The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption, the latest direct-to-video sequel to the 2002 prequel to The Mummy Returns that featured Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in his first lead role in a film, is set to hit store shelves this week and Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released several preview clips from the film.

You can watch all six videos, including a trailer and a behind-the-scenes clip, here below.

The Rock Action 3-Pack
Blu-ray Edition
The Scorpion King, Rundown, Doom
Directed by Chuck Russell, Andrzej Bartkowiak, Peter Berg
Starring The Rock
Release Date: February 10, 2009

Before Dwayne Johnson had a game plan or was racing to some mountain, he was the wrestler The Rock, the most electrifying man in sports entertainment. When he was given a cameo appearance in the Mummy Returns as The Scorpion King, he took the ball and ran with it and gave a pretty impressive debut performance. Producers obviously saw something special in him and before you know it, Dwayne Johnson was on his way to Hollywood, starring in his own movies and eventually becoming a star under the Disney umbrella.

Getting in on having Johnson’s name out there now for his new Disney movie Race to Witch Mountain, Universal Pictures has released The Rock Action 3-Pack, collecting three of his movies — The Scorpion King, The Rundown, and Doom — for a discounted price. Three movies for the price of one seems like a great deal but are these movies any good? I took it upon it upon myself to find out.

Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior
Directed by Russell Mulcahy
Starring Michael Copon, Randy Couture, Karen David, Simon Quarterman, Natalie Becker
Universal Home Entertainment
Release date: August 19, 2008

I received the standard and Blu-ray DVDs for Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, and had planned on doing the standard disc review myself, but I just got bogged down with other tasks, so I sent it out to one of my writers. Since I don’t have a Blu-ray player [yet], I sent that out to Henchman21 (read his review), who flat out told me this was not a good movie and that he had trouble even finishing the viewing. The other writer could conjure up little more than to say that the movie was “in a word, shit.”

When people give something such bad reviews like this, I just HAVE to see it for myself, because I wonder, can it really be all that bad and if so, why? I have to know!

So, I pop in the disc and prepare to be brutally assaulted by what I am now expecting to be pure and utter crap and after 20 minutes of the film I found myself thinking, jeez, it’s not that bad.

This is a direct-to-DVD prequel to 2002’s Scorpion King, which itself was a prequel/spin-off to Universal’s The Mummy Returns, which had Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Mathayus/Scorpion King. The key words here are direct-to-DVD, so right there you know not to expect something on par with the Academy Award-winning Gladiator.

Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior
Directed by Russell Mulcahy
Starring Michael Copon, Randy Couture, Karen David, Simon Quarterman
Universal Home Entertainment
Release date: August 19, 2008

A funny thing happened about halfway through this movie, the Minotaur showed up, and suddenly I realized that I was watching an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journey. This is not to say I was ever a fan of Hercules, but I was just very much reminded of that series. The dimly lit sets, the goofy comic relief, the bad CG monsters, yes it had it all. And like Hercules, Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior had a simple charm to it, and I found myself starting to appreciate it.

Now let’s get this out of the way. This is NOT a good movie. It looks about as good as you would expect a direct-to-DVD movie to look. The dialogue is pretty wooden, as are a lot of the actors. I mean, you don’t even get to make fun of The Rock, or ogle Kelly Hu’s magnificent figure, which is pretty much the only reason to watch the first Scorpion King film.