Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 129m
Director: John Milius
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, Sandahl Bergman, Mako
Synopsis:
In the Dark Ages a child is orphaned by barbarian horsemen who worship a snake god, grows up chained Samson-like to a mill stone, and finally emerges as a barely articulate steroidal killing machine otherwise known as Arnold Schwarzenegger, with vengeance in his heart.
Review:
We are never told where the diet of protein came from to give him the muscles, and it is the kind of idle question one cannot help entertaining as one slogs through this ridiculously overblown and turgid entry in the shortlived fantasy cycle that closed the seventies. There is no explanation of time, place or culture, so that one clings to recognisable markers, such as the Ciudad Encantada Spanish locations and the three villains who appear to have been dressed by the costumier who worked on This Is Spinal Tap. There is also a distasteful atmosphere of sadism and perversion hanging over the enterprise, meaning that unlike Dune, say, this is not a world one particularly wants to spend much time in. That said, there are some great fights in the second half, and a marvellously operatic score, half Nevsky, half Spartacus, which swamps the most exciting passages. Milius relishes the mythic shots of horsemen galloping across plains and through woods towards the camera, riding down helpless peasants, burning, maiming...
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 129m
Director: John Milius
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, Sandahl Bergman, Mako
Synopsis:
In the Dark Ages a child is orphaned by barbarian horsemen who worship a snake god, grows up chained Samson-like to a mill stone, and finally emerges as a barely articulate steroidal killing machine otherwise known as Arnold Schwarzenegger, with vengeance in his heart.
Review:
We are never told where the diet of protein came from to give him the muscles, and it is the kind of idle question one cannot help entertaining as one slogs through this ridiculously overblown and turgid entry in the shortlived fantasy cycle that closed the seventies. There is no explanation of time, place or culture, so that one clings to recognisable markers, such as the Ciudad Encantada Spanish locations and the three villains who appear to have been dressed by the costumier who worked on This Is Spinal Tap. There is also a distasteful atmosphere of sadism and perversion hanging over the enterprise, meaning that unlike Dune, say, this is not a world one particularly wants to spend much time in. That said, there are some great fights in the second half, and a marvellously operatic score, half Nevsky, half Spartacus, which swamps the most exciting passages. Milius relishes the mythic shots of horsemen galloping across plains and through woods towards the camera, riding down helpless peasants, burning, maiming...
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 129m
Director: John Milius
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, Sandahl Bergman, Mako
Synopsis:
In the Dark Ages a child is orphaned by barbarian horsemen who worship a snake god, grows up chained Samson-like to a mill stone, and finally emerges as a barely articulate steroidal killing machine otherwise known as Arnold Schwarzenegger, with vengeance in his heart.
Review:
We are never told where the diet of protein came from to give him the muscles, and it is the kind of idle question one cannot help entertaining as one slogs through this ridiculously overblown and turgid entry in the shortlived fantasy cycle that closed the seventies. There is no explanation of time, place or culture, so that one clings to recognisable markers, such as the Ciudad Encantada Spanish locations and the three villains who appear to have been dressed by the costumier who worked on This Is Spinal Tap. There is also a distasteful atmosphere of sadism and perversion hanging over the enterprise, meaning that unlike Dune, say, this is not a world one particularly wants to spend much time in. That said, there are some great fights in the second half, and a marvellously operatic score, half Nevsky, half Spartacus, which swamps the most exciting passages. Milius relishes the mythic shots of horsemen galloping across plains and through woods towards the camera, riding down helpless peasants, burning, maiming...