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.
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.