The new CONAN movie: Okay, I’m in.
CONAN is coming. Okay, I’ve had serious doubts until now, based on the “teaser trailer” I’d seen. But this new trailer does it. I’m sold. I’m officially excited and enthused about this new CONAN movie. The Hyborian Age settings look terrific; Rose McGowan looks creepy as hell–nice touch having a female villain; the costuming and design looks superb; the creatures are well-done CGI beasties.
Is this the Arnold S. Conan from ’82? Is it the John Buscema-drawn Conan? Or the Frank Frazetta-painted Conan? No…it’s a new incarnation. Actor Jason Momoa reminds me of the Young Conan–the one Barry Windsor Smith drew in the 70s at Marvel Comics. If only he had that two-horned helmet and that three-disc necklace, he’d be a dead ringer. It’s a younger, rawer Conan, fresh from Cimmeria and the siege of Venarium. The Conan from Howard’s “Tower of the Elephant” story: a savage youth set loose in a civilization of decadent savagery.
I’m a HUGE fan of the original CONAN THE BARBARIAN film–the one directed by John Milius and co-writen by Oliver Stone. But I’m ready to jump in and experience this new take on Robert E. Howard’s most enduring character. For a guy who grew up reading Conan books, comics, and magazine–and someone who considers the original a classic–that’s saying a lot.
Of course, you can only tell so much from a trailer…but I’ve got a good feeling about this one. That said, I’m going to skip the 3D version and see the 2D instead…except for AVATAR, 3D tends to ruin most movies these days.
Judge for yourself at Yahoo:
http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/conan-the-barbarian/1809953260#first
And if the movie still sucks, despite all this going for it: Crom help us all!
I reserve my final verdict until I actually see the film.
hmmm, maybe there *is* hope for this flick…
i will say the weapons are comically overlarge, but if that’s the only issue with the film i’d certainly not complain.
John,
You’re right. The trailer is certainly filled with lots of colorful characters, and some terrific looking sets. Plus Momoa seems to carry it off.
I’m definitely intrigued. Count me in.
Doom! Doom!
JRF, the first rule of movies is if you go in with high opes, it’ll suck.
Doom!
It is has a far more Epic feel to it than the original movie, so there’s hope there, since the original was only a fair attempt at REH’s spirit.
But please, dispense with the spin-moves when sword fighting.
I don’t know. I still have a LOT of doubts. Marcus Nispel directed…and look at his track record: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (remake), Pathfinder, Friday the 13th (remake). I am a bit of a film snob…but I was a really big fan of the original Conan movie…not so much the sequel. (But seriously…how do you follow an R-rated movie with a PG-rated one?)
In Game of Thrones Jason Momoa makes a great-looking barbarian as Khal Drogo, but he hasn’t done much yet besides look the part. I think he could pull off Conan, I just wish they would of done something more source for the story. All the brilliant source material but they decide to take more of a note from the original movie, with Conan bent on revenge. I’d like to see a nice trilogy, a young Conan raiding and thieving, a slightly older Conan on his way to becoming a King, then finished off with Conan as King.
We’ll see.
Moose: I liked PATHFINDER! I didn’t know that was the same director. So for me that bodes well. On the same note, I didn’t even recognize Momoa as Khal Drogo! He hasn’t spoken more than two lines so far in the series, but he certainly looks the part and plays the brooding, silent barbarian well.
The lines the Conan speaks in the trailer sound suitably Conan-esque to me: “No man should live in chains.” and that bit about “I will follow you to the edge of the earth” or something like that.
I’m cautiously optimistic…
What’s with the jump-attacks in movies? Did the director hit X-Y on his control pad during the fight sequence?
This has been going on for too long now and needs to stop. First, there was Brad Pitt’s Achiles during the duel in Troy, then Sam Worthington’s Perseus in CotT, and now Conan jumping to stab a sword down at somebody. Weak.
It’s as bad as spinning during combat; looks pretty on screen, but isn’t all that useful.
Otherwise, this might not be half bad.
-NGD
It does look nice, but man have those production notes left me wary. I didn’t get any real sense for the story of the film; normally that’s something I appreciate in a trailer, but here it’s the story that’s the big question for me. Still, Momoa looks right to me, and I think you’re right that there is a Windsor-Smith feel to him. So hopefully worth a flyer.
I think that this looks like it might be a fun romp. It’s a little further from the source material than I might have hoped, but if the score is good and the story exciting I’ll be happy with a “different Conan.”
But I am going into the theater assuming this will suck in order to appease the “beats my expectations” gods.
As for the spinning and jumping. These all occur because movie characters have all been stated with post-Feng Shui statistics/powers. Some directors use Pathfinder, and others 4e, and it looks like Conan’s jump move is a multi-class use of the Essentials Rogue “Acrobatic Strike” maneuver.
Why do movies use jumps, spins, and other acrobatic displays of graceful violence? Because it’s exciting. Because it’s an exaggeration of reality–not the hacking of raw meat that was the truth of sword-fighting in the ancient world. Comic books have been turning violence into a “savage ballet” for decades (that’s a quote from the great Gil Kane), and movies have finally caught up. Ever since THE MATRIX, movie directors have been trying to outdo each other in over-the-top combat choreography. It’s far more interesting than the grizzly reality of what battles truly look like (see the finale of HBO’s ROME for some very realistic battle scenes–brutal).
So you will have fantastical versions of combat just as you have fantastical versions of warriors, kingdoms, settings, and everything else. It’s all about creating a spectacle. I’m okay with this…it’s when they start throwing 30-pound swords a couple hundred yards for direct hits that I can’t handle it anymore (SPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND, anyone?)…
As long as there’s some semblance of reality there, I can forgive the exaggerated choreography in the interest of spectacle. Hey, it works for kung fu flicks…
Seeing the trailer, I had a better opinion of the movie than earlier. I’d earlier thought it was just “Kull” where they film outside eastern European ruins (in the days they were new, well…) but make it PC and lame.
But, still, if only it was “Sword and the Sorceror 2”, “DeathStalker 5” or they put a cool mask on him and it was “Tim Vigil’s Cuda”…well, I’d be WILD about it then. Fantasy/Sword and Sorcery getting the treatment it deserves at last, mabye they’ll get Arnie back for “King Conan” someday.
And, really, except for that painfully laughable “Take over all of Hyboria” and bits of that re-quoted bit from Queen of the Black Coast, if they’d titled the movie like any of my suggestions, would anybody said “Hey! That should be Conan!”?
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