[Conan] Just re-watched the Movie "Conan the Destroyer"

[Spectator]

OMG, I guess when I was 11 (when it came out in 1984) that it was pretty damned good for me, but I just re-watched it and I have to say it is one of the worst movies in the Swords and sorcery genre made. Just Terrible. Absolutely Awful.

The only shining goodness was the villainess: Queen Taramis.

 

[Supplement Four]

Yeah. Arnie's first turn as the Barbarian has stood the test of time fairly well. But The Destroyer is awful. Absolutely awful.

 

[Da Boss]

I liked it - watched it again with the commentary on for Sarah Douglas (the Queen)which was fun.

She and Olivia D'Arbo were lovely, plenty of death and violence. Its a very different film from the first but I enjoyed each of the three films in their own ways.

Its not the best S+S film but I have seen a lot worse in the genre - Hawk the slayer, D+D films spring immediately to mind as ones I really do not want to watch again.

 

[Supplement Four]

Robert Jordan wrote the novelization for Conan The Destroyer, and, actually, the book is quite good. It's the weakest, imo, of the seven Conan books Jordan wrote, but I think it's night and day better than the film.

In fact, all three of the movie novelizations have been good reads. L. Sprague de Camp's novelization of the first Arny movie is enjoyable. I'd say that Jordan's novelization of Conan The Destroyer made for a much better story. And, believe it or not, Michael Stackpole's novelization of the new Conan movie is fan-freakin'-tastic. It is a much better version of the story than what we saw up on the screen.

 

[Spectator]

Generally RJ, definitely had a D-n-D kinda mentality when writing Conan. Not an over-the-top like some other pastiche authors, but the "Destroyer" was one of them (yep i read the book, and S4 is correct, its much more appealing than the movie).

RJ tended to use a lot of demons, godly interventions, and magic, while REH used it very sparingly (with the glaring exception of the story involving Xuchotl and the Tlazitlans).

 

[Cheomesh]

While I don't suffer through it, it isn't a movie I often decide to simply sit down and watch. Some of the action was fun, but it was fairly few and far between, with a lot of it being simply screen clutter. The worst part was probably the fight with the sorcerer in his castle; why throw your sword when you can just shatter the mirror the same as the rest and why stand behind the mirror he seems to be throwing at?

Also, the Horned God thing was pretty silly.

M.