Black Scorpion II:  Aftershock (1997):  Kid stuff with a strong adult theme.  This is a superheroine created by filmmaker Roger Corman.  I have mixed feelings on this film.  It's certainly not the movie that the first one was.  I am a HUGE fan of Joan Severance, who plays Black Scorpion, which is really the only reason I am featuring this film.  There are some good things and some not-so-good things about this movie.  Here are the good things:

GOOD:
1. Joan Severance as Black Scorpion.  She's sexy without even trying...and she can act.  And I must admit the Black Scorpion costume is interesting.  Overall, I believe she can beat up on bad guys because she looks like a strong woman.

2. Black Scorpion's car:  The Scorpionmobile.  This car is cool, and the special effects used to transform it into the Black Scorpion crimefighting vehicle are quite outstanding...especially for a lower-budget film.  Her car can transform from an orange Corvette to a black Porsche Scorpionmobile!

3. Garrett Morris.  I liked him on "Saturday Night Live" and it's always good to see him in shows.  It's also good that he plays a good guy, and not a villain.  He's still Black Scorpion's sidekick, but he doesn't seem to do as much in this movie as he did in the last movie.

4.  The character concepts of the major villains are good.  Aftershock is the main villain in this movie, a sexy blonde arch-nemesis for Black Scorpion.  She has the ability to cause earthquake-like tremors.  Gangster Prankster is the other major villain and also a clever concept.  He's a cross between Batman's villains The Joker and Two-Face.  The right and left sides of his face are radically different, but he acts like a mad clown.

BAD:
1.  Too much use of the "F" word and other profanity.  I'm no prude, but that kind of language just doesn't fit in this film.  Black Scorpion is like a female Batman.  This particular film could almost be watched by young kids if it wasn't for that.

2.  Nudity. Again, I'm no prude, but for a low-brow superhero show it just doesn't fit.  The nudity they show, however, is very nice.  There was nudity in the first film, too, but that film was definitely more adult so it worked.  Here, in a kiddy-type show, it just doesn't feel right.

3.  The "Hokey Level" is way high!  I don't mind hokey, unbelievable movies or substandard acting, but this movie is full of it.  It's not unwatchable, but it is sensationally corny.  Sometimes you wonder if you're watching a "Black Scorpion" film or the old 1960s "Batman" show or "Power Rangers".  That's not an overly bad thing, but...

4.  ...The violence in this movie doesn't jive with the rest of the "kiddy stuff" in this show.  In one scene, the villain's head is shown blowing apart, and pieces of his face fly everywhere!  That's just a taste of what you'll see here.