When 2015’s The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power showed up on my door, I had two reactions. First I thought “There was a Scorpion King 2?” And then I thought “There was a Scorpion King 3?”

Given that 2002’s Scorpion King - itself a spin-off from 2001’s Mummy Returns - didn’t do all that well at the box office, I think it makes sense that I feel surprised it churned out any sequels, much less a series that continues 12 years after the original’s release. But the world of direct-to-video projects opens up many “franchise” possibilities, as the combination of name value and low budgets makes these flicks profitable, I guess.

In Quest, we re-encounter Mathayus (Victor Webster), known as “The Scorpion King”. After he steals a powerful urn, Mathayus finds himself betrayed by his partner Drazen (Will Kemp).

King Zakour (Rutger Hauer) tells Mathayus that Drazen wasn’t just a thief – he was also a spy for the kingdom of Norvania. While Mathayus wants revenge, Zakour orders him to pursue peace.

Mathayus embarks on this journey reluctantly – he’s more hack/kill than hug/compromise – and matters get worse from there. Drazen murders Norvanian King Yannick (Michael Biehn) – his father, by the way – and frames Mathayus for the crime. Along with sexy new ally Valina (Ellen Hollman), our Scorpion King needs to clear his name and make things right.

Although I didn’t care for the original Scorpion King, I didn’t rule out hopes that Quest would offer entertainment value. After all, I liked the first two Mummy flicks and since it comes from a related universe, I thought it might come with some basic fun and adventure.

Unfortunately, it lacked fun, adventure or any other form of entertainment, basic or otherwise. A cheap, sorry excuse for a movie, Quest feels like an amateurish attempt to make a little money and that’s about it.

I barely know where to start. I’d like to find something good to say about Quest, but other than Hollman’s beauty – and the sex appeal of supporting actors like Esme Bianco - I can’t locate anything positive to discuss here. If the film possesses any non-babe-related redeeming values, it hides them far beneath the surface.

Instead, it gives us a movie that fails on all possible levels. The story seems disjointed and illogical, without anything to make it compelling. The tale exists to motivate action and gags; none of the characters or plot elements become even vaguely interesting.

Perhaps if the gags and/or action succeeded at a basic level, I wouldn’t mind the lack of a good story. Unfortunately, the comedy seems idiotic at best, and the action feels generic and bland. No excitement materializes from the set pieces; they pop up because we expect them to appear but they can’t deliver any fun.

None of the actors do anything with the material. Hollman looks nice but overplays her part, and Webster offers little more than a mediocre impersonation of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the role’s originator.

Quest comes with a few minor names such as Hauer, Biehn and Barry Bostwick. The first two seem wooden to an extreme – as though they feel embarrassed to be involved – while Bostwick camps up the screen. I hope these guys made some decent paychecks.

Add to this list poor effects as well as lackluster production values and Quest winds up as a total dud. Heck, the movie can’t even come up with its own ending, as it shamelessly rips off Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Even with low expectations, I find nothing worthwhile about the film.

Footnote: an epilogue appears during the movie’s end credits.

The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This wasn’t a terrible image, but it seemed mediocre.

Sharpness became the main issue. Most shots showed fairly positive delineation, but the movie never seemed especially concise, and it tended to be a bit on the soft side. No issues with jaggies or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. The film also lacked print flaws.

Colors tended toward an arid, sandy look. This fit the locales involved and worked fine, though some attempts at brighter hues could be a little dull. Blacks were relatively inky, and shadows seemed somewhat bland and flat. I didn’t think the picture was bad, but it failed to live up to modern standards.

While better, the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack lacked a lot of pep. The soundfield emphasized the front speakers, where it offered decent but unspectacular imaging. The material broadened across the speakers in fair manner, though it didn’t present a lot of activity or ambition.

This seemed even more true for the surrounds, which didn’t get a lot to do – especially given the expected scope of an action film like Quest. They occasionally added a bit of material but they seemed more passive than I’d anticipate and didn’t contribute much to make them memorable.

Audio quality appeared fine. Speech was distinctive and natural, without edginess or other issues. Effects showed reasonable clarity and accuracy, and music offered good dimensionality. Nothing here seemed bad, but the mix lacked the engaging qualities to make it much better than average.

The Blu-ray comes with a mix of extras, and these start with an audio commentary from director Mike Elliott and actors Victor Webster, Barry Bostwick, Ellen Hollman and Will Kemp. All five sit together for a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, stunts and action, music, and a few other areas.

While the participants seem to enjoy themselves as they chat, the listener will probably finds less fun in this largely uninformative discussion. We get a smattering of decent details – mostly about stunts – but not much of interest materializes. That leaves this as a forgettable commentary.

14 Deleted Scenes occupy a total of 15 minutes, 23 seconds. These offer a little more action as well as some additional exposition and character bits. None of them would’ve hurt the end product – that would’ve been impossible – but they wouldn’t have improved the film, either.

Under The Making of Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power, we find three featurettes with a full time of 17 minutes, 36 seconds. In these, we hear from Elliott, Webster, Hollman, Bostwick, Kemp, fight choreographer Grant Powell, and actors Esme Bianco, Rodger Halston, Eve Torres, Royce Gracie, Brandon Hardesty, Stephen Dunlevy, Michael Biehn, Rutger Hauer, Antonio Silva, Roy Nelson, Lou Ferrigno, and Don Wilson.

The clips look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, Elliott’s impact on the production, and stunts/action. Although we get a few decent shots from the production, the comments tend to be fluffy and superficial. The lack of substance makes this a spotty collection of segments.

A Gag Reel goes for five minutes, 46 seconds. Should you expect anything other than the usual silliness and goofs? Nope – for better or for worse, this is a typical blooper collection.

The disc opens with ads for The Man with the Iron Fists 2, Get On Up, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Lucy, The Guest, Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer’s Curse and Nightcrawler. No trailer for Quest shows up here.

A second disc provides a DVD copy of Quest. It includes the commentary, the gag reel and two of the three featurettes.

As bad as I thought the original film was, it looks like a classic compared to the atrocious Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power. Amateurish and idiotic from start to finish, it comes with no positive qualities. The Blu-ray displays mediocre visuals, decent audio and mediocre supplements. Even if you love the Mummy and Scorpion King franchises, stay far away from this witless dud.