James Hitchcock 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

Perception_de_Ambiguity 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.

lotsafun 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!

geo-18 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.