I grew up watching one of the animated series of Conan where his sword was one of the few weapons in the world which was created by a special rock that came from a meteor. And then I can remember only a bit of watching Conan: The Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
When the 2011 remake was being make, I didn't feel the need to watch it because I just felt it's going to be another movie with sword & magic and the hero will always win. Just that he has to struggle a lot along the way, gain companions and so on.
Spoilers ahead
The movie is something I would plainly avoid. I had the pleasure of watching of an uncut version that I know some certain places would cut certain scenes. Yes, there is nudity in the movie and a sex scene. A movie simply cannot sell without a sex scene these days.
The movie does set up pretty well the origins of Conan. How he is born and what kind of person he is. Jason Momoa who plays as Conan does a good job of representing Conan who is both a kind yet cocky person. And Rachel Nichols as Tamara plays her role well. Tamara is able to hold out against most enemies and I like that. I have seen too many movies where all the female character does is scream and call for the Hero to save them. But not her, Tamara is able to hold out well and I'm glad the writers of the movie did justice to that.
Stephen Lang who plays Khalar Zym didn't really live up to my standards. Coming from the total BA from Avatar, I was hoping that he showed a bit of it. But the reasons for his behavior in the movie can only be explained by the movie script writers who give a very simplistic of a man wanting to see his wife again and the desire to be God. Rose McGowan apparently played his daughter and I didn't see that coming. Her performance is somewhat cast to the side and she only had a few moments that truly stood out for her.
Regarding the story, I felt personally the first part of the movie was well done. It sets up the plot, the motivation and the origins of Conan. But towards the middle of the movie it got a bit stale with the romance thrown into it. While Nichols played her role well, I really could not stand some stupid scenes that the writers put it. For instance, Tamara is supposedly a monk. I said supposedly because she develops feelings for Conan which is understandable. But Conan doesn't really like her until suddenly one scene where is giving a leather and armor because she apparently dresses like a harlot.
I don't mind that scene, in fact that is the first time we see Conan showing some sort of affection towards Tamara. But the next scene lines up with her having sex with him. And I'm not a big fan of plots that we need to include sex scenes because it sells. I prefer the affection that two couples display to one another than just full blown sex which seem Hollywood's idea of relationship.
Another thing that bugged me is that Conan's sword wasn't really emphasize a lot in the movie. I remember watching the older movies and animated series and I can remember the logo of Conan because of his sword. But the movie fails to deliver that, instead the sword ends as the final item Conan receives because Zym's daughter so happen decide to save it from 20 years ago. I mean it's supposedly the symbol of Conan yet it was push back to almost the end and I felt somewhat betrayed about it.
In conclusion, the movie is not great. I would give it a 2/5 because it fails to deliver in terms of storyline and the writers seem to lose their direction towards the middle to the ending of the movie.
