Conan (2011)

[etmoviesb]

I put this movie in the bad section according to the reviews I read after watching the movie.
But once again I think I fall to my love to `bad' movies because I loved the movie in every minute of it.

Sure: it is fairly different from the classic movie of the 1982 with Schwarzenegger as main character. But then? Why critics cannot see a movie for itself not for comparison with another one? Beside, the director of Conan (2011), Marcus Nispel, explicitly said he was going to make a different movie!

So about the movie itself: the approach to the movie is `action movie.' If you ever read some of the Conan books you should know that Conan usually passes: 40% of its time killing, 40% of its time `cuddling' women and 20% of its the time stealing.
So an action movie is a good choice: here we have mostly killing, one cuddling scene and some stealing in a interesting way: Conan frees some slaves and take their stuff, but also take them of a near city where they can start a new life.
In the books usually Conan does not have a personal reason to go in a quest, it is just his will. In the movie the main push for Conan is personal, but in the scene of the slaves the movie find the time to show also that aspect of his personality. Conan does not like slavery, so he and his groups go free them. That's it.

The action is continuous and the plot is explained in short, but well done segments around the movie. One thing I loved in the movie is the ability to synthesize: dialogs are minimal, but never bland or generic. Right to the point!
One scene where this is evident is on a ship, Conan and Tamara just escaped from a danger (I am generic so I wont spoil you if still have to see the movie) and there is a dialog like this one:
(sorry: I saw the movie in Italian and I am going by memory, but this is the idea.)

Conan: you look like a b***h.
Tamara: I am probably the only girl you ever meet that it is not one.
Conan: Cimmerian's girl wears armors like men. Give her an armor.
Artus (friend of Conan): I think he likes you.

And thats it, few sentences. And the movie defined the relation between three characters! Conan and Artus are friends, Tamara and Conan likes each other, Tamara is not a empty and bland damsel in distress, Conan has some problems when trying to be kind. Now, get ready for other action.

Most, is not all, dialogs are such expressive. I loved it. Even the main antagonist has different reason from the obvious `power'; he wants to the revive her beloved wife.

The visuals and the CGI are fine, the mainly used natural environment improved with color alteration like the Lord of the Rings. It works fine there is always the idea of a ruthless world where life is not worth a coin. There are few CGI monsters, I usually dislike CGI scenes because director tend to exaggerate and make long boring scenes. Here it is borderline, when I was almost there to say: please no more CGI monsters! Boring! the scene ended. So I think it is fine, after all in a Conan movie you want some monster.

About the story, it is a classic sword and sorcery flick revenge story. But really well done and centered around the action.

Quoting Andrew Borntreger's Krull review:
No matter what "real" critics say, you can not get me to hate this film.



Oh, btw. I am new here. Hello everyone!

[Torgo]

Some friends of mine went to see the new Conan and they all agreed that it was one of the worst movies that they've seen in quite some time. You would think that someone would have to work extra hard to make a Conan movie not be entertaining in some respect but they appeared to have done it with the new one. I'm staying far away from it.

[WingedSerpent]

Haven't seen it yet but I want to  soon.  I think it looks like it would be a fun cheesey movie.

[FatFreddysCat]

All I need to know is this: Did Rose McGowan look hot? 

[Archivist]

What?  There's a new Conan movie?  How did I miss this?   

[RCMerchant]

What?  There's a new Conan movie?  How did I miss this?   

Here's a trailer....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPQ99y8KaTU

[Hammock Rider]

It looks ok and there aren't enough Sword & Sorcery movies coming out these days so I'll go check it out, at the matinee.

  One thing I think no one has gotten right about Conan is his sense of menace. From reading the stories I always had the impression that Conan is almost an animal in human skin. He should always project a sense of menace even  if he's in a good mood. He's one of those guys that should make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, even when he smiles. Especially when he smiles.

[etmoviesb]

@Torgo
Your loss.

@WingedSerpent
Think Deathstalker, more violence, more story, less tits. In the 2011.

@FatFreddysCat
Actually not much, they give her a feeling of alienated witch instead of hot babe. On the other hand Rachel Nichols compensates fairly well.

@Archivist
Well, at very least I had a good effect writing this topic!

@Hammock Rider
I agree with your point, but the movie does not suffer from that in my opinion. Some scenes are so fast it is difficult to follow who is hitting who, but Conan is fairly brutal. You will love the prison scene (you will understand if you see the movie).


I say to everyone again: it is an action movie. Think Crank in fantasy settings.
Saying with Tvtropes terms: it is a `Low Fantasy' `Thud And Blunder' story.

[FatFreddysCat]

@FatFreddysCat
Actually not much, they give her a feeling of alienated witch instead of hot babe.

Dang. :(

[etmoviesb]

FatFreddysCat, I understand your pain.
It is made worse because the young actress Yoana Petrova that plays the Rose McGowan character in the scenes where Conan is a child promised a future hot witch.

[FatFreddysCat]

FatFreddysCat, I understand your pain.
It is made worse because the young actress Yoana Petrova that plays the Rose McGowan character in the scenes where Conan is a child promised a future hot witch.

...and the fact that she actually played a hot witch on TV's "Charmed" for quite a few years. She was babe-o-licious for most of her tenure on that show. 

[BoyScoutKevin]

Well, that was interesting reading everyone's opinion. I have plans to see it on Sunday, so I'll post my opinion on it sometime soon.

[Bmeansgood]

It looks ok and there aren't enough Sword & Sorcery movies coming out these days so I'll go check it out, at the matinee.

  One thing I think no one has gotten right about Conan is his sense of menace. From reading the stories I always had the impression that Conan is almost an animal in human skin. He should always project a sense of menace even  if he's in a good mood. He's one of those guys that should make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, even when he smiles. Especially when he smiles.

Agreed.  The trailer looks like they got his attitude wrong.

[Archivist]

The trailer makes the movie look like another one of those hyperstylized 300 type movies, which isn't bad in itself.  It's just that this style is so distinctive that seeing it in another movie makes it look like a copy.  But I will admit, the trailer looks like a lot of fun.  I hope it gets a theatrical release in Australia.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Well, I finally saw it on Sunday in a theater with just myself and one other nerd.

It was a good looking film, except for one of the final scenes, if you have seen it, then you know the one, which is one of the fakest scenes I have ever seen in a film. It is too bad that the rest of the film did not measure up to its look.

It was one of the worst acted films I have ever seen.

It was one of the worst written films I have ever heard.

And even for that genera, it was one of the most far fetched films I have ever seen.

But, you know what. I liked it.

I especially liked the effort to differenate the villains.

As for the fight scenes, they were okay, but they could have been better. Like alot of fight scenes in today's films, they were needlessly confusing.

When I see something next time, I'll again post my opinions.