Conan The Barbarian (DVD)

Advantages: see review
Disadvantages: see review

...time. Some years later however, Conan The Barbarian is still a name which you will hear mentioned in movie conversations and still a movie you'll find lurking in video collections alongside some of the greats. Other than being one of Arnold Schwarzennegar's first movies I didn't see that there was anything else to be interested in, as a result, it was a long time before I finally succumbed and checked out what all the fuss was about. It is odd that ...
...first appeared, the exploits of Conan were seen to be just the kind of material for this kind of movie. With a script co-written by Oliver Stone and set to be directed by John Milius, it looked like a certain winner too but Milius departed to work on another project(Big Wednesday) before filming started and a bunch of other names came into the mix instead. Notably the likes of Ridley Scott and Ralph Bakshi were touted as being interested in taking ... Read review

Advantages: Arnie, big sword, a glorious masterpiece
Disadvantages: There are none!!!

...but here is another one. Conan the Barbarian is a fantasy epic that broke the mould on its release in 1982, combining a simple story of love and revenge with the might of the then, relatively unknown, big Arnie, whose film it undoubtedly is. It is said by many that the Terminator was Arnie's most awesome role but I disagree - that honour goes to Conan. Directed by John Milius and starring the aforementioned Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones and Sandahl ...
...and its people, the young Conan holding the hand of his mother as she is beheaded by Doom himself. Sold into slavery, Conan is forced to work shoving some big mechanical water wheel around in a circle for the next 10 years before he is bought by some other Lord who puts him to work in what can only be described as a very small gladiatorial ring, where Conan learns to kill. Further educated by some far eastern buddhist-type monks, Conan is eventually ... Read review

Advantages: Funny
Disadvantages: The acting

...ultimate sword and sorcery epic Conan The Barbarian. It took years for Herr Schwarzkopf to outgrow the fearsome warrior garments to move on to light comedy which he proved himself able to play with a rare panache in stuff like Kindergarten Cop and Twins. He had to go via films such as Running Man, Total Recall and Terminator to get there, of course, but proved with his epic appearance in True Lies that he is at his best when he gets a part which ...
...its overly po faced exterior, Conan The Barbarian was just such a flick because even though it had an abundance of braindead muscle flexing, it was so farcical and laughable that it bordered on spoofdom. It wasn't intended to be that way, however, because the film was planned as a straightfaced adaptation of Robert E Howard's stories about the Barbarian warrior which also spawned a Marvel comic strip some 30 years or so ago. However, you get so many ... Read review

Advantages: Quite funny, not too much dialogue, great music score! A stunned Camel!
Disadvantages: Atrocious acting, lots of pointless groping!

...inspiration for the character of Conan the Barbarian came from the books by Robert E Howard, the barbarian was also known as Conan the Cimmerian, as this was where he hailed from in the original books published in the 1930's. The stories were originally published in the pulp magazine ' Weird Tales '. As a literary character Conan has stature, many are the stories where tall, long haired barbarians are portrayed with there hulking muscles and barbaric ...
...With the release of Conan in 1982 finally there was a film that could do justice to the books, roughly half a century after Conan saw print the film was about to be unleashed. Although a good film in its own right, the connections with the original stories are quite loose, only a few characters get a strong mention. The film was written by the unlikely pairing of Oliver Stone and John Milius and the script draws material from a number of stories ... Read review

Advantages: Arnie's best role, great action, and gore
Disadvantages: lowish budget

...barbarian is his best. Conan is not a perfect film, the acting isn't great, and some of the sets (and mythical Beasts) are blatantly made of rubber, but Arnie makes you forgive all that, with his mighty battles, and brooding power. You find yourself drawn in to his struggle and feel the satisfaction when those who stand in his way meet a bloody death on the end of his mighty broadsword. to truly apreciate this film it helps to have grown up in ...
...helps as the film makers can dispence with all the scene setting and background in the opening 10 minutes (as is perfectly shown in Conan the Barbarian) and get on with telling the tale of the lone warrior battling the evil forces, and having high adventure along the way. ... Read review

Advantages: Great atmosphere throughout the film
Disadvantages: Quite simple, not a lot of dialogue from the star

...In 1982, internationally celebrated strongman and bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger burst onto the big screen with his portrayal as the title role in Conan The Barbarian, a film directed by John Milius. Arnie, as he has become better known, had appeared in a few films already, but this is considered to be his breakthrough film. The Plot As a child, Conan witnesses the vicious killings of his family and clansmen at the hands of a vicious warlord who is controlling of his people and of all the land, Thulsa Doom. Years later, following a childhood of slavery, Conan finds himself as a champion gladiator, and sets his life to finding Doom and exacting his revenge. He teams up with Valeria and Subotai, two thieves, in taking on Doom, his lieutenants and his fearsome warriors, the Vanir, with the blessing and aid of King Osric... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: The film which made Arnie a star
Disadvantages: The film sequels aren't as good

...had been reading a rare occult book before he began to write Conan. People who had ever read this book had always died a gruesom death, such as their throat ripped out. Howard went from having a slight body-type to having a very muscular physique just like Conan, while this remarkable urge to write posessed him. Howard had always made his contempt for suicide clear, yet in 1936 he was found to have apparantly shot himself deliberately , and due to his strong constitution his death took several hours. Some say that he met this fate because he read this book. Conan the Barbarian is one of my top five favourite films and I think everyone should have this in their collection. The DVD has several special features. Audio Commentary by Director John Milius and Arnold Schwarzeneger. "Conan Unchained", the making of Conan... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Non stop action, good excuse for gore and fighting, cheap
Disadvantages: Plot is weak, Arnie with long hair?, you will not impress your girlfriend much...

...If you want a movie to challenge your intellect, this ain't it... The plot line is very simple. Conan's (Arnold Schwarznegger) parents are murdered during a barbarian attack on his village and he becomes enslaved as a young boy. He is destined to turn a wheel pump for the rest of his life where he builds up ever increasing quantities of muscle. For some reason the pump is then abandoned and Conan the slave is sold on to become a gladiator, eventually escaping and becoming a thief. It is during a daring raid that he teams with two sidekicks and shortly afterwards enlisted by a local king to save his daughter from the clutches of the leader of a snake cult. Lots of fighting ensues in with a few fun lines thrown in, until Conan realises the leader of the said cult is the man who had his parents executed. This now turns into... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful