# Conan the Barbarian



## Cryozombie

> Beverly Hills, CA (March 15, 2010)  Today saw the start of principal photography for the new Conan movie, directed by Marcus Nispel, and featuring Jason Momoa (Stargate Atlantis) in the title role. The three-month production takes place at Nu Boyana Studios in Sofia, Bulgaria.
> 
> Marcus Nispels previous movies include the remakes of Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Joining Jason Momoa will be Ron Perlman (Hellraiser, Sons of Anarchy) as Conans father and martial arts champion Leo Howard (G.I. Joe) as the young Conan. Other main cast members are Stephen Lang (Avatar), Rachel Nichols (G.I. Joe, Star Trek), Said Taghmaoui (G.I. Joe, Kite Runner) and Rose McGowan (Grindhouse).



http://www.amrathelion.com/Nemedian-Chronicles/Conan-Filming-Has-Begun-In-Bulgaria.html


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## Andy Moynihan

And Jesus wept.


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## Scott T

I guess we'll see if a relatively unknown television actor can carry a feature.

Any bets?


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## Cryozombie

Scott T said:


> I guess we'll see if a relatively unknown television actor can carry a feature.
> 
> Any bets?



Um... no. I'm iffy about this being a remake. Seems like all Nispel can do is remakes, but to his credit, he does them well. If they make this more the like Novels and less like the 80's flick I'd say it has potential. at the very least I'd like to see them stick to Characters at least from the Conan time line, not making him fight Villains from the Kull series, (Thulsa Doom) and possibly not having him pine over a woman who was of little consequence to him in the books. (Valeria)


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## Omar B

I'm excited about it.  The first Conan movies with Arnold had precious little to do with the literary character so it would be nice to see him onscreen.  I like Jason Momoa for the role too.


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## Cryozombie

Omar B said:


> I'm excited about it.  The first Conan movies with Arnold had precious little to do with the literary character so it would be nice to see him onscreen.  I like Jason Momoa for the role too.



I agree 100%.  I think DeCamp and Carter did a disservice to all the work they did on the literary Conan by novelizing the two movies and adding them to the storyline.   I still read them, but it was disappointing.  The only thing I'm unsure about is Momoa for the role.  He's big, and toned as hell, (got rock like abs fo sho!) but mostly in a lean and wiry kind of way.  Conan was often referred to as a veritable giant who was hugley muscled.

Maybe he bulked way the hell up for the role.  We'll see


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## Omar B

Well Conan is described mostly as "Lithe as a panther" and things like that that give you the impression of a strong guy who's more flexible than bulky.  After all, there were no gyms in Cimmeria, Conan got his build from climbing mountains, running and archery.  

He may have been big, but this was written in the early muscleman days and REH's favorite sport was boxing so I always saw Conan as a having a Sandow type build since that's what would have been thought of as massive and well muscled while still maintaining the functionally fit angle.

By the way, speaking of the authors post REH.  DeCamp and Carter are decent enough, but I've presently reread the Robert Jordan run on the series and I'm convinced he's not writing about the same guy REH was writing about.  Other than name, birthplace and dislike for major, they have little in common.


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## Cryozombie

Omar B said:


> but I've presently reread the Robert Jordan run on the series and I'm convinced he's not writing about the same guy REH was writing about.  Other than name, birthplace and dislike for major, they have little in common.



Ive never read the ones by Jordan, but considered picking up the anthology.  Would you say its not worthwhile then?


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## Omar B

They are decent enough reads and it feels like Conan from time to time.  Sure, get it.


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## SensibleManiac

I vaguely remember reading a couple of the books, Conan The Buccaneer and Conan of Aquilonia if I remember right.

I mainly read the Savage Sword Of Conan comic magazines and that's my memory of Conan, if the movie sticks to those stories, that would be awesome.
I'm not familiar with Momoa though and have heard bad things.


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## MA-Caver

CTB was one of my major favorite comic characters and the black and white Savage Sword Of Conan I have a decent collection of. I read the books by Howard and those edited by Sprague De Camp and enjoyed them. 
The first Conan movie was ... alright... hated the second, the Red Sonja spin off was atrocious at best. 
The series was so vast and broad... Buccaneer (which they'll probably do to ride the Pirate wave), Conqueror, Usurper, et al all had great story telling. I agree that they shouldn't add villians from other stories/characters... though Conan DID meet Thulsa Doom once... His chief and reoccurring nemisis was Thoth Amon.  
Conan also had a bevy of women... his first TRUE love was definitely Belit from the Buccaneer series who died tragically. That may make a interesting story line but if they go with that then they need to pick up the story line a bit further back and if successful then write sequels leading up to that part. 

Of course I'm no producer and screen writer so I can only wish.

Lets hope they focus on story more than substance... computer graphics do make a great eye candy movie but if they want a movie to sell WELL then they need a great story.


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## Cryozombie

MA-Caver said:


> Lets hope they focus on story more than substance... computer graphics do make a great eye candy movie but if they want a movie to sell WELL then they need a great story.



I was impressed with Nispel's take on both Friday the 13th AND Texas Chaninsaw... So I'm somewhat hopeful... like I said, I just hope it isn't just a remake of "Conan the Barbarian".


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## punisher73

To me, the new guy just doesn't look like Conan should.  He looks like a fratboy with long hair.  Even though, Arnold's version of Conan didn't fit the books, he at least pulled off the barely civilized look that Conan seems to have.

I agree with Omar that he would have had a more "Sandow-esque" physique.  Here is a picture of Eugene Sandow.  Notice how ripped he was and "dense" that the muscles look like they acutally work and aren't for show like the new guy.

Here is a side by side of Arnold and Eugene Sandow that I found for comparision.






I just have not been a fan of the Conan projects so far.  I do have to admit though, I am a HUGE fan of the first Conan movie when I first watched it when I was about 7 yrs old.  It made a lasting impression on me and to me at that time he (Arnold) was the Conan comics come to life.


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## Haakon

Scott T said:


> I guess we'll see if a relatively unknown television actor can carry a feature.
> 
> Any bets?



I'd think he's more recognizable today than Arnold was when he did Conan in '82.  I think he'll be able pull off playing Conan, and hope they have a decent story for the movie, maybe something with Belit, although they kind of (badly) replaced her with Valera in the first movie.

I hope they do better than Hollywood did on the Conan sequels and Red Sonya.


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## LuckyKBoxer

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/MovieAddict/news/?a=18001

there is a link to a few pics..

Mamoa has the looks of Conan... but while he added some size that will translate well to the big screen, I would have liked him a bit bigger for the role.

Conan and Thor are my absolute favorite comic book characters growing up... I think there is some potential in the new movie, but it absolutely is going to depend on how Mamoa can get his Conan on... I am hoping for the best, but most people are not trusting Mamoa to pull it off..

the Conan costume looks almost like a Gladiators in the set pics.


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## SensibleManiac

This isn't looking good...


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## Drac

*OFF TOPIC POST*: I am STILL waiting for someone to do a remake of Doc Savage..The one with Ron Ely was a JOKE...


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## MA-Caver

SensibleManiac said:


> This isn't looking good...



<shrugs> I dunno... basically it depends upon your image of Conan in your mind. In the comics he was drawn by at least a half dozen different artists. Frank Frazetta had a different face and even Boris Vallejo's rendering was different. So what does a particular comic book character look like? :idunno: whomever the producers can find to fit the bill. Of course Tony Stark is played very nicely by Robert Downey Jr. 



Drac said:


> *OFF TOPIC POST*: I am  STILL waiting for someone to do a remake of Doc Savage..The one with  Ron Ely was a JOKE...



Nearly ALL the comic to screen productions basically SUCKED like nothing has ever sucked before... from that time period. Today's offerings are slicker, better because of the WOW effects can be done via cgi. 
Story lines however are still at the mercy of screenwriters and how much they actually CARED about the subject they're writing about. To me it seems whomever wrote the Iron Man series (so far) has been a big fan. Same with X-men and other very good adaptations.


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## SensibleManiac

As I said personally, the Savage Sword of Conan comic magazines are my main experience with Conan and I personally feel that if they could keep with the "feel" of Conan as a character then that would be great. The pictures depict something that gives me a weird feeling about this.
I could be wrong about this but my gut instinct tells me it's wrong.
The Conan I remember was a dark, sullen, quiet, yet savage killer barbarian with a deeper sense of hard justice on a certain level.
He was the type that didn't give a crap about anything outside his sphere of what was necessary or right.
They need to keep this aspect of the character to make it work. IMHO.


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## MA-Caver

SensibleManiac said:


> As I said personally, the Savage Sword of Conan comic magazines are my main experience with Conan and I personally feel that if they could keep with the "feel" of Conan as a character then that would be great. The pictures depict something that gives me a weird feeling about this.
> I could be wrong about this but my gut instinct tells me it's wrong.
> The Conan I remember was a dark, sullen, quiet, yet savage killer barbarian with a deeper sense of hard justice on a certain level.
> He was the type that didn't give a crap about anything outside his sphere of what was necessary or right.
> They need to keep this aspect of the character to make it work. IMHO.


Agreed! That would take work on the writing, acting and directing to pull it off. Producing the film ensures that we get the LOOK but the story/dialogue, directing and acting will give us the FEEL of the film. 
Conan born in a harsh land to begin with and taught a hard sense of right and wrong by witnessing the crimes perpetrated against his own people and others as he grew gave him that hard-edge. That and a realization that nobody else would give him any quarter either. Legend has him born on a battlefield, bred to eventually gain a throne by his sword. 
He's a great character to be sure. Likewise I hope he'll be given proper treatment. 

Watching Prince Of Persia trailers... I fear that Conan may go that route. Lots of flashy CGI action to make up for what is probably going to be a lackadaisical storyline.


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## David43515

I`ve never seen Momoa in anything, so I won`t comment on his chops as an actor. However, he just strikes me as way too small to play the character. I wish him luck.

         I`m hoping they pull off a decent Captain America in the next few years. He and Dare Devil were always my favs growing up and I was SOOooooodisappointed with what they wrote for Ben Afleck as Dare Devil. Ewwww.....no,no,no,no.


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## Sukerkin

The original films, if I can call them that, had Conan in ASBO-illiterate-thug mode. Essentially popcorn garbage. Sweatyknacker did a disservice to the literary hero by turning him into an over-muscled, under-skilled brawler.

The new film can only be an improvement and whatisface from Atlantis is cut much more in a 'warrior' mould than Arnie was. One thing is for sure, I shall probably have to go and watch this in the cinema, once my missus catches wind of it; Mamoa makes her go all wibbly :lol:.

As for his acting, well, he was okay in Atlantis and as I kept referring to him as a grunting thug he'll probably do fine as Conan .


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## Sukerkin

Ooh! Did a bit o Googling and found out that Rose McGowan is in the cast - sounds like it won't be such an ordeal to go and watch this after all .

By the way, to lay my cards on the table when it comes to the Conan movies, my favourite parts of Conan the Barbarian were Sandahl Bergman and Nadiuska. My favourite parts in Conan the Destroyer were Olivia d'Abo and Sarah Douglas {if I recall correctly}.

Anyone see a pattern emerging? :lol:


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## Drac

Drac said:
			
		

> *OFF TOPIC POST*: I am STILL waiting for someone to do a remake of Doc Savage..The one with Ron Ely was a JOKE


 




MA-Caver said:


> To me it seems whomever wrote the Iron Man series (so far) has been a big fan. Same with X-men and other very good adaptations.


 
Maybe Stan Lee had a firmer grip on the story line..Gawd knows it wasnt there in the first offering of The Hulk..


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## Cryozombie

Something I found interesting, I dug out some of my old Conan paperbacks,  and in the back of a couple DeCamp wrote a sort of History of Conan, and he writes it as tho it were a "real" thing: British Museum Documents and old Excavated tablets with the stories of Conan's life, etc... and in doing so he attempts to Reconcile some of the inconsistencies, stating "This Ancient Babalonian tabley claims Conan... while these Papyrus found in the British Museum collections state he was actualy... therefore more than one account exists, and it is unclear which is more factual" etc... also citing these types of "Sources" as examples of other inconsitancies, such as Conan's age durring certain events, etc.

It makes for an interesting idea, and a decent enough attempt to explain away/incorporate the storylines of Conan's origins to the movies.


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## Cryozombie

Sukerkin said:


> The original films, if I can call them that, had Conan in ASBO-illiterate-thug mode.



To be fair, tho, Conan was SUPPOSED TO BE fairly young in the films when he earned his freedom (in his teens still) and even in the original stories by Howard, while Conan was Smart and Wiley, a lot of that came by way of experience... in some of the earlier stories he was more brash and less... lets call it knowledgeable.


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## hussaf

Let me preface this by saying I am/was barely aware of a Conan the Barbarian comic book, novel universe out there.

I originally heard the remake was going to be of Red Sonja with Rose McGowan playing the lead role.

Does anyone know if Yamazaki Kiyoshi will be doing the sword teaching again?  I know he's like semi-retired or something...


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## MA-Caver

Cryozombie said:


> Something I found interesting, I dug out some of my old Conan paperbacks,  and in the back of a couple DeCamp wrote a sort of History of Conan, and he writes it as tho it were a "real" thing: British Museum Documents and old Excavated tablets with the stories of Conan's life, etc... and in doing so he attempts to Reconcile some of the inconsistencies, stating "This Ancient Babalonian tabley claims Conan... while these Papyrus found in the British Museum collections state he was actualy... therefore more than one account exists, and it is unclear which is more factual" etc... also citing these types of "Sources" as examples of other inconsitancies, such as Conan's age durring certain events, etc.
> 
> It makes for an interesting idea, and a decent enough attempt to explain away/incorporate the storylines of Conan's origins to the movies.



Well DeCamp heart was in the right place but the idea of gargantuan snakes and wizards tossing flaming balls of energy, et al... signs off any plausibility to the Conan mythos. 
In one of the SSOC (Savage Sword Of Conan) books I have there is a marvelous tale (face-slaps for forgetting the name) of Conan as he is close to becoming King. It's out in the battlefield... thousands of dead bodies lie around him and he's the only one of his army left standing and every attempt to get near him adds on to the opposing army's casualty rate. Finally a wizard merely walks up to Conan "I offer you life" to which Conan snarls "I give you death wizard!" and lunges to the man who steps aside and lightly slaps him on the shoulder... the hand had a ring with a needle which had the toxin from one of the lotus flowers... toppling the mighty warrior without much effort. 
It's a great story in three parts but takes place much later in the man's life. 
There are wizards and giant snakes and even a pterodactyl... Now-a-days with FX/CGI being as they are... they'd pull it off purty dang good I would think. 

Everything is just a wait and see I suppose. 
Hopefully we fans won't be as disappointed as we were with Arnie's take on it.


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## Cryozombie

MA-Caver said:


> Well DeCamp heart was in the right place but the idea of gargantuan snakes and wizards tossing flaming balls of energy, et al... signs off any plausibility to the Conan mythos.



oh I get that, His "history" and "Historic Evidence" were clearly meant to be works of fiction as much as Conan was... he just used Literary license to help explain inconsistencies in the Stories.


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## Omar B

Cryozombie said:


> Something I found interesting, I dug out some of my old Conan paperbacks,  and in the back of a couple DeCamp wrote a sort of History of Conan, and he writes it as tho it were a "real" thing: British Museum Documents and old Excavated tablets with the stories of Conan's life, etc... and in doing so he attempts to Reconcile some of the inconsistencies, stating "This Ancient Babalonian tabley claims Conan... while these Papyrus found in the British Museum collections state he was actualy... therefore more than one account exists, and it is unclear which is more factual" etc... also citing these types of "Sources" as examples of other inconsitancies, such as Conan's age durring certain events, etc.
> 
> It makes for an interesting idea, and a decent enough attempt to explain away/incorporate the storylines of Conan's origins to the movies.



Hey, I remember those.  In my copy of "Conan The Renegade" after the novel's story is over there's a backup short story.  It has 4 storytellers sitting around a fire telling tales of Conan trying to sort through to figure out what's the truth and what's fiction.  Even the CTB movie was sort of mentioned when someone brought up his enslavement.  But another guy disagreed and stated that The Cimmierians were never defeated and Conan bent the knee to no one."


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## Gaius Julius Caesar

OK I can see where some of you REH purist are not fans of the film.

I grew up on the comics and then the movie was a huge deal for me.

Conan the Barbarian came out about a year or 2 after my Mom and Step dad married, even though I had known him since I was 3, we still were not real close yet.

I remeber the ads on TV for the film. I remember my Mom being excited (She trained bodybuilders then and Arnold was like God to her.) and i remeber wanting to see it BAD but it was rated R.

One day the Ol'Man comes home, says "Get ready to ride on the Harley."

He puts me on the gas tank and we rode to the theater, on the way being the first time I ever went 100MPHs on anything (BIG THRILL when you are about 8 or 9.)

And then we get to the Theater and man it was a life changeing event, I was a total Satr Wars/ Dr Who Geek but Conan blew me away.

I mean you watch his family build the sword together, his dad gives them a speech that could apply today about what you can really trust (Even though he says the sword, to me it ment YOU.) You see his family and people killed and he enslaved. You see him survive the Wheel of Pain and then gain dignity and meaning in Combat. You see him sent off to gain great skill, learn written language and damn strait get it on with the finest stock and it. You see him freed, find a great sword, meet a man who would become as his brother. He gains love, he seeks revenge.
He learns failure. His friends give all for him and then on to the job and then REVENGE!

That movie had it all. Great Sword fighting for the time it was made (and I still love it now) Family honor, Brotherhood, Love, Revenge and foreshadowing of the great King Conan would become by his own hand.
And then there is the music.

I cannot see some Remake Hack ever toping John Milius, ever.
And Arnold was perfect for that roll, not the dude from that POS Stargate Atlantis.

 I will admit though that I am very influenced by both the film and that night my step dad and I finally bonded as close to father and son as a boy who still knew and saw his real father could.
 I am almost choked up thinking about that night as I write this, I remember ever second of it as it was one of the best nights of my life.


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## Omar B

I'm sure you have fond memories of the whole thing, it's a cool story.  But saying _I cannot see some Remake Hack ever toping John Milius, ever_ ignores the fact that Milius himself said CTB was just an excuse to make his barbarian movie.  Milius didnt make a Conan movie (REH's character I'm talking about here), he made a pretty good movie with a character named Conan in it.  You can't call something a remake when the thing was not made the first time around.  Hell, he never even read any of the books.

And Arnold was perfect for that roll, not the dude from that POS  Stargate Atlantis.  You may like Arnold in the movie, but for me he was what was most wrong about it.  Calling, SG:A a POS is all subjective I guess.


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## Cryozombie

Omar B said:


> Milius didnt make a Conan movie (REH's character I'm talking about here), he made a pretty good movie with a character named Conan in it.  You can't call something a remake when the thing was not made the first time around.  Hell, he never even read any of the books.



Although, you have to admit that the movie did take and bastardize some elements of some of the original stories.  The whole tower of Set and stealing the Eye of the Serpent was TOTALY a bastardization of the Tower of the Elephant, for example.

AND besides... I really want one of THESE:







Hehe.


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## Cryozombie

Yeah... Ok, maybe.


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## Gaius Julius Caesar

Cryozombie said:


> Yeah... Ok, maybe.


 
 He does look a bit more like REH's discription of Conan but we will see..

 I am getting tired or reamke this, remake that. Many times it is good but alot of times it seems lazy to me. There are so monay good books and stories that should be made into films, especially now that CGI can bring these things to life better than the 80s FX tecnology could.

 I for one thing we need a Hannabal vs Scipio movie.
 You have two great men who were raised from birth to basically fight each other.
 In Scipio you have a man who lost his father and uncle to the Carthaginians, you have a surviver of the battle of Cannae (Immagine that with CGI if they do as the sources describe it) and the man who kept the surviving officer corp from running away from the war after Cannae.
 You have a man who was never defeated in a battle he was the commander of a Bilegerent in.
 You have the man who beat Hannibal at Zama but was gracious in victory towards Carthagage and was hurt at home for it.

 Let's see Mark Strong as Sipio Africanus and the guy who played the Captian of Kir's fathers ship would make a good Hannibal.
  You'd have to end it with the story how years later hannibal and Scipio met and had a disscussion abourt whp the greatest general in History was. Hannibal said Alexander was the best and he was the second best.
 Scipo said " But I defeated you."

 And Hannibal said "Yes, that is why I am not number 1."

 We need a true story like that before we need another Conan.


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## Omar B

Cryozombie said:


> Although, you have to admit that the movie did take and bastardize some elements of some of the original stories.  The whole tower of Set and stealing the Eye of the Serpent was TOTALY a bastardization of the Tower of the Elephant, for example.
> 
> AND besides... I really want one of THESE:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hehe.



Yeah, that movie was a mess.  To make things even worse, they used a villain of Kull's, use elements of Bran Mack Morn as well as going as far as usign DeCamp's "Thing In the Cave" (the scene with the dogs and Conan finding the sword in the cave).  So they pulled from a bunch of REH books, some of them not Conan, then the pull elements from DeCamp, a person I think was the worst thing to happen to the Conan cannon ever.


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## Cryozombie

Omar B said:


> So they pulled from a bunch of REH books, some of them not Conan,



Yeah, kinda off topic... Was Solomon Kane any good?


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## Archangel M

I'm getting the impression that the quality of this production is going to be on par with one of those D&D movies or a direct to video....

Hope I'm wrong.


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## Sukerkin

Welll ... looks nervous ... I actually liked the cheesy D&D movies :O.  Brainless fun with pantomime is sometimes a great salve for the fevered brow .


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## Cryozombie

Sukerkin said:


> Welll ... looks nervous ... I actually liked the cheesy D&D movies :O.  Brainless fun with pantomime is sometimes a great salve for the fevered brow .



The first one SUCKED.  I thought the second one was ok.


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## MA-Caver

Cryozombie said:


> Yeah, kinda off topic... Was Solomon Kane any good?


I read one of Kane's novels and thought it was pretty good at the time... I guess I'd have to read it again. 
Marvel did do a mini-series that were sometimes found in the back of SSOC mags and Gil Kane did the art work (and I'm not a big fan of his pencil)... they were basically Conan with a gun and sword as he was some type of Puritan avenger or something like that. 

THIS is something we hope and pray to Crom, Ishtar, Mitra and even Set that never ever comes out... 

Introducing... Conan, The Barbarian... the musical?? :barf: 

[yt]OBGOQ7SsJrw&[/yt]


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## Hand Sword

For the love of peanut butter! I hate this remake culture we're in now. MAybe you could get away with some, but others are untouchable. How can anyone be Conan beside the governator???? It's not possible!


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## Cryozombie

Hand Sword said:


> For the love of peanut butter! I hate this remake culture we're in now. MAybe you could get away with some, but others are untouchable. How can anyone be Conan beside the governator???? It's not possible!




Thing is, there are 2 cultures with Conan... the people who saw the movie, and the fans of the original novels.  The way someone else can be Conan is to do him correctly.

Heck, when Rolf Moller played Conan in Conan the Adventurer, they intentionally tried to make him (conan) the same as the Conan from the movies.  That was a mistake, IMO.


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## Cryozombie

ma-caver said:


> introducing... Conan, the barbarian... The musical?? :barf:
> 
> [yt]obgoq7ssjrw&[/yt]



that was awesome!


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## Omar B

Cryozombie said:


> Thing is, there are 2 cultures with Conan... the people who saw the movie, and the fans of the original novels.  The way someone else can be Conan is to do him correctly.
> 
> Heck, when Rolf Moller played Conan in Conan the Adventurer, they intentionally tried to make him (conan) the same as the Conan from the movies.  That was a mistake, IMO.



Yes, I agree.  I come from the old school of literary Conan (much like my love for literary Bond) and what's thus far been presented on screen has been a whole other animal (again, in the cases of both Conan and Bond).

I would never class this film as a remake as some are, considering Conan has yet to be "made."  So far the closest portrayal in spirit to Conan has been (and I hate to say it) Vin Deizel in the Pitch Black movies.  Not in look, but in just every other conceivable way.

As for the Conan TV show.  That was born of the mid 90's syndication thing when there were a million bad shows on following Hercules and Xena.  But for what it was, it was fun.  I still watch an episode from time to time on Hulu.


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## Cryozombie

Omar B said:


> As for the Conan TV show.  That was born of the mid 90's syndication thing when there were a million bad shows on following Hercules and Xena.  But for what it was, it was fun.  I still watch an episode from time to time on Hulu.



Yeah, I feel that way about the Saturday Morning Cartoon they did.


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## Cryozombie

So I saw the first trailer for this today in front of Battle LA.

I hope its better than the trailer...


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## billc

Soloman Kane wasn't very good.  It could have been a lot better.


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## billc

How was Battle:L.A.?


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## Omar B

Saw the trailor online.  He said the like from "Queen Of The Black Coast!"  I am officially freaking out with glee.  Ok, back to may REH collextion


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## Cryozombie

Omar B said:


> Saw the trailor online. He said the like from "Queen Of The Black Coast!" I am officially freaking out with glee. Ok, back to may REH collextion


 
I thought the quality of the trailer was poor.  It looked like a promo for a Syfy original film.


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## Cryozombie

Here is the Trailer, btw.


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## Omar B

Cryozombie said:


> I thought the quality of the trailer was poor.  It looked like a promo for a Syfy original film.




It's a teaser man.  For the Dark Knight all you saw was a burning bat logo and the sound of Joker laughing.  They get even more obscure from there.

What I saw were The Picts looking just how REH described them, Conan swinging his sword and saying a line from a Conan story.


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## Cryozombie

Omar B said:


> It's a teaser man. For the Dark Knight all you saw was a burning bat logo and the sound of Joker laughing. They get even more obscure from there.
> 
> What I saw were The Picts looking just how REH described them, Conan swinging his sword and saying a line from a Conan story.


 
It wasn't how little they showed It was the quality of the Graphics and the cheap fade-in fade-out effects that I used to do back in the late 80's on my Commodore Amgia that I have an issue with... it looked totally amature. I can honestly say I have seen better work by kids on Youtube, and if I had seen that on youtube instead of in the theater, I would have thought it was one of those cheesy fan trailers people are always posting.


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## Omar B

Ok, if you say so.  I personally can't really judge a movie based upon characters moving in mists and shadows.  But I do recognize who they are meant to be and I know what story Conan's line comes from so I'm happy.  

Call it amateur if you wish, but I've seen enough to make me happy.


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## Omar B

"I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who  trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness  averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or  the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know  not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich  juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of  white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and  crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and philosophers brood over  questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion,  then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to  me. *I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.*" _- Conan.  REH, Queen Of The Black Coast._


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## Cryozombie

Omar B said:


> Ok, if you say so. I personally can't really judge a movie based upon characters moving in mists and shadows. But I do recognize who they are meant to be and I know what story Conan's line comes from so I'm happy.
> 
> Call it amateur if you wish, but I've seen enough to make me happy.


 
I wasn't judging the movie, I was judging the trailer.  I said in my OP that I hope the movie is better than the trailer.


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## MA-Caver

Well I am hoping that this version will remove the bad taste I've had in my mouth ever since I sat in the theater for the first showing of the Ah-nold version of the barbarian. It was so bad that I never bothered to watch the second all the way through... I did NOT see it in the theater because I didn't want to waste my $$... nor did I see Red Sonja when I heard it was Bridgett Nielsen playing the part and then Ah-nold doing some other beefy character. 

All the films were a quest to make $$ and the hell with the story.

One HOPES that this time around it'll be a quest for a great story. 

Wonder if they're going to waste the first 15-25 minutes on introducing Conan?


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## Cryozombie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWeMjgRtmro&feature=related

Some of that looks great... good interpreatations of Conan, the scene with the Yellow CGI sky looks so incredibly fake however.


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## Omar B

MA-Caver said:


> Well I am hoping that this version will remove the bad taste I've had in my mouth ever since I sat in the theater for the first showing of the Ah-nold version of the barbarian. It was so bad that I never bothered to watch the second all the way through... I did NOT see it in the theater because I didn't want to waste my $$... nor did I see Red Sonja when I heard it was Bridgett Nielsen playing the part and then Ah-nold doing some other beefy character.
> All the films were a quest to make $$ and the hell with the story.
> One HOPES that this time around it'll be a quest for a great story.
> *Wonder if they're going to waste the first 15-25 minutes on introducing Conan*



Yup, they are.  The kid playing Young Conan is the kid who played Young Snake Eyes in GI Joe.  The kid's got good Karate and TKD so it might make for some interesting scenes.  I hear they are also using the same BS reasoning as the first one where the Cimmerians are killed and he is getting revenge.

My ideal Conan movie would be this.  Opening scene we see a battle on the Steppes, in the middle of all this a woman gives birth.  Skip ahead to when he's 16 and going on raiding parties to other villages and becoming the genius strategist and leader he is.  Next he's struck by wanderlust and stories of wealth in the south from his southern grandfather so he leaves his village to take on the world ... then right into the story.  All that can be done with no dialog, almost a montage and you get Conan's real story.

The Cimmerians were never defeated.  The movie people seem to think that since they don't figure into the story after he leaves his village that they must be dead, or they think it's easier for the general audience to understand a revenge motive rather than the wondering samurai/mercenary/pirate/thief motivation.

John Milius' Conan got so much wrong, but I don't blame him.  He never read a Conan book, he admitted as much and he was highly influenced by Frank Frazetta's art, which as great as it is, made Conan too big.  After all, you don't end up looking like The Oak growing up scrambling over rocks, shooting arrows and riding horses.  He was big but not that big.  He frequently faced enemies way larger than him but he wins because of his smarts and unmatched skill.  

{As an aside, if you check out Robert Jordan's Conan novels he is described at "giant," "massive," etc.  But one has to take that with a grain of salt since Jordan's first book was Conan The Destroyer, the novelization of the movie.  If that's your starting point then of course the whole series is gonna be screwed, heck, his Conan time-line of events does not even match up with REH's time-line, which is funny since his books are written in a way to have taken place in the gaps between REH's stories.  Kinda like when Raymond Benson took over writing the James Bond series from John Gardner, suddenly IFP forced him to write to books closer in line with the movies, ad the female M, and just generally suck for his entire run.}

I would like to see Conan the eloquent speaker, the Napoleon meets Art Of War battlefield mastery, his charisma that turns even enemies into allies.


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## billc

Wow, Omar B. I agree with you completely.  I'm waiting for the lightning to strike me.  I think that they should show the cimmerians for what they were supposed to be, from what I remember, they destroyed some outpost of was it Aquilonia in a really fierce way they kicked everyones rear ends.  I just wish that some of the great stories would be put on screen by people who like the original material.  That strategy seems to work almost all of the time.  When you put in a director with no love of the material for its own sake, you get the original Conan, or the first Hulk movie.

Was the forts name Valerium or something like that.


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