I recently found out from my good friend Jason Fischer that there’s a reboot of the whole Conan franchise coming to movie theatres. I know I’m rather behind on this, but I’ve been busy. So shut up.
I’m a huge fan of Conan. The original Robert E Howard stories are awesome and I’m also a big fan of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Those movies were a bit removed from the stories they were based on and Arnold as Conan wasn’t really very good casting, but they were still classics. The are still classics. And Arnie is the quintessential movie Conan now. It probably has as much to do with when I saw them, as an impressionable teenager, than with their quality. Regardless, I’ll always love those films, but now that I’ve found out a bit about the new ones I’m very excited.
Firstly, check this out:
Now that right there is Conan! As Jason Fischer mentioned in his recent post, when I read Conan stories I don’t see an Arnie character. I see this guy. This is Jason Momoa. He’s a 6’4″ Hawaiin Buddhist. I know, right – perfect for Conan. He’s come a long way from Baywatch.
According to imdb.com, the plot is:
The tale of Conan the Cimmerian and his adventures across the continent of Hyboria on a quest to avenge the murder of his father and the slaughter of his village.
Brilliant. I cannot freaking wait for this movie. I might have to reread some Robert E Howard stories before next year to get into the spirit of it all again.
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I think I might give this one a watch as well. I remember watching this film with my eldest brother, a chappy that loved his action fantasy films. The original Conan films were and still are a level above many of the action fantasy films that have been made over the past few decades.
Absolutely. The first one in particular. Conan The Destroyer was a bit too high budget once Hollywood got more involved, but Conan The Barbarian was a low budget masterpiece.
remind me to lend you the Empire mag from a few months back that did a huge 6 page special on this – cant wait either!
Sweet!
Have you read any of the Robert Jordan-authored Conan books? It’s been years since I read them, but IIRC, they were pretty good. Movie-wise, Conan the Destroyer was cheesy, but it had Olivia D’Abo in it, so it get the thumbs-up from me.
Personally, I can only really appreciate Conan the Barbarian as an “alternate” Conan. Sort of like the difference between the standard Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Marvel Universe. That said, if you’re going to re-read the Howard stories, I’m sure not going to stand in your way!
Haven’t read the Jordan ones. I’ll read the Howard ones again first. And the movies are cheesy, especially Destroyer, but still classics. Conan The Barbarian is much less cheesy than Destroyer.