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.