MovieChat Forums > Conan the Barbarian (2011) Discussion > What an awful depiction of Conan the Bar...

What an awful depiction of Conan the Barbarian

posted 8 years ago by spencerprattsactingcoach
4 replies | jump to latest

I seriously laughed so hard looking at the threads saying this movie was so good lol. Really? compared to the actual 1982 version based off of the one who wrote about Conan The Barbarian, Robert E. Howard? This version had nothing to do with Robert E. Howard. It was a loosely based version of the character.

Let me tell you how laughable the scenes were:

*Corin, Conan's father, cuts Conan out of his wife's stomach. She embraces him for a good minute after screaming in pain. Then the pain goes away as she looks gleefully at the infant Conan whilst his father tells her to name him. She says, "Conan" then dies like nothing happened.

Really?

*The skinny warriors screaming with a thunderous roar louder than a full grown Stallion in heat. OK!

I can't even go on how stupid and these scenes were.

I guess you can't expect much from guys that wrote from such classics as Cube 2, Legend of Hercules, A Sound of Thunder, Dylan Dog and Sahara.

[–] vortexrider 8 years ago

The film is absolutely ridiculous. I understand some films could have a low budget or lack of access to locations but this doesn't seem to be the problem with this one. It is just a very bad movie.

The character of Conan doesn't correspond to his personality and depiction in any old movies or the 90s cartoon series. 2011 Conan always has his face down and eyes looking up with a smirk as if he is conspiring something or thinking of some dishonest tactic.
I think Conan's character is supposed to be portrayed as someone who can easily laugh at something stupid like finding a jug of wine or beer, or a piece of meat. He is supposed to appear dumber but act smarter and more noble.

Instead in 2011 film he appears as if he is smart and constantly scheming and then he does something stupid or nonsensical and lacks any concept of honor. I know he is a barbarian and his concepts of honor would be very selfish or primitive. But that simplicity is also what made him more direct and honest in old films.

I mentioned his frequent lowered head and eyes looking up with a sinister smile in 2011 remake. Conan as he has been established through popular culture would look at his enemy directly with chin slightly up and a violent grimace. Sort of how apes or wild animals stare each other in the face before or when they attack. In this remake he resembles The emo goth character of The Crow more than Conan.

It just boggles my mind how someone could write a Conan character so poorly in

[–] vortexrider 8 years ago

I didn't finish my sentence I meant to write "so poorly in 2011 remake"

[–] Arkynomicon 8 years ago

Yeah, the entire thing is pretty *beep* and never really felt like the Robert E. Howard adventure people seem to claim it was.

[–] bigfrog6 8 years ago

Total crap from the first scene... as you pointed out. Plus there is no tension, there is no threat to Conan, he's invincible and the action scenes seem out of a video game. And I've only seen the first 30 mins or so.