The original is still the best.
*** SPOILERS INCLUDED ***
The original is still the best.
This one is a bit more polished with better special effects, but that’s were it ends.
They make it look so awesome in the trailer, but the actual movie does not live up to its promise.
It plays out more like an extended episode of Zena or Hercules.
They also rely too heavily on combat scenes to carry the film past all the dead spots.
Run out of plot ideas and character development? Just throw another spontaneous 10 minute battle scene in there.
This version also contradicts the original’s version of Conan’s early life much to its own disadvantage.
The world of the original Conan is far more vast, intriguing, rich, bizarre in some ways, and familiar in others.
Cheesy in some spots, yes, but not bad for a movie made in 1982.
It’s also amazing how easily the villain is defeated at the end after having finally gained the “supposedly” most awesome fear-inspiring weapon ever devised on the face of the Earth.
Turns out the thing is basically worthless.
Conan punches him in the face a few times, and he falls into a pit of lava.
Even I could have done that.
There is no emotional, life-lesson, or “moral” to be learned here either. At least the first movie was about honor trust, discipline, romance, loss, revenge, loyalty, religion, cultism, drugs, camaraderie and sacrifice.
Interesting how much it costs for less these days.