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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    Scorpion King 2, The: Rise Of A Warrior

    Featured In Issue 135, October 2008

    Picture3.5
    SoundNR
    WSR Score2.5
    Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
    (Studio/Distributor):
    Universal Music & Video Distribution
    (Catalog Number):
    63105509
    (MPAA Rating):
    PG-13
    (Rating Reason):
    Violence and sexual content including reference
    (Retail Price):
    $36.98
    (Disc Type):
    Single Side, Single Layer (BD-25)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    No
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    109
    (Color Type):
    Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    Not Indicated
    (Theatrical Year):
    2008
    (Theatrical Release):
    No
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    Yes
    (Disc Release Date):
    08/19/08
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    No
    (Director):
    Russell Mulcahy
    (Screenplay/Written By):
    (Story):
    (Music):
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer):
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor):
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers):
    (Co-Producers):
    (Producers):
    (Academy Awards):
    (Principal Photography):
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
    (Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
    (Disc Soundtrack):
    DTS HD Lossless 5.1
    (Theatrical Sound):
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (DTS Bit Rate):
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
    (Additional Languages):
    (French Language):
    (Spanish Language):
    (Chinese Language):
    (Subtitles):
    (Cantonese Language):
    (Mandarin Language):
    (Japanese Language):
    (Italian Language):
    (German Language):
    (Portuguese Language):

    See how the legend of The Scorpion King began when young Mathayus (Copon) witnesses the murder of his father at the hands of the powerful King Sargon (Couture). Mathayus' quest for vengeance leads to his transformation—a Rise Of A Warrior, so fierce that his skills will make him legendary in the ancient world. (Stacey Pendry)

    Special featiures on the Blu-ray™ are limited to a picture-in-picture storyboard track.

    With adequate resolution and good color saturation, the anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 DVD looks better than other direct-to-DVD titles I have seen, but black levels are elevated and can show excessive noise, and shadow delineation is somewhat lacking. Browns and greens dominate the color scheme, and colors are not very vibrant. Edge enhancement is used but is not overly distracting, but heavy compression can cause the image to appear harsh and overly digitized. The VC-1-encoded Blu-ray Disc™ shows good resolution, but fine details are not resolved as well as the better releases are. There is an enjoyable sense of dimension to the presentation, and colors show good definition. Fleshtones look unnaturally bold, with strange highlights. The picture can look very good, though, on occasion. (Danny Richelieu)

    While the surround channels can be ignored at times, the Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack generally uses them effectively to create an engaging listening space. The LFE channel is used infrequently, but is used well at times. Bass is not as tight as it could be, and dialogue can sound harsh and strident at times. Phantom imaging is nicely utilized, but there is no imaging in the surround stage. Dynamic range is adequate, but the soundtrack doesn't have that attacking force that the better soundtracks will possess. The Blu-ray Disc's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio™ encoding actually exacerbates the poor fidelity, with harsher, more strident dialogue and other distortions that weren't audible in the DVD's encoding. Bass definition is improved some, but there are still harsh artifacts in the dialogue, and the problems with the mix are still a limitation. This is an example of a soundtrack that is hurt by using a more advanced codec. (Danny Richelieu)

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    Mark Zwern
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