Diagonaldi Very well executed

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Steineded How sad is this?

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

guisreis 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.

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

Paul Andrews 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.

gcronau 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.