Current Events > I saw Conan the Barbarian for the first time today.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I absolutely loved it. It's been so long since I've seen any proper sword and sorcery media that isn't compromised somehow. So much of it these days is high fantasy nonsense or cartoonish characters or tongue in cheek references or satire or doused in layers of modernized bullshit that completely ruin the tone. Everything about Conan felt so authentic. It was serious and full fantastical elements and there was wall to wall gritty adventure. I want to see it again already.

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https://youtu.be/P2EQ0FlVks4
"Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe." :pause:
"Crucify him".
Man, I just loved James Earl Jones in this.

bloodyarts posted...

https://youtu.be/P2EQ0FlVks4
"Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe." :pause:
"Crucify him".
Man, I just loved James Earl Jones in this.

He was so good in it, and so many memorable lines:

"There comes a time when the jewels cease to sparkle, when the gold loses its luster, when the throne room becomes a prison..."

The whole movie was just drenched in atmosphere.

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Two men praise each other's gods, and instead of going to war against one another, the very next shot is of them running together into adventure, brothers in arms.

Beautiful scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcZt8ejQw_8

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I've been meaning to watch this but it's not on Netflix.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo9buo9Mtos

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I like Roger Ebert's review of it.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/conan-the-barbarian-1982

I just watched it yesterday myself. Good stuff.

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bloodyarts posted...

Two men praise each other's gods, and instead of going to war against one another, the very next shot is of them running together into adventure, brothers in arms.

Beautiful scene.

YES! They compare why they think their god is mightier, without putting down the other's. "You think that's badass? My god is the wind and sky around us." "Yeah but my god will demand I answer the riddle of steel, if I fail that it doesn't even matter what my accomplishments in battle are."

One upping but they are totally compatible as being in the same pantheon so they never put down the other or deny their existence.

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Whats the answer to the Riddle of Steel?

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refmon posted...

Whats the answer to the Riddle of Steel?

Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.


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Yeah, it's a great movie & still probably Arnold's best acting.

hell yes
it's a really, really good movie

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pfh1001 posted...

Yeah, it's a great movie & still probably Arnold's best acting.

It's also the most fit he ever got.


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One of the best movies ever made, and Arnold's best role. He actually comes off as an actual, real actor in it.

And yes, it has an authentic feel that is very rare in these kind of action, adventure, fantasy movies. No dumb snarky stuff, no modern day sensibilities, it honestly does feel like you're transported to another time and world.

I dont think they'll ever be able to make another movie like this again. The jason mamoa Conan was an abomination imo.
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I wonder why media like this is so hard to come by these days. Obviously the material holds up, I was absolutely captivated by that movie and I've seen my fair share of fantasy and sci-fi action movies. Every fantasy game I see on store shelves now is digging up the beaten-to-death corpse of fantasy satire and putting it through the ringer once again. Even staples of the genre like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Warcraft, and Warhammer have taken all the mysticism away. Every evil villain has full stats, every sinister motivation is clear, all the magical mechanics are understood, even the fabled histories are now recounted by a top-down authoritative narrator, removed from the obscuring mists of hearsay and fable.

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