Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Conan The Barbarian

So I took a break from writing and editing today to watch "Conan The Barbarian" (the 2011 version).
I should recap my history with The Cimmerian before going much farther...
My first exposure to Conan was "The Savage Sword of Conan" when I was a kid. Then, I discovered the comic book, THEN I discovered it was a series of novels. Then a movie came out and I LOVED it! Then The Destroyer came out and I love that one too! Then Red Sonja came out and...it sucked.
For years, we heard Ahnold may return for a "Conan The King" movie and I was thrilled about that notion. It didn't happen...yet (fingers crossed), but you can imagine my excitement when I saw that a new version would be released. It would star Jason Momoa...who  had never heard of, but who rocked as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones on HBO (I didn't know it was the same guy for awhile).
So, I consider myself a bit of a Conan expert. I owned the short-lived roleplaying game. I played the Xbox game. I read a ton of the books. I read the originals as well as the scores of others that were published later.
I just like the whole Hyborian age.
The new movie though...it left me a little flat. Having said that, however, let me say this (and I cannot believe I am saying this), I like Jason better than Arnold. I never thought there would be another Conan, but I like this guy.
I thought this story was pretty good. It reminded me of a Robert E. Howard story, but I guess there was not enough wenching, drinking and slaying.
Stephen Lang was not that great to me either and I LOVE Stephen Lang. He was just not that memorable. Rose McGowen was a much better baddie than Stephen.
So, I would say that it is worth checking out, but temper your expectations. As Sword and Sorcery goes, it's not too bad, but as far as a Conan movie, which set the gold standard for Sword and Sorcery, it leaves a bit to be desired.

1 comment:

  1. okay, i want to see this... without prejudice and without busting the movie to early. i love the score [most hate], tyler bates gets a bad rap for stealing ideas or just another hack of the modern score "bambastic or epic" hans zimmer style. on that note i lick his style since 300, but i am talking about the film. one thank you for the thought of arnold to return to the third [possible] film, i have never heard that before. second i have a stack of conan comics from the early 1970's i need to dig them out and scan them to share, i was a fan without much knowledge of conan. okay on the movie, i will watch... i heard mixed mostly bad views on this, you are the real fan and i appeal to your opinions.

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