Review of Conan the Barbarian (2011) by Filipeneto — 19 May 2022

This film is an adaptation of a comic book, and also a remake of a famous 1982 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was a rather weak film, which only stood out thanks to the presence of the famous actor. So I decided to see if this new version was better than the older one. However, when I saw the name of director Marcus Nispel, I feared the worst... and my fears were justified, with the film proving to be extremely weak.

The script is very poorly written: taking advantage of the essentials of the story told in the older film (a hero's revenge journey against the villains, responsible for the massacre that killed his family), the film fails to give us a cohesive and functional story. , which seems to rust and creep more and more as the film progresses. Tired and uninteresting, the film unfolds in an exasperating way until it reaches a really disappointing end.

If there's one thing the older film excelled at, it was the choice of lead actor, with Schwarzenegger's remarkable collaboration being this film's strongest and most solid point. Without the actor's participation, the film could not hope to match the success achieved, but it could be much better than it is. The truth is, I can't understand why Jason Momoa was chosen for the lead role! The actor may be big and muscular, but he has nothing else to offer us and is particularly dull and boring. The rest of the cast is made up of an amalgamation of third-tier actors that I don't feel obliged to name, with the exception of Ron Perlman, who is not used as he could be. It may be hard to say like that, but the truth is that the characters, merely sketched, and the poor and poorly written dialogues didn't demand better actors.

Where the film really bets and stands out is in the production values and technical aspects. With a capable budget and all the machinery of the American film industry, the film is the typical "blockbuster" of action that tries to get the most coins from the public willing to pay to see if it is as bad as others say it is. The work of the make-up and characterization teams is quite amateurish, the editing is regular, the soundtrack is forgettable. On the positive side, the spectacular action scenes naturally stand out, removing any sense of danger and tension, transforming the film into something without emotion, but full of show-off. The work of the stuntmen, as well as the wide range of visual, special, computer and sound effects, helps a lot in these scenes and gives the film an appealing and vibrant liveliness. Finally, and to end with something positive, I must mention the good quality of the cinematography and the good design of the costumes.