So much has been said about this movie leading up to its release and since that I absolutely had to make sure I saw it before it left the theatres. I figured, with no real attachment to the literary version of the character and having grown up on a healthy diet of Arnie the Barbarian and "Savage Sword of Conan", that I might actually be able to enjoy it for what it was and not find myself jaded by prior expectations.
I did.
When it comes down to it, this movie really had a lot to like. Though it jazzed me as a kid, as I grew older I found the origin story portrayed in the movie much more entertaining and believable than the original Arnie film. It never quite sat right with me that "The Riddle of Steel" was so elusive as to drive a man to conquest. The overall visual of the movie is epic and both fanciful and familiar.
What it really comes down to for me is a basic check list of what this kind of movie should include -
- Muscle bound noble barbarian
- Pretty girls
- Exotic places
- Derring-do
- A little magic
- A big monster
- Cool bad guys
- Lots of sword fighting
All of the above are a big check if you ask me. When it comes to Conan plots you generally have the big guy racing around trying to stop some wicked person from unleashing some sort of unspeakable horror on Hyboria and we see that in this movie. Along the way, he makes some friends and falls for a girl. We also have that. In the end, the evil plot is undone, Conan is victorious but is in the end left where he began - alone and driven. Once again, we have that in this movie.
Couldn't find a lot wrong with the movie from where I was sitting even though I did let the mostly empty theatre open up the MS3TK spigot that can be let loose on any movie.
-Eli
[Edit: It was pointed out that I mistakenly used the incorrect "daring-do" instead of "derring-do". Well, to the anonymous poster who pointed that out, you are correct but I'll hardly be damned for writing it how it should have been. It is only because the originally incorrect spelling has become the correct spellingthat it is correct at all.]
[Edit: It was pointed out that I mistakenly used the incorrect "daring-do" instead of "derring-do". Well, to the anonymous poster who pointed that out, you are correct but I'll hardly be damned for writing it how it should have been. It is only because the originally incorrect spelling has become the correct spellingthat it is correct at all.]
Posts
TEH WORD IS 'DERRING-DO' NOT A DARING TO DO!!!1
ReplyDeleteEVEN A IL-LETTERHATE LIKE ME KNOWS TAHT!
:p
-NUNYA
Thanks for the review, I stayed away out of fear but now renew my attempts to watch. We'll see...
ReplyDeletederring-do Look up derring-do at Dictionary.com
ReplyDeleteoriginally (late 14c.) dorrying don, lit. "daring to do," from durring "daring," prp. of M.E. durren "to dare" (see dare) + don, inf. of "to do." Misspelled derrynge do 1500s and mistaken for a noun by Spenser, who took it to mean "manhood and chevalrie;" picked up from him and passed on to Romantic poets as a pseudo-archaism by Sir Walter Scott.
derring-do Look up derring-do at Dictionary.com
ReplyDeleteoriginally (late 14c.) dorrying don, lit. "daring to do," from durring "daring," prp. of M.E. durren "to dare" (see dare) + don, inf. of "to do." Misspelled derrynge do 1500s and mistaken for a noun by Spenser, who took it to mean "manhood and chevalrie;" picked up from him and passed on to Romantic poets as a pseudo-archaism by Sir Walter Scott.