Conan the Destroyer (1984)

I don't know why it got such a low rating, I really enjoyed Conan the Destroyer. I wasn't as good as the first one, but it was a very good sequel, and definitely worth watching. Good acting, good music, the special effects could have been better, but they were still good. WATCH THIS! Arnold did a really good job with this movie. I think one of the reasons people thought it wasn't good was because it was either confusing or boring. It wasn't boring at all. And it was a little confusing because it is a fantasy adventure movie!

Look at Lord of the Rings, that is fantasy, only everybody loves that! What the....

Fmovies: For fantasy-geeks like myself, this 1984 outing of the legendary swordsman is an interesting mix of highs and lows. The cinematography, costumes and settings are a high-point, remaining loyal to Frazetta's incredible illustrations.

Gone, unfortunately, is the first film's solid, adult screenplay. Howard's original, "Nietzschean" Conan is watered-down here, the director deciding to play for laughs (but Conan and his world just is'nt comedic).

Like the dialogue, the casting is sometimes hit and miss. Although Grace Jones (as the wild warrioress Zula) has been criticized as "over the top", she puts in a solid, believable performance. Sarah Douglas also shines as Queen Taramis, although we don't see enough of her! Arnie is adequate, as is Mako (who reprises his role here as a helpful wizard).

The film suffers most from poor special effects (an unforgivable crime for fantasy lovers)! It looks like they spent most of the budget on actors and settings, but even by 1980s standards, the monsters Conan faces were absurd.

Lessons were not learned, ending with the debacle of "Red Sonja" a year later. Arnie admitted that film to be "the worst he ever made". "Destroyer" amounts to harmless entertainment, lacking conviction, but watchable all the same.

Fun

With an aesthetic and atmosphere closer to Conan's comics, whoever says no, has not read them in his life, because in John Millius, despite being a masterpiece, many concepts were invented that had nothing to do with the universe of Howard, mixing them with the Scandinavian mythology, since the director is a lover of the stories of vikíngos.

In this, what a veteran Richard Fleischer offered us, aged 70 or so when he shot it, is an entertaining adventure and fantasy film, full of action and sense of humor and showing those huge and incredible kingdoms that were shown to us in the comics.

Schwarzenegger is here much more active, speaks more, interacts more with the characters around him and also shows his most comedic side. His partner and servant Malak, played by the great Tracey Walter, one of those actors that you see everywhere, is the one that carries the most comical and carefree part of the film.

The gigantic Mombaata, played by the legendary basketball player Wilt Chamberlain, one of the 50 best in history, according to the NBA, the bodyguard of the young naive and somewhat annoying princess Jehnna, Olivia d Abbo.

Sarah Douglas, is the beautiful and evil, or perhaps manipulated by the priests of the cult of Dagoth, Taramis, queen of Shadizar, and it still hurts me to see how badly wasted she is, since her character was for much more.

Later on they will be joined by the late actor Mako, as the wizard Akiro, the only actor with Schwarzenegger and the camel, who repeat in the sequel. And of course, Zula, a Grace Jones ultra-sexy and more exotic than ever.

The film is not a B Series, as many people think, since it had a budget around 18 million dollars, higher than the first one, although it does not look as it should, since special effects are nowadays totally childish and crappy. However the setting in that wonderful country that is Mexico, with its deserts and valleys, is fascinating and fits perfectly into the universe of the hero.

It is true that it is not better than the first, but it is that the approach is different anyway.

In the first one was to present a character, with a completely adult tone, it was not even for children, which caused that it was crushed by criticism, which labeled it as pseudo-pornographic and made by a psychopath, for a future trilogy that never took place, and here what we have is an adventure film, entertaining, light, very funny, and that even with its defects it is superior to most of the clunkers, of the genre of sword and witchcraft, of that no doubt.

Conan the Destroyer fmovies. The plot moves on at a fair old pace from one big set piece to another and it is clear the film had a decent budget. In fact, I would say that this is excellent bubblegum sword and sorcery fodder except for a few minor, but annoying quirks. For one thing the comedy sidekick Malak is phenomenally irritating, badly acted, and takes any tension, interest etc out of any scene. Clearly they were going for a wider 'family' appeal with this film, but this was also clearly a decision made some time down the filming process. Most obviously this hits home during the fight scenes with some very choppy cutting as some of the more gruesome bits have been removed. And Conan's second encounter with the camel suffers from this too! That aside the cast carry off their roles with aplomb, Grace Jones in particular really getting across her character's zest for and love of combat. One of the better hack and slash films out there.

If you're looking for a deep, interesting and layered fantasy flick which makes sense and has an original story, go rent out the first Conan movie. Conan the Destroyer is pure Hollywood cheese, made because the Conan the Barbarian was such a hit. The studio execs made the story more light-hearted, with sidekicks and magic and the kind of story a thirteen-year-old could watch without getting in trouble.

Oddly enough, it works. While it's light years away from Robert E Howard's original Conan stories, Conan the Destroyer is still great fun, even twenty years after it was made. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes the most of the very silly lines he's given, Tracey Walter proves a capable if somewhat pointless comic foil, and the irony of casting Wilt Chamberlain as a protector of a young princess' virginity is hilarious.

Mako hams it up, Grace Jones takes it all too seriously and Olivia D'Abo makes for a good childlike princess because she was 16 when the film got made. The music's over-dramatic, the lines are laughable ("Some wizard you are! Go back to juggling apples!") and the story's cliché, but for Saturday night viewing, nothing beats Conan the Destroyer.

Possibly Interesting Trivia: This movie was produced by Raffaela De Laurentis, daughter of the famous Dino De Laurentis. She also produced the confusing big-budget epic "Dune". Both Dune and this movie flopped at the box office, and both were filmed in Mexico.

While the original 'Conan the Barbarian' was more dramatic, the sequel is played more for laughs. Nonetheless, it is still a highly entertaining sword and sorcery fantasy flick. The music is again outstanding and carries the movie where the dialogue fails. Of particular note is Wilt Chamberlain's impressive performance as the immense Bombatta. He has a tremendous screen presence, more than just his stature (plus he had to do his own stunts!).

There are lots of memorable scenes throughout the movie. Not a cerebral film, just good old-fashioned fantasy!