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Black Scorpion II: Ground Zero

R Released May 13, 1997 1h 25m Fantasy List
Tomatometer 2 Reviews 42% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
The karate-kicking heroine returns to battle two villains who plan on destroying Los Angeles.

Critics Reviews

View All (2) Critics Reviews
Mike Massie Gone With The Twins The bulk of this sequel is so shoddily made, ridiculously scripted, and poorly acted that it can barely be considered entertainment. Rated: 2/10 Sep 16, 2024 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Oct 1, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (18) audience reviews
philip h The vigilante crime fighter is back only this time she is also back on the force. This however does not stop her double life as the kinky fishnet wearing crime buster as she is called into action once more to stop two villains this time...yes two. The original concept was clearly a homage to more easy going comicbooks and the classic fun camp TV show Batman and Robin starring Adam West...albeit with a slightly adult edge. This time the shameless Batman rip off goes into full force as we get a Joker-esque bad guy and a female that transforms herself into a supervillainess in her very own tight kinky outfit ala Catwoman. A female scientist is creating a machine that can predict and stop earthquakes on the west coast of the US. This gets sabotaged by the naughty LA Mayor who needs earthquakes because it brings in vital revenue for him from various sources. At the same time the leading female scientist gets injured or shell shocked (unsure really) during the meltdown of her machine and transforms herself into the supervillainess 'Aftershock' to wreak revenge on LA and Black Scorpion, yet strangely not the Mayor directly. Aftershock hires the assistance of petty criminal 'Gangster Prankster' to aid her with her plan to destroy LA with a massive quake. So this time around as I already said the film really goes down the 60's Batman and Robin route with overall campness and silliness. Gone is the slightly adult theme of the first film (although there is still a small hint of tits n ass) as its replaced with the kind of daft lunacy you'd expect in a cartoon. Its like a blend of DC character rip offs and a Saturday morning cartoon for kids. The two main baddies are clearly heavily influenced by certain DC characters (The Joker, Two Face and Wonder Woman) and their main evil plot is so stupid it stands side by side with Shark Repellent Bat Spray. Admittedly I did quite like Gangster Prankster as a villain due to his freaky twisted visage, slutty stripper girlfriend and playhouse lair. The whole concept is totally cliched and just slightly unoriginal but it does work for this movie (when do twisted evil clowns ever not work?). The villainess is the head baddie but doesn't really have much impact aside from having a really nice ass sealed up in latex. Her outfit is much more basic and cliched along with many other standard superhero designs but the fact she's a blonde with thigh high boots is obviously for the young male audience. Aside from that its business as usual with pretty much everything else really...same transforming Scorpionmobile with the same poor CGI effects, same lame looking punch ups, same attempts at humour and visual gags but amazingly the same cast also which does deserve kudos. The whole thing descends into the same dull predictable formulaic plot process you have come to expect from superhero/action flicks. A loved one gets kidnapped, someone gets blackmailed into doing something against the hero, tip offs, inept police, police still against the main vigilante hero despite the good they are doing and a big showdown where everything gets sorted out with a nice neat bow on top. Yet there are still some nice moments, the sequence where Gangster Prankster gets his comeuppance is actually quite well done on a clearly small budget, and lets not forget the odd semi decent car wreck too. The only real reasons to watch this Corman gem are for the insanely silly characters on display, some cool tacky effects, tight ass in tight latex and of course Black Scorpion fighting Aftershock in a pre-teens wet dream of tight ass in tight latex (and fishnets)...hell it was good enough for me! Not to be taken seriously and of course everyone involved knows just that, hence the film does work as a fun wacky tacky piece of superhero fluff just like the first, although not quite as good methinks. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A brilliant parody of the Joel Schumacher Batman films, but has its own original, compelling substances to stand alone. Black Scorpion a great franchise overlooked by humanity. Bless you, Craig & Roger. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member The first was better, not recommended for younger audiences Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member The Black Scorpion returns, and it's just as good as the original. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member The Black Scorpion returns, and it's just as good as the original. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member The karate- kicking super heroine returns to battle two villains intent on destroying Los Angeles. As the second entry in the franchise, you pretty much know what to expect from the storyline and characters and this movie doesn't really let you down and in fact is even more camper than the original. The characters are all completely over the top, and the storyline is just so sketchy, that it has you feeling that huge chunks are missing throughout. But with all said, this movie still has a certain something that kept me watching to the end, and actually quite enjoying what I saw. As I said in my review of it's predecessor, if you are looking for a groundbreaking superheroine movie, then you have come to the wrong place. But if you just want a piece of fun cheese with a leading lady that runs around in a tiny leather outfit, then look no further. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Black Scorpion II: Ground Zero

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis The karate-kicking heroine returns to battle two villains who plan on destroying Los Angeles.
Director
Jonathan Winfrey
Producer
Roger Corman
Screenwriter
Craig J. Nevius
Rating
R
Genre
Fantasy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 13, 1997, Original
Runtime
1h 25m