New Release - Conan the
Barbarian (2011)
Anytime a
classic film is remade, there runs the risk of comparison. Comparison which essentially works against
the remade version. It sets itself up
for imminent failure when trying to recreate the success that another film has already
created. I could sit here and list a
good number of remakes that have been released over the past couple of years
but that, my fellow film fans, would probably take forever and a day. It seems that Hollywood has chosen to take
delight in recycling as many stories that it possibly can. Sometimes it works out; sometimes it tanks
horribly and ends with a devastating crash and mega explosion that claims the
careers and reputation of everyone involved.
Conan the Barbarian kind of
sits in between those two places for me.
I mean even if such a place exists.
Trying to dust off any betrayal to Mr. Schwarzenegger that I felt for
wanting to see this film, I walked into the theater with mixed emotions.
Stargate: Atlantis and Game of Thrones alum Jason Mamoa takes over duties playing Conan in
this recent version to the 1982 epic. I
really liked the first 15 minutes to the film.
It focused on a young Conan played by youngster Leo Howard, who also
played a young Snake Eyes in G.I. Joe:
The Rise of Cobra a couple of years ago.
He played the character a little too far on the sadistic side for my
liking but it played out in the action sequences that he was a part of. With a knowledge of martial arts (did his own
stunts in G.I. Joe), I see bright
things for this kid in the future. So,
Conan loses his mother at birth and loses his father, Corin (Ron Pearlman),
years later when his Cimmerian village is raided by a bandit named Khalar Zym
(Stephen Lang). Zym is on the search for
a special magical mask that will, of course, allow him to be pretty much
invincible and “rule all the land”.
