Conan the Barbarian
Tags: cruelty, murder, violence, flashback, good versus evil, revenge, alternate history

Plot synopsis:
During the Hyborean Age, a group of sorcerers from Acheron created a mask from the skulls of dead kings and sacrificed their pure-blooded daughters to the dark gods in order to give the mask the power to subjugate the entire world. After killing countless people in their campaign to conquer the planet, the sorcerers were defeated by the Cimmerians led by Corin (Ron Perlman), who destroys the mask, scattering the pieces across the land, and keeping one for himself.Years later, the Cimmerians are at war with a rival clan. Corin's pregnant wife is fatally injured in the battle, but is able to give birth to a son, Conan, before succumbing to her injuries. Conan's birth on a battlefield, and subsequent survival, is considered to be a powerful omen.As an adolescent, Conan (Leo Howard) becomes a fierce, but unfocused, warrior. After a young Conan returns from a warrior's trial with the severed heads of members of a savage tribe, Corin takes the boy to his foundry and teaches him the Riddle of Steel. Conan insists that he is ready to wield his own sword, but Corin reminds him that once a blade has been forged, it must still be tempered with ice before it can be wielded. Not long after, village are attacked by armored warriors, sporting a symbol of a large, two headed serpent. The leader, Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang), confronts Corin, demanding his piece of the Mask. When Corin refuses, he is restrained and tortured. Conan, in an angry moment of defiance, attacks one of the warriors, Lucius (Steven O'Donnell), maiming him when he cuts off the man's nose. After recovering the piece of the mask, Zym has Conan and Corin chained to a pole, a cauldron of molten metal hanging precariously above them, then sets fire to the foundry. Corin sacrifices himself to enable Conan to escape. Conan is left an orphan and bears wounds on his palms from his attempts to save his father. Conan wanders out and claims a large sword as his own -- his father's sword was stolen by Zym's daughter, Marique.Twenty years later, Conan (Jason Momoa) is a mercenary, working with a Zamoran pirate named Artus (Nonso Anozie). The two men raid a slave camp and take the survivors to the city of Messantia. The snake cult has grown in size over the last decade, and they have a small garrison in the city. Conan sees Lucius, now an out-of-shape warden, pursuing a pickpocket, Ela-Shan (Saïd Taghmaoui), and allows himself to be arrested in a bid to learn more about his enemy. Conan soon escapes prison and tortures Lucius for information about Zym and the snake cult. After Conan promises to spare him, Lucius reveals that Zym is seeking the pure blood descendant of the sorcerers of Acheron, as it will take their blood to unlock the Mask's true power. Satisfied that he has gotten all he can out of Lucius, Conan leaves him at the mercy of the liberated prisoners, reminding the frightened guard "I only promised I wouldn't kill you." Ela-Shan tells Conan that, if he ever needs him to return the favor, Conan will find him at Arlagon, the City of Thieves.Meanwhile, Zym and Marique (Rose McGowan), attack a monastery where they believe the Pureblood is. Sensing something is wrong, the elder priest Fassir (Raad Rawi) instructs one of his students, Tamara Amalia Jorvi-Karashan (Rachel Nichols), to flee to her birthplace, then confronts Zym to buy time for her to escape. Zym recounts how his wife, Maliva, was murdered by Fassir's order. Fassir defends this decision, insisting that Maliva was an insane fanatic who was attempting to unleash occult forces to destroy Hyborea. Enraged by Fassir's defiance, Zym kills him by smashing his head against the marble steps. Marique tests the blood of the remaining students and realizes that the Pureblood is not among them.Tamara's carriage comes under attack by snake cult warriors. Conan comes to her rescue, after a spirited chase, eventually captures their captain, Remo (Milton Welsh). After forcing Remo to reveal Tamara's importance, Conan kills him by catapulting him into Zym's camp with a message in his mouth for Zym to meet him at the Shaipur Outpost alone. Marique verifies that the cloth the message is written on belongs to Tamara.Confident that Zym will not recognize him, Conan masquerades as a bounty hunter, offering to sell Tamara to Zym for a substantial sum of gold. Once he is satisfied that Zym and Marique have come alone, Conan reveals his true intentions, and challenges Zym to a sword fight. At her father's instructions, Marique engages Conan with soldiers made of sand before Zym battles Conan. Conan and Zym first seem to be nearly evenly matched, but Conan's rage gives him the upper hand. Marique ultimately swings the fight in her father's favor by poisoning Conan with a poison-laced boomerang sword. Tamara rescues him and they return to Artus' boat, stationed nearby, where Artus helps Conan recover.The boat is attacked by the snake cult, who kill several of the crew, though are ultimately repulsed. Conan orders Artus to return to Messantia with Tamara and departs to confront Zym in his kingdom. Artus tells Tamara that Conan left a map behind and she follows him, meeting with him in a cave, where they make love. The next day, as she's returning to the boat to join Artus so they can sail away, she's captured by the snake cult.Remembering Ela-Shan's earlier promise, Conan travels to Argalon and hires Shan to help him sneak into Zym's fortress. They discover that beneath the fortress is an old mine, and this is where Zym and Marique plan to sacrifice Tamara, Conan enters through an undersea cave, where the snake cult are preparing to feed prisoners to a giant multi-tendriled serpent, the Dweller. After killing the beast, Conan proceeds further down the mine. Conan attacks the snake cult before they can complete the sacrifice, but Zym has collected enough of Tamara's blood to restore the Mask to suboptimal strength. Zym dons the mask, claiming to be invincible, and proceeds to fight Conan again. Zym uses Corin's sword to fight Conan, but Conan is eventually able to wrest it from his opponent. The battle inadvertently triggers an earthquake, killing most of Zym's followers and rendering the mine unstable. Conan frees Tamara and tells her to run. However, she is followed by Marique. Conan hears Tamara's screams, and kills Marique by throwing her down a mine shaft where she's impaled on a post. As the mine continues to crumble, Conan and Tamara attempt to find an alternate way way out, with an enraged Zym in hot pursuit. Conan and Tamara eventually make their way to an unstable rope bridge, precariously above a massive canyon. As they cross the bridge, a support beam under Tamara gives way, causing her to nearly fall. As Conan attempts to save her before the bridge gives way, they are cornered by Zym, who uses the Mask's power to summon Maliva's spirit. In an act of defiance, Conan proceeds to destroy the bridge supports with his sword, before jumping to safety with Tamara. The bridge collapses, and Zym falls to his death.With the snake cult destroyed, Conan returns Tamara to her birthplace, telling her that they'll meet again. He then returns to his old village and tells his father that he has avenged his death and recovered the sword Zym stole from him, before departing in search of new adventures.

Review: Director Marcus Nispel is undoubtedly the long-lost offspring of trash master and fellow German, Uwe Boll, as this film is so profoundly awful on every level that it's hard to think that it wasn't intentionally made this way.Remarkably, the movie gets bad immediately and stays that way.
Howard's stories is a smart, tough, brutal survivor -- and instead seems to reveal to us the underwhelming idea that Conan's just another hunky sword dude with a knack for slaughter.The script inconsistently sticks to any epic poetic flair in the dialog, so that when such words are delivered, they feel forced and flat.
The noted line "I live, I love, I slay, and I am content," is meted out with such lack of panache or feeling that I wanted to wash out Jason Momoa's mouth with soap, right after forcing him to watch Schwarzenegger -- not a great actor, by any means -- deliver the unforgettable tagline: "To crush your enemies, drive them before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women." But then again, John Milius bothered to direct his actors.Stephen Lang (Colonel Quaritch of "Avatar") is the half-assed villain Khalar Zym, who inspires zero awe and no respect on his whatever quest for some supernatural thingy, which is such an afterthought that you constantly forget about it.
So that this deviates from Howard a little (or a lot) isn't really a bother to me.Now, before I get to the review I want to say to anyone out there studying film (like myself) to watch this movie.
This is not an insult, this is advice, because I believe once he has a better grasp on it, he will make a fine film maker.Conan the Barbarian is a summer movie.
Conan lacks myth - it truly lacks that sense of myth and wonder that created a whole new genre, and it lacks cinematic vision, it lacks what makes film rather than TV, and while entertaining after a decade of Xena and Game of Thrones we deserve more than this in our big budget movies.Casting is fine, plot is a little dull, action is half-way to OK - it's just that overall there is nothing to really put life into this - where is the wow!
Howard's fantasy stories but also of the Marvel Comics or the 1982 film "Conan the Barbarian" with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In fact the total lack of understanding the character of Conan not only from the writers but also from Director Marcus Nispel and actor Jason Momoa is the main problem.
(I generally tend to ignore the critics especially for movies that I personally think will be worth seeing in theaters) the trailer looked pretty cool for this one, so I went in expecting at the least an awesome super gory action flick.
Only for short moments here and there he did some barbarian like things but not at all on the level that you'd expect from a movie titled "Conan The Barbarian" The action scenes themselves were just not filmed well at all.
I enjoyed the 1982 Conan the Barbarian, and went into this movie not expecting a film as good but one to be entertaining.
So, that said, let me tell you from a real fan, that this film shows you the Hyborian Age, straight up like Howard wrote it.Momoa IS Conan.
Mainly,my strongest reason for writing this review is because of all the people that bashed this movie and hated it without even seeing it,and this flick certainly doesn't deserve this low score.When I watched this movie I didn't have high expectations,but the most important thing here is that you shouldn't compare this movie to the Arnie's version,they are two totally different things.The only thing these two have in "common" is the origin story which happens in the first 15-20 minutes and that's it.Overall,I liked this movie.Sure,it had few clichés and few bad dialogues which couldn't have been avoided,but as I said,overall this was a pleasant surprise.Remember,we are talking about Conan movie here,so you can't expect Oscar winning performances or certain depth of story.This is action adventure movie or sword and sorcery movie to be precise,and maybe that is the main reason that I liked the movie,because that genre is practically dead,so this was certainly a welcome addition.This movie has all that you'll expect from Conan movie-it's brutal ( there are buckets of blood and violence ),there is magic,little bit of boobs,battles,creatures etc,etc...Certainly not movie for children.On the acting side,I must say I liked Jason Momoa as Conan,I wasn't expecting to like him( having seen few trailers where they inserted that awful line "I slay,I love,blah,blah" ).Everybody else in the cast was solid,except female cast.While on the whole I didn't have anything against Rose McGowan's Marique character,Rachel Nichols's Tamara was totally one dimensional character and I really didn't care for her( cliché ridden character that unfortunately you have to have in this kind of story ).This movie was doomed,bashed and trashed before it even stepped into production,first because of the director and then because of Jason Momoa.While I also wasn't thrilled with both of these choices,I gave this movie a chance...and didn't regret it,and I would ( if it ever gets made,which is probably impossible ) like to see a sequel.At least see it,before you say anything and see it for what it is-an entertaining sword and sorcery action flick.7.5 out of 10 for what it is.
The villains here are Khalar Zym and his witchy daughter, Marique, who seek to resurrect Zym's sorcerous wife, but they need to acquire the pure blood necessary for their Acheron magic.WHAT WORKS:Jason Momoa, as Conan, is excellent; far better than Arnie.
I'd prefer to see one of REH's originals put to film, like "A Witch Shall Be Born" or "Beyond the Black River." Stephan Lang as Zym makes a worthy enough villain for Conan, but he comes off too clichéd and cartoony, especially in the final act.
The film needed more 'downtime' to contrast the wall-to-wall action, like campfire scenes (which would better indicate distances), more camaraderie on the ship, more development of Conan & Tamara's relationship, etc.
This 2011 version had glimpses of this, like when Conan is birthed on the battlefield then raised to the sky and when Conan's father expresses his love with his final act, but, again, it needed more.CONCLUSION: The filmmakers got a lot of things right, like Momoa as Conan and the authentic look/feel of the Hyborian Age. The film's not bad at all and pulsates with energy, but it needed more depth, epic-ness and uniqueness to pull it out of its "blockbuster" mediocrity.
Having read a lot of Conan though, including the original stories and the more recent Dark Horse comics, I don't think that John Milius got it right.This isn't a remake and I think that Jason Momoa embodies the character of Conan far better than Arnie did.
Instead of that they focused on a different kind of story.Conan the Barbarian isn't the greatest movie of all time, but it also isn't the worst.
Expect lots of action scenes (which are pretty standard for the genre, but not at all unnerving), some nudity (it would be a sin to make a Conan movie without a pair of boobs, and Rachel Nichols provides a set of perfect ones), pretty cliché ending (what would we do without them??), and not a lot from the acting department (you didn't see that one coming, did ya?).Take away the beard from Khal Drogo and you get Conan.
This film made me puzzled...the directing could be better, the story is quite good, as for Conan I know worse than this, but the funny elements as catapult, catapulted my mood directly the opposite way and the egg race was dumb (proven to be a warrior with running with eggs in your mouth ????
I give it a Action film 10/10 (hell yeah) Good film with philosophy and characters 05/10 (poorly written) Conan fim 10/10 (definitely it is Conan) Momoa 10/10 (Momo has potential for the future and Conan suites him) REH purist 07/10 (still missed some expectations)PROS - athmosfere, locations, Khalar and Marique, action and Momo CONS - bad dialogues and script, egg race, big ship "sailing" through Hyboria (come on) and catapultall in all I give it 8/10 hoping for the Frost Giant's daughter/Queen of the black coast sequel.
Stephen Lang played an amazing war lord and his freaky daughter; Rose Mcgowan, awesome, could not of been weirder, why not, it's a FANTASY movie......The major actors all do good jobs and some of the minor characters actually steal their scenes.
sadly it was released before the main lead done by Jason Momoa was to become a big hit in Games Of Thrones as Khal Drogo.There are so many well known names to see, Rose McGowan (Grindhouse (2007), Ron Perlman, Stephen Lang that it is strange that this flopped.Nevertheless, we are stuck with it but the main problem is that many compare it to the original Conan (1982) with Arnold Schwarzenegger a thing I wont do.I liked the settings and the CGI used, in fact it all reminded me a bit of Games Of Thrones.
i have seen many fantasy movies that DID suck...but forgive me this is not one of them; HELL even my wife asked me "why did the people say it sucked...i don't get it"...THAT said, it not near as good as the one in 1982 with ARNOLD of course....but that one is soooo old.....my advice is watch it and forget the reviews....if you like brutal movies with no brains !.
Let me preface this review by stating that I have not seen either of the Arnold Schwarzenegger films (except for the opening scene of the first one during a class), not a single episode of any of the TV shows, whether animated or live-action and have never read any of the original stories by Robert E.
I am coming in fresh, and reviewing this film strictly on its own merits using as prejudice only my image brought over by pop culture of who Conan The Barbarian is.The basic story is this: as a Morgan Freeman sound-alike tells us, a long time ago there were these bad guys, the Acheron, who had this bone mask which made them really powerful, but the Barbarian tribes united and beat them to a pulp and they destroyed the mask with each tribe keeping a piece of the mask so that it can't be united again.
Howard adaptation from the same producers, 2009's Solomon Kane, and perhaps even more so, it's a perfectly sound, effective piece of entertainment, and compared to other films with similar ambitions, such as Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, The Scorpion King and the Clash Of The Titans remake, it is much better.First of all, the film looks very good.
The 3D (post-converted) looks good and works well in the film.As for the actors, Jason Momoa, best known as a TV actor up to this point with roles in Baywatch, North Shore, Stargate Atlantis and Game Of Thrones, does not possess the same presence as Arnold Schwarzenegger but delivers an adequate performance nonetheless.
Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Season Of The Witch) acts as his bearded father and does well as expected, and otherwise we have Stephen Lang (Avatar) as the bad guy, Rose McGowan (TV's Charmed and who was ironically previously attached to a Red Sonja reboot) as his daughter, Rachel Nichols (G.I. Joe) as the love interest and Saïd Taghmaoui (G.I. Joe) as one of Conan's buddies (3 former G.I. Joe actors in a single movie?).
I would like to see this become a franchise.In short the film looks great, is decently acted, has a Morgan Freeman sound-alike narrating, offers plenty of imaginative action scenes and is just altogether entertaining, which is the most important thing.
But it lack of better to do, I sat down and watched this 2011 "Conan the Barbarian" movie.One word can actually summarize the entire experience: wow!
That really helped the movie have that fantasy-world look, and it was great to see.Jason Momoa (playing Conan) really did a great job, and he sure had some big shoes to fill out, taking on Schwarzenegger's old character.
But I do know Arnold would make a better Conan than Jason Momoa.Marcus Nispel's film is about a Cimmerian warrior who goes out to avenge his father's death by defeating an evil warlord and his empire.Jason Momoa wasn't terribly bad in the role, but he wasn't that great.
I do not know if the Director was attempting to play his Conan as Robert E Howards, but one day i would love Conans life to come to life on the big screen.What it is, is a very enjoyable action film, fast paced with lots of action.
I found it well shot, well acted for an action film with the usual storyline of vengeance.I gave it a 9 mainly because i don't think it was being given a fair crack of the whip, all in all its just a good fun movie.
Hi all, I am not a sucker for all action/fantasy movies and there have been more than a handful which should never have been made, however this movie delivers the goods.Unlike the first Conan, this version is thankfully more based on the comic book character - which admittedly I have been a huge fun of.
He is charismatic, yet a loner, tough yet gentle when needed and most of all Conan is not a brutal barbarian which all seem to think.Plot might be weak, then again there are several Oscar-winners with no plots at all or at best limited (see In a Better World).The movie delivers what is intended, power-clad action wrapped up in a barbarian's fist..
I can't help but feel the people rating this movie down were the ones who saw Schwarzenegger's Conan when they were teens and are now judging this without the rose-colored glasses of youth.I think Jason Momoa does a wonderful job on this style of Conan.
This movie has no more and no less attention paid to the plot, dialog, and directing than many other action films both better and worse.I will take this poorly rated Conan reboot over the higher rated Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull any day.
I thought it held up very well against the original, probably better and that's hard for me to say being such an Arnold fan, but I loved this Conan, and Jason Momoa does an excellent job.
Either way I guess this is intended to be the restart of a series they hope to get right this time, and from what I've heard, fans of the original "Conan" stories (who were less than thrilled by Schwarzeneggers efforts) are loving this so who am I to judge?
This movie is for people looking to watch a film with an open mind and have a good time doing it.
Howard or Robert Jordan (or any other author in between) Conan stories, you know exactly what to expect in this movie.
The action sequences really play to his strengths, and he takes full advantage of them.Of course there's plenty of clichés throughout the movie, but that's to be expected from a Conan story.
The reason that this movie seems to be getting such bad reviews is because of all the morons that can't seem to realize that it's possible for someone other than Schwarzenegger to play Conan the Barbarian, and still have it be a good movie.
People who have never read any of the original stories are quick to judge this movie but it completely delivered on capturing Conan's character which Jason Momoa did a perfectly brutal job of portraying along with the younger barbarian.
Jason Momoa nailed the essence of the corrector, he is CONAN.For those confused this wasn't a remake of the John Milius Version, just a better translation of the Comics/Novels.The fight scenes and special effects were all top notch.Some of the scenes were ripped straight from the pages of the comics.Seriously don't know why people are downing on this movie it had everything the comic embodied Battle,blood and Sex. My only complaint if any would be that i wish Tyler Bates Score could have been a little more re-memorable.
In between the start and the end we see a bunch of cool locations, a lot of fighting, a couple of fun moments, a random sex scene, and it sticks pretty true to Conan lore.I wonder if it's at all feasible to make this movie.
I have read over 100 plus novels on Conan & this movie is just like the books 8)an absolute wonderful representation of Robert's Hyborian world.
He would be so proud of everyone who was involved in the making of this grand adventure.This is not the remake of Conan the Barbarian and is completely different and that's a good thing.The combat and action plays out exactly how the books are fast and furious.
It's all about crushing & slicing enemies and saving the hot babe 8) The books when you read them you never really get a chance to catch your breath it's just mayhem never a dull moment and this movie follows that perfectly.I liked all the actors they did a excellent job and Jason was pure Conan Frank Frazetta ALL THE WAY..
In my opinion, this was a great movie and I think Mr. Howard would have thought this story and portrayal much more along the lines of his original imagination.Don't pay attention to the skeptics, if you like the Conan stories by Robert E Howard, you'd be hard pressed not to at least enjoy the ride...Myself, I'm looking forward to the next story, and hope there will be many more on the way towards Conan the King!!!.
Well, this certainly is a movie about a guy named Conan who is a barbarian and likes to hack people with his sword.