Review of Conan the Barbarian (2011) by Feli Y — 02 Sep 2012

"Conan The Barbarian" is one among many adaptions of Robert E. Howards book series, and in some ways it may stand out from its predecessors, but unfortunately it would only be owing to its quite ridiculous and sometimes absurd screenplay. Nonetheless, "Conan The Barbarian" is entertaining, and holds a few pleasant surprises despite its clumsy editing.

I did not inform myself one bit about "Conan" before I saw it; therefor I didn't have any expectations nor notice. And whereas my critic is going to be mainly negative, I have to admit that I was somehow positively surprised.

Most people who intend to watch "Conan" mainly expect action; and you'll certainly be served : two third of the film is probably occupied by battles and combats, whereas the rest is pointless talk and sex. So, in some ways, we could say that Conan does fill all the expectations of the barbarian stereotype. Unluckily for us though, we generally hope for a bit more from such a cool movie poster, because for what "Conan The Barbarian" has in bloody fightings, he lacks in coherence and savoir-faire.

It's almost not worth to talk about the screenplay; it probably wasn't even 30 pages long; the plot is hollow and tedious. The characters have not been properly worked at, especially their relationships, which are unexplicably superficial: their links were not build and their verbal exchanges are so rare that the viewer can't even draw the smallest conclusions.

The editing is not helping the development since it seems so unprofessional. It's also totally unrational in so far as you get teleported from one place to the other, or from one event to the other without the slightest explanation: There is one time, where they spend the night in a little hut underneath a big deserted cliff when, the next morning, one of the characters walks in a prosper green forest to join a boat...

As for the cast, I was not surprised by Jason Momoa's performance for it is very similar to the one he plays in "Game of Thrones". As for the rest, no one was memorable and at times, McGowan didn't seem convincing at all.

If there was one thing though I respected in "Conan", it was the plastic and material effects, which I've always praised over 3D special effects. There was also a part of the last battle scene between Conan and Khalar which was particularly enjoyable and where the two opponents fight each other on a spinning platform. Unfortunately I haven't seen the movie in 3D, so that I can't comment.

"Conan The Barbarian" deals with action to hook up its public but seems to have neglected all the rest, giving the impression of a sketchy and unprofessional blockbuster.