Darcy is back on the force, but still fights on as the Black Scorpion because "it's in her nature." This time, she fights Gangster Prankster; and a new villian emerges when the Mayor tries to protect his federal earthquake relief money: Aftershock. When the two villians team up and kidnap Argyle's girlfriend, Black Scorpion is faced with the theft of the Scorpionmobile and the imminent destruction of Angel City. 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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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 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…<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.
Nanema replied
295 weeks ago