Conan the Barbarian

Rating:
Summary: Great directing, violence, blood, honor and music!!!
Review: This is the ultimate sward movie by far even makes the sequel boring and small. The sound is great birds ,water, the lighting and did anyone notice when Conan was turning the wheel the camera was behind him and is turning with him? The small subtle things the director did throughout the movie made a big great movie. The guy who did the music Basil did an incredible job and the score seems to be as important gluing this movie together as anything else and if you ask me it's as good as any other great classical piece of it's kind (Wagner). With a score this encompassing I do wish the movie sound track was re done for dvd they do it for others and this music is better.

Rating:
Summary: THE GREATEST ACTION/ADVENTURE MOVIE OF ALL TIME!
Review: I judge all other action/adventure movies by this and nothing even comes close. Arnold is perfect as Conan. The music score is fantastic. The sets, costumes and actors are magnificent. I've owned this movie on videotape and laserdisc and have watched it over and over and over again. I never tire of this film. Even my wife loves it. This film blows away the sequel as well as all imitators.

Rating:
Summary: The Standard to compare to
Review: One of the best sword and sorcery movies ever made. The early 80's is my favorite era of movies because it was before movies began pandering to the audience. CtB, Dune, Blade Runner, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Excalibur, the list goes on and on. These movies are made to "play it straight". CtB is a great movie because it shows the life of a Barbarian without sugar-coating it. Difficult, bloody, vengeful. Great cast..great treatment... great movie.

Rating:
Summary: my favorite film
Review: This is one of the few films I could watch, rewind and then watch again. Some movies rely on special effects, some on dialogue alone, some on music or visuals or choreography. This film puts all these qualities together, in a necessary fashion. I believe if this movie did not have its amazing score, it would be bad. If the characters spoke too much (in rotten fantasy dialogue, as in the sequel) it would be bad. If there was too much injected humor it would be bad. However, none of these mistakes are made, and all the effects complement each other. The characters play extremely well with one another, and this movie, like Braveheart or Star Wars, truly does its job - which is to take the viewer to another time and place.

Rating:
Summary: this is the best Action Adventure film of all time.
Review: Nothing else needs to be said..

Rating:
Summary: defining a genre
Review: This, I belive, to be one of the few movies that sets the tone for how others of it's type are judged. While on one level it will please the hack and slach crowd with excellent sword play and lakes of blood, it also carries a depth I think easily overlooked and mostly missing from movies of it's kind. The score from Basil is magnificent and weaves together the lacking dialouge, carrying both the power and exotic beauty this movie sets from the begining to end.

Rating:
Summary: Why did they edit the dvd???
Review: Buyers beware! this is an edited version of the original! Around 18 minutes are missing in the dvd version!!!! USA version at least.

Rating:
Summary: A glorious tale of epic adventure and terse realism.
Review: This is the epic tale of Robert E. Howard's Conan character brought to life. Sure it doesn't follow Howard's original story line, but what has been done with it is fantastic in its scope. The topography of Sicily mixes beatifully with Basil Poledouris' score. John Milius outdoes himself. The casting is unbelievable. From Arnold to James Earl Jones. From Mako to Max Von Sydow. Bodybuilding fans will also be surprised with a cameo by BB great Franco Columbu.

Rating:
Summary: Simply an outstanding and original Epic of a Movie
Review: Many people slag this movie off, mostly for it's lack of dialogue and sometimes gratuitous violence. But these people are simply missing the point. This film was not meant to be a political thriller, it was meant to be a glorious and very emotional tale of a man's quest for revenge against an evil clan leader who killed his parents, and it fulfills perfectly. Many people say this film is too long, but it has to be, it is telling the life story of conan, warrior and barbarian, if it were any shorter some of the best scenes would have to be cut out. The opening of the movie must be one of the best i have ever seen, the crafting of the sword combined with the intensely emotional score set the scene for a very thaught provoking movie. Another of this film's qualities are the great scenes that come at the beginning. For example the "wheel of pain", "the tree of woe", the "fighting slave" scene ang the very epic ending. Many people criticise Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting in this film, but I think he is ideal for this role, there is no other actor I can think of which would depict the mighty Conan as well as Schwarzenegger did. For me, once you see past the machoism of the film you realise it is more than just an action romp but an epic. And combined with the masterfull score that's the only word to desribe this movie, an Epic, and one that deserves a place in the alltime top 20.

Rating:
Summary: true to the image in the comic books
Review: this is simply a kick a$$ movie. The fact that there is very little dialogue doesn't matter. Arnold can really swing the sword!! This is one of the best action movies that I have ever seen. James Earl Jones was the perfect villian. It's amazing how good a movie with blood, guts, swords, and horses can be.