I think if you are a fan of Fantasy Movies such as The Scorpion King you will love this movie. It has all things you hope for, Sorceress', thieves, slaves both freed and captured. Magic, Fighting, decapitated head trophies, ancient artifacts, shirtless barbarians, shirtless women, blood, honor, sex.
It might be too short of a movie to introduce the entire world that Conan lives in but hell that's why I hope for a sequel.
Were B is boring A is great and A+ is ground breaking, I give it an A in all categories. Except the necromancer blood line it gets a F in that category for having one person of a Pure Blood Line that just makes no sense, why didn't her parents and grandparents have more babies to preserve the blood line.
In summary, a great movie I will likely watch again, it fulfills its potential and doesn't try to hard to be ground breaking.
I agree. When my wife and I saw this movie neither of us saw what all the bitching was about, it was a solid sword & sorcery movie. Was it a perfect Conan movie? No. But what constitutes a perfect Conan movie these days? A scene for scene adaptation of an REH Conan story? The REH fanboys would still find fault with it somewhere, just like the Tolkien fanboys did with the LotR movies, and I can't see how they could have been done better. Would the hypothetical perfect Conan movie be a remake of Arnold's Conan from the 1980s? Arnold Conan fanboys would hate it because it wasn't their film. Taken on it's own merits this Conan was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteExactly, taken as a sword and sorcery movie it stands on its own without even needing the Conan name.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the movie, but I want to -- and I'm a Robert E. Howard "fanboy."
ReplyDeleteThe Arnold movies were a "bad" mix of many Howard stories. There was a Valeria, but most of what "she" said in the movie was actually said by a woman named Belit. So . . .
Holywood can only do so much. Even a movie based upon a single Howard story would take a trilogy to make properly. I accept that and am happy if Holywood simply "tries" to get it "mostly" right.
As for The Lord of the Rings, my only gripe was that Arwen plays no part in the story, but she dominates the movies -- in order to get "chicks" to go see it.
I only bitch about the commercialism. Changing my "beloved" stories for no reason other than to make money irks me.
But I'm a flexible "fanboy." ;)
I get that, but I grew up at a weird time. My first exposure to Conan was through Marvel comics, and I loved them. Then I got to see Arnold as Conan, and I loved that too. Then I got to read Howard and grow to love the original, so I am pretty flexible as to what Conan CAN be I guess.
ReplyDelete@Jagsatai: I understand your position and don't have a problem with it.
ReplyDeleteMy only complaint with the new movie -- unseen -- would be that they should have paid Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson whatever he wanted to make the movie.
I wasn't impressed with the current "Conan's" performance in Game of Thrones -- or Stargate -- as others apparently were. So, for me -- except for financial reasons -- there was no particular reason to go with him.
But that's just personal preference, so . . .
I think the only place I saw the actor so far was in Stargate Atlantis and so I thought it was pretty cool he has moved from to being Conan. I need to give Game of Thrones a shot though.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of sorcery movies, and I was very disappointed. Spoilers ahead:
ReplyDelete1) Why confront conan with just yourself and your daughter when you have an army? Oh noes they escaped!
2) a stagecoach chase has been done to death. Stop it, or make it awesome.
3) The C-section when he is born is beyond belief. One cut? Really?
4) Heman gesture with the sword made be laugh out load.
5) Conan's allies did what exactly? Apart from give work to Zena outcasts.
6) Nobody in the movie knows how to shoot a missile weapon.
7) the father-daughter relationship either didn't go far enough, or should not have been implied sexually. They're baddies remember, they can be twisted.
8) script was dreadful.
Your first to points, I see but didn't notice within while watching the movie and frankly they sound like complaints against movies in general.
ReplyDeleteI loved the C-Section because it's been along time since I have seen something new in a Sword and Sorcery and I watch to see things beyond belief.
I always thought He-Man stole that gesture from Conan and then lent it to link.
As for the rest, I think it just left room for more things to be explorer or even imagined in your mind. It was also Implied that the daughter might hate or betray her dad. I actually like the hints of more going on in the movie then was attempted to answer. Gave it more depth IMHO.
Frankly I'd like you to point out a single fantasy movie that doesn't have the majority of things on your list.
1. Badguys facing heroes dead on when it would be smarter not too
2. Action for the sake of Action
3.Things beyond belife
4.A little Cheese
5.Not enough time to focus on everything
6.NPC's suck compared to Stars
ect.
Anyway thanks for coming and sharing your opinion, helped me to further evaluate what I did or didn't like about it and I still say awesome movie :)
Okay, I finally watched the movie.
ReplyDeleteMy one big peeve as a R.E. Howard "fanboy."
Robert E. Howard always -- ALWAYS -- made it a point to inform the reader that the Cimmerians WERE NOT -- Hyborians!
Conan's people DID NOT share in the "breaking of the mask" -- not a Howard "creation" by the way.
The Hyborians did over throw ancient Acheron -- according to Howard -- but the Cimmerians were not a Hyborian "tribe" and did not take part in the assault on Acheron.
Sorry.
Neither were the Aseir, the Vanir or the Hyperborians of the Hyborian tribes.
So, as the daughter misqouted, it might have been a Hyborian sword that broke the mask, but the sword of Conan's father was NOT a Hyborian sword to aid in "reforming" the mask.
Sorry, the mixing up of the Hyborians with the Cimmerians drives me nuts.
Doesn't anyone pay attention to detail any more?
I know -- they don't care.
Well, if you don't care -- make some other movie.
Anyway, that's my only gripe. The Cimmerians WERE NOT Hyborians.
Sorry.
I can see why that would bother you, sounds like a plot hole to, I honestly didn't hear Hyborians mentioned, so I wouldn't have known the difference either way.
ReplyDeleteI do need to read the books some day.
Hahahahaha!
ReplyDeleteHoward was poetic in his writing, his descriptions of scenes and events are awesome:
"They drifted down the darkened street like the ghosts of murdered men."
Too cool. Check out the "real" Howard stories someday.
By the by, the scene sequence of Conan as a young man, fighting the Picts -- the eternal enemies of the Cimmerians -- with the egg in his mouth IS NOT how Conan was first "blooded," according to Howard -- by it was a DAMN AWESOME scene sequence all the same! ;)
See? I'm flexible. :D
lol, nice
ReplyDelete