a red latex outfit & a daft face mask that resembles a Rugby mask while the Gangster Prankster is obviously a rip-off of The Joker & Two Face from Batman.
Probably shot on an even lower budget than the original this looks cheap from start to finish. The acting is poor, Stoney Jackson as the Gangster Prankster is highly annoying while Joan Severance looks uninterested.
Black Scorpion II: Aftershock is a rubbish superhero film that doesn't even have any camp value, it's just bad on all fronts really & even worse than original. Followed by a Black Scorpion (2001) TV series which ran for twenty two episodes.
Make a great TV Series
geo-1813 August 1999
As a one hour weekly TV played as straight as the movies or even more so. It's the kind of item for a Fox or Warners channel. I'd do it as a Buffy type adventure. A series of inter related plots. A set of cliff hangers.
One of the worst things I've ever witnessed
culwin3 March 2002
Wow.
This was so awful I just don't know what to say.
I'm amazed that anyone involved with this actually used their real names. I know it's tough to be a struggling actor but man, what were they thinking?
I don't even want to think about the fact that someone "wrote" this.
I'm going to stay away from the TV for a few days now.
This was so awful I just don't know what to say.
I'm amazed that anyone involved with this actually used their real names. I know it's tough to be a struggling actor but man, what were they thinking?
I don't even want to think about the fact that someone "wrote" this.
I'm going to stay away from the TV for a few days now.
Direct to Video Fare
DrSatan3 April 2000
I actually got this movie under the mistaken impression I was getting a Fred Williamson movie (which I believe is titled Black Cobra). Instead I got this direct to video Batman knock off. We've got a clear Joker rip-off villan, who's scenes are very over the top, and somewhat racist. The female protagonist and her lover who have no chemistry what so ever. The laughable female villan and the paper thin, Batman t.v. series plot, all played almost completely seriously even though this whole mess is very campy. The best part of this is Garrett Morris, who's actually pretty amusing as our heroine's mechanic. He's got to be an amazing one, since he's able to make/fix a car that can transform into an another one at the touch of a button. Overall, it provides a few laughs, even if its mostly boring.>
Tiresome from the Very Beginning
JamesHitchcock17 June 2013
Some people would have thought that one "Black Scorpion" film was quite enough. Indeed, some people, myself included, thought that one Black Scorpion film was more than enough, but enough people obviously disagreed with that analysis to persuade the producers to come up with a sequel.
The title character is essentially a female Batman, a crime fighting superheroine who (like Batman but unlike Superman or Spiderman) does not have any super powers but relies upon a combination of martial arts and advanced technology to overcome the bad guys. Just as Batman had his Batmobile, so the Black Scorpion (who in real life is a police detective named Darcy Walker) has her own high-tech car, the Scorpionmobile. In the first instalment she saw off one gang of supervillains; here she has to deal with a new crowd, including the giggling Gangster Prankster (an obvious rip-off of Batman's nemesis The Joker) and a woman calling herself Aftershock who aims to cause an earthquake to destroy the City of Angels (for which read Los Angeles).
The original "Black Scorpion" film was bad enough, but this one is even worse. Both were comedies based upon one single joke, namely that the superhero concept is something essentially ridiculous which can serve as the basis for camp humour using exaggerated characters and unrealistic plotting and dialogue. (The same joke served as the basis of that old "Batman" TV series from the sixties, and indeed as the basis of some of the entries in the more recent "Batman" film franchise). I have never been the greatest fan of superhero movies, but at least the likes of "Spiderman" and "Batman Begins" have shown that it is possible to make decent films within the genre by treating the concept with a modicum of seriousness and without resorting to camp, self-mocking humour. One-joke comedies quickly outstay their welcome; the first "Black Scorpion" film ran out of steam about halfway through, after which the whole thing quickly became tiresome. "Black Scorpion II" never had any steam to start with and is tiresome from the very beginning.
The standard of acting is appalling; Joan Severance as the heroine shows even more clearly than she did in the first film that she was cast on the basis of looks rather than talent, but the rest of the cast are no more talented and in most cases do not even have looks to recommend them. (Whoever thought Sherrie Rose made a seductive villainess was sadly mistaken). I was surprised to see Rick Rossovich cast as a "construction foreman"; in the late eighties he was regarded as a rising star after roles in "Top Gun" and "Roxanne", so it must have been something of a comedown for him to be cast in a bit part in a movie as dire as this one.
The one good thing that can be said about "Black Scorpion II" is that, although it was followed in 2001 by a "Black Scorpion" TV series, it was the last of its line in the cinema and did not spawn a "Black Scorpion III". One must at least be thankful for small mercies. 2/10
The title character is essentially a female Batman, a crime fighting superheroine who (like Batman but unlike Superman or Spiderman) does not have any super powers but relies upon a combination of martial arts and advanced technology to overcome the bad guys. Just as Batman had his Batmobile, so the Black Scorpion (who in real life is a police detective named Darcy Walker) has her own high-tech car, the Scorpionmobile. In the first instalment she saw off one gang of supervillains; here she has to deal with a new crowd, including the giggling Gangster Prankster (an obvious rip-off of Batman's nemesis The Joker) and a woman calling herself Aftershock who aims to cause an earthquake to destroy the City of Angels (for which read Los Angeles).
The original "Black Scorpion" film was bad enough, but this one is even worse. Both were comedies based upon one single joke, namely that the superhero concept is something essentially ridiculous which can serve as the basis for camp humour using exaggerated characters and unrealistic plotting and dialogue. (The same joke served as the basis of that old "Batman" TV series from the sixties, and indeed as the basis of some of the entries in the more recent "Batman" film franchise). I have never been the greatest fan of superhero movies, but at least the likes of "Spiderman" and "Batman Begins" have shown that it is possible to make decent films within the genre by treating the concept with a modicum of seriousness and without resorting to camp, self-mocking humour. One-joke comedies quickly outstay their welcome; the first "Black Scorpion" film ran out of steam about halfway through, after which the whole thing quickly became tiresome. "Black Scorpion II" never had any steam to start with and is tiresome from the very beginning.
The standard of acting is appalling; Joan Severance as the heroine shows even more clearly than she did in the first film that she was cast on the basis of looks rather than talent, but the rest of the cast are no more talented and in most cases do not even have looks to recommend them. (Whoever thought Sherrie Rose made a seductive villainess was sadly mistaken). I was surprised to see Rick Rossovich cast as a "construction foreman"; in the late eighties he was regarded as a rising star after roles in "Top Gun" and "Roxanne", so it must have been something of a comedown for him to be cast in a bit part in a movie as dire as this one.
The one good thing that can be said about "Black Scorpion II" is that, although it was followed in 2001 by a "Black Scorpion" TV series, it was the last of its line in the cinema and did not spawn a "Black Scorpion III". One must at least be thankful for small mercies. 2/10
More BS, and this time it's lethal
dmarrano5 February 2001
What can you possibly say about "Black Scorpion II" other than that it was much worse than the first. The dialogue was banal, the action minimal, the plot barely existent. Even the camera shots, especially when the director chose to go into shaky slo-mo for the "action" sequences, was gawd-aweful!
I hope Sci-Fi does a better job with it's Black Scorpion TV series (debuting this Friday, 2/9).
I hope Sci-Fi does a better job with it's Black Scorpion TV series (debuting this Friday, 2/9).
The good, the bad, and the oh-so-bad...
gcronau8 January 2004
This movie has some good elements and some bad elements.
The good: Watching Joan Severance.
The bad: Everything else.
If it's 3:30am and you can't sleep, and there's nothing else on but infomercials, this movie still isn't really worth watching. The plot is lame, the characters are absurd and barely 2 dimensional, the situation is absurd, and the writing is adolescent. The main villian gave a new definition and dimension to the concept of "stupid". To say it was "comic-book-like" would be an insult to comic books. The only good thing about it was watching Joan, and even then I prefered her when she was in street clothes, her black scorpian outfit was one of the least flattering female "super hero" costumes I've ever seen. She has great eyes and the mask covered those. Even her dialog was cliched and silly. Watch only if it's late, you can't sleep, and there's *nothing* else on. Turn the sound off. Watch until you experience unconsciousness. 1 out of 10.
The good: Watching Joan Severance.
The bad: Everything else.
If it's 3:30am and you can't sleep, and there's nothing else on but infomercials, this movie still isn't really worth watching. The plot is lame, the characters are absurd and barely 2 dimensional, the situation is absurd, and the writing is adolescent. The main villian gave a new definition and dimension to the concept of "stupid". To say it was "comic-book-like" would be an insult to comic books. The only good thing about it was watching Joan, and even then I prefered her when she was in street clothes, her black scorpian outfit was one of the least flattering female "super hero" costumes I've ever seen. She has great eyes and the mask covered those. Even her dialog was cliched and silly. Watch only if it's late, you can't sleep, and there's *nothing* else on. Turn the sound off. Watch until you experience unconsciousness. 1 out of 10.
I had a blast with Black Scorpion II!
lotsafun23 July 2004
This cheesy B movie is fun stuff! You'll either love it or hate it. I adored it. Fans of B movies and Roger Corman movies might enjoy it the most. I've shared my Black Scorpion DVDs with friends and we've all enjoyed them. The two films and the TV show are a blast! The Gangsta Pranksta has to be seen to be believed folks! Joan Severance is lovely as Darcy Walker/ The Black Scorpion. There's also a promo on this DVD hosted by Adam West that takes an inside look at the Black Scorpion TV show. This is a fun DVD. I LOVED IT! Pop some corn and settle back. This is great popcorn fun! Ms Severance: You really know how to wear a mask! The way you smoke a cigar takes my breath away! GREAT JOB!
Black Scorpion II: Aftershock
phubbs17 June 2014
Warning: Spoilers
The vigilante crime fighter is back only this time she is also back on the force. This however does not stop her double life as the kinky fishnet wearing crime buster as she is called into action once more to stop two villains this time...yes two. The original concept was clearly a homage to more easy going comicbooks and the classic fun camp TV show Batman and Robin starring Adam West...albeit with a slightly adult edge. This time the shameless Batman rip off goes into full force as we get a Joker-esque bad guy and a female that transforms herself into a supervillainess in her very own tight kinky outfit ala Catwoman.
A female scientist is creating a machine that can predict and stop earthquakes on the west coast of the US. This gets sabotaged by the naughty LA Mayor who needs earthquakes because it brings in vital revenue for him from various sources. At the same time the leading female scientist gets injured or shell shocked (unsure really) during the meltdown of her machine and transforms herself into the supervillainess 'Aftershock' to wreak revenge on LA and Black Scorpion, yet strangely not the Mayor directly. Aftershock hires the assistance of petty criminal 'Gangster Prankster' to aid her with her plan to destroy LA with a massive quake.
So this time around as I already said the film really goes down the 60's Batman and Robin route with overall campness and silliness. Gone is the slightly adult theme of the first film (although there is still a small hint of tits n ass) as its replaced with the kind of daft lunacy you'd expect in a cartoon. Its like a blend of DC character rip offs and a Saturday morning cartoon for kids. The two main baddies are clearly heavily influenced by certain DC characters (The Joker, Two Face and Wonder Woman) and their main evil plot is so stupid it stands side by side with Shark Repellent Bat Spray.
Admittedly I did quite like Gangster Prankster as a villain due to his freaky twisted visage, slutty stripper girlfriend and playhouse lair. The whole concept is totally clichéd and just slightly unoriginal but it does work for this movie (when do twisted evil clowns ever not work?). The villainess is the head baddie but doesn't really have much impact aside from having a really nice ass sealed up in latex. Her outfit is much more basic and clichéd along with many other standard superhero designs but the fact she's a blonde with thigh high boots is obviously for the young male audience. Aside from that its business as usual with pretty much everything else really...same transforming Scorpionmobile with the same poor CGI effects, same lame looking punch ups, same attempts at humour and visual gags but amazingly the same cast also which does deserve kudos.
The whole thing descends into the same dull predictable formulaic plot process you have come to expect from superhero/action flicks. A loved one gets kidnapped, someone gets blackmailed into doing something against the hero, tip offs, inept police, police still against the main vigilante hero despite the good they are doing and a big showdown where everything gets sorted out with a nice neat bow on top. Yet there are still some nice moments, the sequence where Gangster Prankster gets his comeuppance is actually quite well done on a clearly small budget, and lets not forget the odd semi decent car wreck too.
The only real reasons to watch this Corman gem are for the insanely silly characters on display, some cool tacky effects, tight ass in tight latex and of course Black Scorpion fighting Aftershock in a pre-teens wet dream of tight ass in tight latex (and fishnets)...hell it was good enough for me! Not to be taken seriously and of course everyone involved knows just that, hence the film does work as a fun wacky tacky piece of superhero fluff just like the first, although not quite as good methinks.
6/10
A female scientist is creating a machine that can predict and stop earthquakes on the west coast of the US. This gets sabotaged by the naughty LA Mayor who needs earthquakes because it brings in vital revenue for him from various sources. At the same time the leading female scientist gets injured or shell shocked (unsure really) during the meltdown of her machine and transforms herself into the supervillainess 'Aftershock' to wreak revenge on LA and Black Scorpion, yet strangely not the Mayor directly. Aftershock hires the assistance of petty criminal 'Gangster Prankster' to aid her with her plan to destroy LA with a massive quake.
So this time around as I already said the film really goes down the 60's Batman and Robin route with overall campness and silliness. Gone is the slightly adult theme of the first film (although there is still a small hint of tits n ass) as its replaced with the kind of daft lunacy you'd expect in a cartoon. Its like a blend of DC character rip offs and a Saturday morning cartoon for kids. The two main baddies are clearly heavily influenced by certain DC characters (The Joker, Two Face and Wonder Woman) and their main evil plot is so stupid it stands side by side with Shark Repellent Bat Spray.
Admittedly I did quite like Gangster Prankster as a villain due to his freaky twisted visage, slutty stripper girlfriend and playhouse lair. The whole concept is totally clichéd and just slightly unoriginal but it does work for this movie (when do twisted evil clowns ever not work?). The villainess is the head baddie but doesn't really have much impact aside from having a really nice ass sealed up in latex. Her outfit is much more basic and clichéd along with many other standard superhero designs but the fact she's a blonde with thigh high boots is obviously for the young male audience. Aside from that its business as usual with pretty much everything else really...same transforming Scorpionmobile with the same poor CGI effects, same lame looking punch ups, same attempts at humour and visual gags but amazingly the same cast also which does deserve kudos.
The whole thing descends into the same dull predictable formulaic plot process you have come to expect from superhero/action flicks. A loved one gets kidnapped, someone gets blackmailed into doing something against the hero, tip offs, inept police, police still against the main vigilante hero despite the good they are doing and a big showdown where everything gets sorted out with a nice neat bow on top. Yet there are still some nice moments, the sequence where Gangster Prankster gets his comeuppance is actually quite well done on a clearly small budget, and lets not forget the odd semi decent car wreck too.
The only real reasons to watch this Corman gem are for the insanely silly characters on display, some cool tacky effects, tight ass in tight latex and of course Black Scorpion fighting Aftershock in a pre-teens wet dream of tight ass in tight latex (and fishnets)...hell it was good enough for me! Not to be taken seriously and of course everyone involved knows just that, hence the film does work as a fun wacky tacky piece of superhero fluff just like the first, although not quite as good methinks.
6/10
Aftershlock
Perception_de_Ambiguity9 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
If this had been a 30-minute movie this could have been a pretty great small film. It would be like a live action movie version of the 90's animated Batman series with Batman being a woman and also a law enforcer as a police officeress (thank you, 'Falling Down' Nazi) on her mask-off days, a black Joker with a bit of Two-Face mixed in who even comes with his own Harley Quinn who goes topless for her gangster boss because why the hell not, this isn't television land.
The protagonist (Black Scorpion, duh!) is played by Joan Severance, who, at least here, is like a redheaded mix between Anne Parillaud and Shania Twain that looks especially alluring with her vigilante mask. Furthermore she's a decent actress and a charming screen presence in both her roles so that she easily could have gotten me through the movie no matter what.
And this "no matter what" is unfortunately pretty much what 'Black Scorpion II' offers, the film's balance is way off, on one hand there are over the top comic book style scenes (a style that is sometimes ALMOST overbearing especially when it plays for laughs) and on the other hand there's a lot of down to Earth austerity, it just doesn't manage to paint a convincing image of the world the movie plays in. Those rather mundane parts have too much soap operish lovey dovey that except towards the end is largely on the enjoyable side but seems like an all-too easy tactic to fill up some running time.
In those non-caped crusader parts which unfortunately dominate the film we have the heroine trying to win the heart of her partner from work which is basically like the Superman/Loise Lane thing with the gender roles reversed. What's more is that the guy is very much a dismissive jerk whose dismissive behavior is very poorly motivated. It's a nice try to make this an unconventional and therefore more interesting romance but this is just too unorthodox a setup to work, all one does is wonder why that cool chick bothers running after that jerk and how and why that guy can reject a woman like that.
Another problem is that the plot doesn't really seem to go into any particular direction. We know the main villain is VERY ANGRY (what's up with the P-word being prohibited in IMDb reviews?) and has some revenge plan because she has been mistreated (the usual super villain stuff, you get the idea) but the switch from good to bad happened too easily so she's never convincing and we don't find out what her plan is until the end. Black Scorpion herself fights crime here and there but beyond that she doesn't have a goal to accomplish either. But wait. Turns out that the love story really is what it's about in the end. Black Scorpion wants to get the jerk, THAT's her big goal. Oh no.
But holy unconventional conflict resolution, Scorpionwoman! She "defeats" the villain (screw spoiler warnings) through the power of dialectic. Black Scorpion simply talks to the baddie and convinces her that there's a better way to go about her fulfillment of desires than to kill everybody. After that's done we get an all the more generic resolution to the love story in a tacked on one-minute sequence that left a bad taste in my mouth. What a way to blow it.
So I was really into it in the first minutes of the film which, during the opening credits, did a nice job of giving the necessary information from the first film plus a fantastic opening credits song followed by a really nice action scene. Overall the action in the film was mostly the funnest part while usually for me it's the opposite, there are just few things duller for me than martial arts between actors and I even care very little for it if it's between people who know their kung-fu. So anyway. To simplify it I found the comic-book style parts of the movie largely fun while the soap opera stuff largely brought the film down, but the plot also is pretty much a mess, that became very clear during the second half of the film.
But to see how bad this actually could have been one just needs to take a short look at the TV series that came after the films, now that looks really dreadful, compared to it even the average Power Rangers stuff looks stylish...I guess. What's a pity is that I think this film and the Black Scorpion character really had potential but maybe they had already wasted most of their ammunition in the first film which I WILL have to watch now because big minuses or not I enjoyed this one enough.
The protagonist (Black Scorpion, duh!) is played by Joan Severance, who, at least here, is like a redheaded mix between Anne Parillaud and Shania Twain that looks especially alluring with her vigilante mask. Furthermore she's a decent actress and a charming screen presence in both her roles so that she easily could have gotten me through the movie no matter what.
And this "no matter what" is unfortunately pretty much what 'Black Scorpion II' offers, the film's balance is way off, on one hand there are over the top comic book style scenes (a style that is sometimes ALMOST overbearing especially when it plays for laughs) and on the other hand there's a lot of down to Earth austerity, it just doesn't manage to paint a convincing image of the world the movie plays in. Those rather mundane parts have too much soap operish lovey dovey that except towards the end is largely on the enjoyable side but seems like an all-too easy tactic to fill up some running time.
In those non-caped crusader parts which unfortunately dominate the film we have the heroine trying to win the heart of her partner from work which is basically like the Superman/Loise Lane thing with the gender roles reversed. What's more is that the guy is very much a dismissive jerk whose dismissive behavior is very poorly motivated. It's a nice try to make this an unconventional and therefore more interesting romance but this is just too unorthodox a setup to work, all one does is wonder why that cool chick bothers running after that jerk and how and why that guy can reject a woman like that.
Another problem is that the plot doesn't really seem to go into any particular direction. We know the main villain is VERY ANGRY (what's up with the P-word being prohibited in IMDb reviews?) and has some revenge plan because she has been mistreated (the usual super villain stuff, you get the idea) but the switch from good to bad happened too easily so she's never convincing and we don't find out what her plan is until the end. Black Scorpion herself fights crime here and there but beyond that she doesn't have a goal to accomplish either. But wait. Turns out that the love story really is what it's about in the end. Black Scorpion wants to get the jerk, THAT's her big goal. Oh no.
But holy unconventional conflict resolution, Scorpionwoman! She "defeats" the villain (screw spoiler warnings) through the power of dialectic. Black Scorpion simply talks to the baddie and convinces her that there's a better way to go about her fulfillment of desires than to kill everybody. After that's done we get an all the more generic resolution to the love story in a tacked on one-minute sequence that left a bad taste in my mouth. What a way to blow it.
So I was really into it in the first minutes of the film which, during the opening credits, did a nice job of giving the necessary information from the first film plus a fantastic opening credits song followed by a really nice action scene. Overall the action in the film was mostly the funnest part while usually for me it's the opposite, there are just few things duller for me than martial arts between actors and I even care very little for it if it's between people who know their kung-fu. So anyway. To simplify it I found the comic-book style parts of the movie largely fun while the soap opera stuff largely brought the film down, but the plot also is pretty much a mess, that became very clear during the second half of the film.
But to see how bad this actually could have been one just needs to take a short look at the TV series that came after the films, now that looks really dreadful, compared to it even the average Power Rangers stuff looks stylish...I guess. What's a pity is that I think this film and the Black Scorpion character really had potential but maybe they had already wasted most of their ammunition in the first film which I WILL have to watch now because big minuses or not I enjoyed this one enough.
Black Scorpion fights many supervillains, more interesting and less ridiculous than the nemesis from the prequel
guisreis20 December 2015
Just as in its prequel, this film shows a superheroine who is a sexy female copy of Batman. There is a black mask, there are gadgets, there is a special car, there is a dubious status of an ally of the police or of a criminal, the superheroine fights crime to avenge the murder of her father. If on one hand there are no scenes in this film so obviously copied from Tim Burton movies like in the prequel, on the other hand the first supervillain, Gangster Prankster, is a hybrid of the Joker and Two-Face. Argyle, the guy who fixes the Scorpion- mobile, though, came a decade before Morgan Freeman's Lucius Fox in "Batman Begins". The film is nice enough for a B-movie, but visual effects are often worse than could be and action scenes are always awful. The whole movie is very cartoon-like and campy, more than Joel Schumacher's Batman movies from those years, closer to the 60's TV series. The mayor's henchmen, for example, are dressed like mobsters and always say the same thing at the same time. The street gangs (they were so recurrent in the movies from the 90's!) have youngsters with swastikas painted on their faces or necks. Sexploitation, what was in the core of the prequel, with amazing footage with Joan Severance, reappears in this sequel in more characters, like the Asian bombshell Giggles (Prankster's "harley quinn"), the model in jail in the unnecessary scene at 20'40'', the mayor's secretary Babette (played by Lara Harring!), and villainess Aftershock. Villains are campy but more interesting and less ridiculous than in the prequel, which was curiously more violent (though, Black Scorpion is much more violent against criminals, killing them when they are not a danger, in the second film than in the first, reminding more Judge Dredd than Batman even in his darkest versions). Though, the special electric attack of Aftershock may make male spectators feel as if it were with them.
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