This is by far the best "Sword and Sorcery" film produced to date. Being a Robert E. Howard fan years before this film was made I have to say I liked it and I hated it. Accounting for these plusses and minuses I give this film a rating of 7 out of 10; mainly because one of the positives is extremely positive.
The extremely positive factor is the musical score by Basil Poledouris which I believe to be one of the finest musical scores ever to grace the silverscreen.
Other things tip the scale toward the positive, too.
Milius is a gifted filmmaker who pays homage to my favorite director of all time, Akira Kurosawa and relies heavily on visuals to show the film's story turning to the captivating voice of James Earl Jones, playing the antagonist, only when narrative exposition is absolutely required. This is a wise decision since the cast is mostly green. The aforementioned Jones is the only veteran actor in a key role although Max von Sydow and William Smith are good in their cameo roles as King Osric and Conan's father respectively.
Milius also pays homage to the stunning art of Frank Frazetta in the costumes/sets and scatters "Howard moments" throughout the film; such as the scene where Conan beds a witch taken from a Bran Mak Morn tale titled "Worms of the Earth", sneaky thievery reminiscent of "The Tower of the Elephant", Conan's crucifixion from "A Witch Shall be Born", and Valeria (a name from "Red Nails") returns from the grave to protect Conan evoking Belit, the "Queen of the Black Coast".
The film's ultimate treatment of Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age tips the scale back in the negative direction, though.
Milius paints the Cimmerians as a peaceful agrarian culture while Howard's Cimmerians are strong, grim and war-like. Milius provides a history of a young Conan that completely contradicts Howard's.
The Milius Conan is sold into slavery at a tender age after seeing his parents brutally murdered while Howard's Conan apparently never even had a tender age; born on a battlefield and respected by the Cimmerian war council when he was not yet fifteen years old.
Howard's treatment of the character Black Turlough who was tossed into a snow-drift at birth "to test his right to survive" in "The Dark Man" is an indication of how Conan may have actually been raised in Howard's Hyborian Age Cimmerian culture. Black Turlough is Gaelic and Howard's Cimmerians are the direct ancestors of Gaels in Howard's fictional essay "The Hyborian Age".
This film must be a Hyborian Age in an alternate universe since contradictions between the Howard Conan and the Milius Conan cannot be resolved.
The extremely positive factor is the musical score by Basil Poledouris which I believe to be one of the finest musical scores ever to grace the silverscreen.
Other things tip the scale toward the positive, too.
Milius is a gifted filmmaker who pays homage to my favorite director of all time, Akira Kurosawa and relies heavily on visuals to show the film's story turning to the captivating voice of James Earl Jones, playing the antagonist, only when narrative exposition is absolutely required. This is a wise decision since the cast is mostly green. The aforementioned Jones is the only veteran actor in a key role although Max von Sydow and William Smith are good in their cameo roles as King Osric and Conan's father respectively.
Milius also pays homage to the stunning art of Frank Frazetta in the costumes/sets and scatters "Howard moments" throughout the film; such as the scene where Conan beds a witch taken from a Bran Mak Morn tale titled "Worms of the Earth", sneaky thievery reminiscent of "The Tower of the Elephant", Conan's crucifixion from "A Witch Shall be Born", and Valeria (a name from "Red Nails") returns from the grave to protect Conan evoking Belit, the "Queen of the Black Coast".
The film's ultimate treatment of Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age tips the scale back in the negative direction, though.
Milius paints the Cimmerians as a peaceful agrarian culture while Howard's Cimmerians are strong, grim and war-like. Milius provides a history of a young Conan that completely contradicts Howard's.
The Milius Conan is sold into slavery at a tender age after seeing his parents brutally murdered while Howard's Conan apparently never even had a tender age; born on a battlefield and respected by the Cimmerian war council when he was not yet fifteen years old.
Howard's treatment of the character Black Turlough who was tossed into a snow-drift at birth "to test his right to survive" in "The Dark Man" is an indication of how Conan may have actually been raised in Howard's Hyborian Age Cimmerian culture. Black Turlough is Gaelic and Howard's Cimmerians are the direct ancestors of Gaels in Howard's fictional essay "The Hyborian Age".
This film must be a Hyborian Age in an alternate universe since contradictions between the Howard Conan and the Milius Conan cannot be resolved.