This is one of those movies that left a very big impression on me. An exciting sword and sorcery, or rather sword and sandal adventure set in an old age of magic and monsters. The story is a simple but epic one, There is a boy named Conan, whose father teaches him of the power of steel, and how only in his sword he can trust more than any man, woman, or beast. Shotly after, his village is invaded and his family killed by a the evil sorcerer Thulsa Doom and a small army of raiders. The children are taken away and forced to push a gigantic wheel. Years later, we see that only one has survived, a fully grown Conan. Conan is taken away to fight as a pit fighter, learn swordsmanship and language. Eventually, with the help of a couple of thieves, he embarks on a quest to defeat Thulsa Doom. There is so much I love about this movie, the story is pretty simple, but the magnitude is fantastic, it really feels like an ancient legend come to life. There is actually less dialogue than one would expect and much of the story is told through narration, we see the characters develop and come to understand them by their actions, and it's this kind of subtlety that makes it so great. This is a great example of visual storytelling, combining the narration and imagery to give the feeling of reading a book.
The performances really drive the film, Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance as Conan is perfect, he has little dialogue but you just see his emotion in his eyes and feel what he feels. His character goes through several interesting phases, we first see him as a child learning from his father, as an adult we see how detached he is as he becomes a killing machine deriving satisfaction from victorious bloodshed and the sexual pleasure of women. Later he turns to thievery, falls in love with a beautiful woman and succumbs to hedonism and becomes, literally, drunk with excess. However he and his fellow adventurers are paid to rescue an old king's daughter from Thulsa Doom, which Conan sees as an opportunity to avenge his family's murder. Conan eventually becomes cold-hearted and driven by his desire for revenge but still is a very human character. The gorgeous Sandahl Bergman plays Conan's lover Valeria, a strong and likable heroine who actually gets a bit less screen time than she deserved. Then there's Conan's thief sidekick Subotai played by surfer Gerry Lopez, another great supporting character. The extremely talented Mako not only provides the excellent narration but plays an eccentric wizard who is actually one my favorite characters. James Earl Jones brings a great menacing presence to Thulsa Doom, a tyrannical sorcerer and cult leader with great hypnotic influence on the masses and the power to turn into a snake, a weird scene but unsurprising as this is his motif, he even had a pet snake which Conan fights in the movie.
Also, Max Von Sydow makes a brief but memorable appearance as King Osric, who has Conan rescue his daughter from Thulsa Doom. Perhaps the greatest strengths of the movie lie in it's visuals and atmosphere. The cinematography is stunning and captures the beauty and brutality of this ancient world, from the icy mountains to the scorching desert to the palace of the villain. The settings and production design are fantastic and look what one would expect of such a barbaric time period. The castles and palaces made of stone and sometimes buildings of wood in a world that seems to echo an ancient Europe and even Biblical times in western Asia. The clothing of characters enforce this as well, warriors clad in armor and fur cloaks or the villainous black robes of the villains. The battle sequences are amazing to watch, grand sword-fights and brutal gladiatorial fights. The orchestral score of Basil Poledouris is half of what makes this so great, it's so rich and epic and enforces the emotion and context of every scene, humorous, happy, exciting, romantic, sad, dark, and haunting. Overall, this is one of those movies that I totally enjoyed and I recommend it, though I will warn that there is lots of graphic violence, strong sexual content and some frightening scenes, this is a fantasy film aimed specifically at teenagers and adults and I think more of a guy flick. It's epic, it's stylish, it's action packed, it's fun and very memorable.
The performances really drive the film, Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance as Conan is perfect, he has little dialogue but you just see his emotion in his eyes and feel what he feels. His character goes through several interesting phases, we first see him as a child learning from his father, as an adult we see how detached he is as he becomes a killing machine deriving satisfaction from victorious bloodshed and the sexual pleasure of women. Later he turns to thievery, falls in love with a beautiful woman and succumbs to hedonism and becomes, literally, drunk with excess. However he and his fellow adventurers are paid to rescue an old king's daughter from Thulsa Doom, which Conan sees as an opportunity to avenge his family's murder. Conan eventually becomes cold-hearted and driven by his desire for revenge but still is a very human character. The gorgeous Sandahl Bergman plays Conan's lover Valeria, a strong and likable heroine who actually gets a bit less screen time than she deserved. Then there's Conan's thief sidekick Subotai played by surfer Gerry Lopez, another great supporting character. The extremely talented Mako not only provides the excellent narration but plays an eccentric wizard who is actually one my favorite characters. James Earl Jones brings a great menacing presence to Thulsa Doom, a tyrannical sorcerer and cult leader with great hypnotic influence on the masses and the power to turn into a snake, a weird scene but unsurprising as this is his motif, he even had a pet snake which Conan fights in the movie.
Also, Max Von Sydow makes a brief but memorable appearance as King Osric, who has Conan rescue his daughter from Thulsa Doom. Perhaps the greatest strengths of the movie lie in it's visuals and atmosphere. The cinematography is stunning and captures the beauty and brutality of this ancient world, from the icy mountains to the scorching desert to the palace of the villain. The settings and production design are fantastic and look what one would expect of such a barbaric time period. The castles and palaces made of stone and sometimes buildings of wood in a world that seems to echo an ancient Europe and even Biblical times in western Asia. The clothing of characters enforce this as well, warriors clad in armor and fur cloaks or the villainous black robes of the villains. The battle sequences are amazing to watch, grand sword-fights and brutal gladiatorial fights. The orchestral score of Basil Poledouris is half of what makes this so great, it's so rich and epic and enforces the emotion and context of every scene, humorous, happy, exciting, romantic, sad, dark, and haunting. Overall, this is one of those movies that I totally enjoyed and I recommend it, though I will warn that there is lots of graphic violence, strong sexual content and some frightening scenes, this is a fantasy film aimed specifically at teenagers and adults and I think more of a guy flick. It's epic, it's stylish, it's action packed, it's fun and very memorable.