A warrior is born again. “Stargate: Atlantis'” and “Games of Thrones'” Jason Momoa takes the sword from Arnold to bring back “Conan The Barbarian.”
CONAN THE BARBARIAN
Lionsgate
Rating: R for strong blood violence, some sexuality and nudity.
Run time: 112 minutes
Studio Synopsis:
The most legendary Barbarian of all time is back this Summer. Having thrived and evolved for eight consecutive decades in the public imagination- in prose and graphics, on the big screen and small, in games and properties of all kinds- Conan’s exploits in the Hyborian Age now come alive like never before in a colossal 3D action-adventure film.
A quest that begins as a personal vendetta for the fierce Cimmerian warrior soon turns into an epic battle against hulking rivals, horrific monsters, and impossible odds, as Conan realizes he is the only hope of saving the great nations of Hyboria from an encroaching reign of supernatural evil.
Deftly adapted from the original works of Robert E. Howard and faithful to the mythology and psychology of his iconic character, CONAN THE BARBARIAN stars Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Rose McGowan, Saïd Taghmaoui and Ron Perlman. The film is directed by Marcus Nispel, and written by Thomas Dean Donnelly & Joshua Oppenheimer and Sean Hood. Lionsgate and Millennium Films present a Millennium Films in association with EFF Independent Productions and a Conan Properties International LLC production.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iA2HliLpq0[/youtube]
J.P.’s Take:
[Minor Spoilers]
“Conan 2011” is certainly a change of pace from the Arnold Schwarzenegger outing, which is a subdued affair by today’s standards. With a few minor tweaks here and there concerning characterizations and portions of the plot, I found this adventure to be an intensive, if not bloodier departure, than I remember. The 1982 version finds a young Conan innocently watching from behind a tree as his village was being slaughtered. Helpless and unable to come to his the rescue of his people, he is taken into slavery by his captors who murdered his parents and destroyed his home. This time around the filmmakers sought to make him a more capable young warrior for the updated epic. The rebooted “Conan the Barbarian” starring Jason Momoa lives up to the very definition of the word barbarian and then some.
The first act serves as the back story, where we witness the birth of the future hero during the heat of battle, which is a story plot not even touched upon in the original screenplay. Then we follow Conan in his teen years taking on a trial of manhood, including scenes where we see the young Conan (played by Leo Howard) single-handedly battle a group of marauders in the woods. His keen fighting skills kick into gear and he springs into defense mode. A bloody Conan returns to his village with the heads of the attackers, proving to his father (Ron Perlman) that he can be a superior warrior.
The movie’s main plot is the revenge for his father’s death, and Conan’s search for the man responsible: a warlord named Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang), who has been searching for various parts of a supernatural mask and a rare blood that can revive his dead wife. Along the years, grown-up Conan has befriended some allies, including pirate Artus (Nonso Anozie) and thief Ela-Shan (Saïd Taghmaoui) to help him in his search. He rescues a woman named Tamara (Rachel Nichols), who turns out to have the rare blood that is the key to completing the mask’s powers.
You really can’t help but to poke a little fun at a remake like this, because it’s nothing more than a glorified video game demonstration. However, I believe its intended target is the Play Station/Xbox generation, because this movie is filled with lush backdrops, topless wenches; mounds of muscle bound brutes…and gallons of blood. You throw in a story about a supernatural mask and a brief graphic sex scene, you have the makings of a teen boy’s fantasy game.
There are some campy scenes in the film. For instance in the beginning moments, Fialla (Laila Rouass), mother of Conan, is dying while giving birth to him, as his father Corin (Perlman) is engaged in battle to save them both and defend his village all at once. Corin somehow figures out that the baby is breach, then he proceeds performing an instant cesarean section. This is supposed to be a moment of sorrow; however, it all feels like a put on. Granted, I realize child birth is a grueling procedure, but the execution of this scene seemed laughable and a bit cringe inducing.
There is also a lengthy scene where Conan and Tamara are battling non-human fighters who are made up from sand. This ability to create an instant fighting troop from the mind of a witch (played by a pretty scary and makeup-enhanced Rose McGowan) actually reminded my of the skeleton warriors conjured up by Imhotep (played by Arnold Vosloo) in “The Mummy.” Personally I didn’t think they were a bad addition to the many effects already present in the movie. However, my fellow film reviewer Richard R. Lee, creator/executive producer of “Sidewalks Entertainment,” thought this fight felt out-of-place. Even though there are some supernatural elements in the film that came mainly from the power of the mask and McGowan being a witch, Lee felt this sequence didn’t work when all of a sudden CGI beings started battling Conan, whereas the rest of the film he fought regular humans and an enormous octopus.
Momoa does fit the part in the titular role, as the film serves mostly as a playground for his to perform some impressive physical feats. If you ever saw Momoa in his four-year run as Ronon Dex in the science fiction series, “Stargate: Atlantis” (and recently in HBO’s “Game of Thrones”) he has the experience and skills to swing the sword.
With the campy scenes and some supernatural sequences, I must admit this is a decently crafted action movie. At best, Conan is mindless action drivel that doesn’t require a ton of brain power to figure out. However, the story is a little more involved than the one of 1982, with improved physical acting. It doesn’t set out to break any box office records, nor does mean to change the way we look at male oriented drivel, but I did enjoy some of the bonding moments with Conan and his father, and much of the mini war scenes were fierce to watch.
While Lee usually hates these big-budgeted, fantasy films with tons of CGI thrown in, he actually liked the film, which was a surprise to me. He thought “Conan” has a straight forward adventurous approach, where you could follow the story and the hero. He does warn moviegoers, there is a lot of blood splattering throughout the whole film. So, if you can’t stand the sight of blood, this may not be the movie for you. The only part he despised was the previously-mentioned battle with the sandmen. As a regular viewer of Momoa’s “Atlantis” series, Lee felt the lead casting was a perfect choice, since it was like Momoa was born to play Conan after doing a smaller version of him as Ronan (I have to admit there are major similarities to these characters). He also liked performance of the young Conan actor (Howard), who had the perfect look (and eye stare) as a younger Momoa.
Taken at face value, it’s exciting to watch and if all goes well for this remake, you can expect it to spawn the remake of its sequel, “Conan the Destroyer.” Overall, I’m giving it a solid C.