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.
