Conan the Destroyer (1984)

Ah the good old 80s a mini fantasy movie golden age.

Conan the Barbarian, The Sword and Sorcery, Lady Hawk, Legends, Princess bride and many more.

One of the fantasy movie in the list, is Conan the Destroyer (1984)

After Conan the Barbarian, I was actually disappointed by this!!

Having a chance to watch this now, it isn't as bad as I remember...

Sets were impressive.

Characters were amusing.

After the more gripping Conan the Barbarian, I originally felt that Conan the Destroyer (1984) a little kiddie... and it was the intention of the producer for it to be so...

I can see why I dislike the movie initially, Princess Jehnna is a VERY irritating character, and I stand by my word.

I suppose, having "aged" I can now see pass the irritatingness!!

A nice like movie for a lazy Sunday afternoon, heck maybe even a lazy Saturday afternoon for that matter!!

My Two Sen

The Hobbit

i totally agree with u, placing Rowling in the same row with Tolkien is like placing David Coulthard with michael schumacher, they r in a totally different league, Rowling's story is like conning children (i read the books, both Tolkien and HP), the only thing I like about it is that they made (some of) the movies quite brilliant, with great actors and atmosphere, the movies saved the books in HP, but in LOTR, both the books and movies are GREAT, my only disappointment is the Return of the King

Please share.

Why were you disappointed with The Return of the King?

Like my sister, some people prefer the journey/adventure and friendship like film as well as simple without the usage of CGIs much. Maybe that's is all about. To me, i like all 3.

Er... all three LOTR movies were heavily CGIed...

The difference is the CGI were so well done that even in HD, it is very hard to tell (especially the The Tower Towers and The Return of the King)

Unlike Conan the Destroyer, even without CGI, the makers of the movie had to rely on optical effects which can be well done, and have to add when Dagoth came to life.... the movie fell apart for me.... Not as bad as the irritating Olivia d'Abo (Princess Jehnna). Just be glad you are going to the movie with excellent quality fantasy movie like LOTR in the last decade and not like 2 or even 3 decades before!!

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jul 10 2011, 10:45 PM

Yaeh i know, i was just about to edit my post, i mean lesser CIGIs lol

Actually i don't quiete remember the characters in Conan.

LOL, bro, still offended with my word last time ka? I'm sorry lah Just kidding.

This post has been edited by maxizanc: Jul 10 2011, 10:50 PM

Huh?

Why should I get offended with you expressing your opinions!!

Nothing to be sorry about!!

The Conan the Barbarian is being release in HD soon. Get it if you can (especially if you are above 21yo!!) I believe it is R rated.

It is a MUCH better movie compared to it's sequel Conan The Destroyer

Conan the Barbarian is MORE gritty.

I also believe it is the FIRST time I see how James Earl Jones looks.

Of course everyone would know how he sounds (Star Wars, Darth Vader)

I would really like to see Conan The Barbarian (break out role for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who by then had already appeared in one of tow low budget Italian muscle movies, 1984) again B4 I see the new Conan The Barbarian (Jason Momoa of Stargate Atlantis fame, 2011)

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jul 10 2011, 11:00 PM

One of the issues with book adaptation is that there is not enough screen time to fully develop the character and the world. Even LOTR was heavily edited for the cinema edition. To create a new fantasy world would be too complex, and to try to intro a world and characters in a 2 hour++ movie would be difficult to say the least. So you find most fantasy movies are adaptation. But to fully embrace the spirit of the books you will need to spread the movies across a few movies (LOTR, HP, Narnia) but that really depends on how the first movie performs (Airbender, Percy Jackson) if it flops then we are left hanging(Golden Compass).

If you have not seen Game of Thrones, I highly recommend it. Amazing production, script and acting. Did not read the books but from what I heard was closely adapted.I think all book adaption needs to be a series to fully develop the mood of the books.

The new Conan, Jason momoa is in it. Preview of how the new Conan will be although he didn't speak a word of English.

This post has been edited by Bishop: Jul 10 2011, 11:13 PM

I think there has been alot of concerns about the omissions the script writers and directors had done to the Harry Potter books. (I beleieve the stress got to Steve Kloves and he left the project after the 3rd movie)

Where as in LOTR addition/omission and edits were done to the story to flesh out the characters in the book

Say what you want about the LOTR book, it has always been a little dry/academic for me. It was like J.R.R Tolkien was a historian and he was dictation the facts of the history of middle earth for academic purpose...

Have got the whole Game of Thrones series. Have been saving it for a special occasion

Since I've finally watch the whole LOTR Extended Eiditon in HD, I suppose I'll start soon

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jul 10 2011, 11:24 PM

I found LOTR books to be very dry. (couldn't finish reading it, too much singing... )
Tolkien was very detailed in his world creation. He created a whole new language, although he did write dictionaries for a living.

If you read between the line of LOTR, you will find that he is a little racist. Ppl from the west is fair skinned and good, ppl from the east is dark skinned and evil.

Don't wait. Watch Game of Thrones now before someone tells you what happens. Unless you want me too...
Every episode is a cliff hanger except ep03. You better clear 10 hours before you start watching it. You can't stop..

This post has been edited by Bishop: Jul 10 2011, 11:39 PM

Did you see any characters in LOTR movies that were black (not counting ORCS!!)

J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and 3 or 4 more people created a book club during their university years. They had always lament that the English do not have myths like other great cultures (eg Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Chinese and Indian). So they made a pact that in their life times, they would each create myth for their culture...

Some if them died in World War I and I believe only C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien kept their oath hence the "racist" elements you had mention

I don't remember any other myth by other culture that states "other" race and being good. Do you??

No need to spoil the fun for Game Of Thrones for me!!

This post has been edited by Mov_freak: Jul 10 2011, 11:48 PM

The orcs were black and from the east...

Sure you don't want any spoilers for game of thrones? Also note that it is an adult series, not for the kids...

Wow, it has been a long LONG time since anyone suggested that I'm a kid!!!

from my memory of the book (which was about 10 years ago) vs the movie, the book described the war between the 2 sides is so intense and the situation is SO dire and desperate for the good guys they nearly lost it, and if u read it you WILL BE OUT OF BREATH because the story is so engaging and INTENSE! it's like hanging on a cliff with NO WHERE TO GO BUT FALL! the movie is disappointing because they made the battle TOO EASY, especially when the ghosts came out, swept the field in one round and they won the war just like that...i don't really remember there were ghosts in the book, it was 10 years ago and i've read other books in that time so my memory is blurry, anyone wants to verify this? i like the twin towers the most because they really captured EVERYTHING from the book (barred a few details here and there which wasn't a big deal, like all the movies) especially the atmosphere, and the intense battle! the return of the king was supposed to be TWICE AS INTENSE as Twin Towers, but they really tuned it down

This post has been edited by stormlcc: Jul 11 2011, 08:58 AM

i am really disappointed at your comments......the only fantasy author worth reading is Tolkien
m a fantasy book lover....only fantasy. and there a loads of good fantasy authors out there.
the more recent authors that are really good are ken scholes, patrick rothfuss, brent weeks & peter v brett.
peter v brett's book the warded man had been optioned for a movie.....not sure when it will be out.

rowling, paolini & cs lewis's fantasy books are meant more for teens.......not adults la.

Wow. I really like how this topic is heading to. This is what we call discussion. Just that, i think i am too young to remember any scenes from Conan for example unlike Mov_Freak. And i can't even remember Arnold was the one who played Conan the Barbarian.

FYI LOTR books are considered as literature already, it's a whole different league than the regular fantasy books

rowling's books are for 12 year old and below, although it doesn't say that but after reading it sometimes she thinks adults are idiots, or retarded...it may be dark at some point of the story, but it's so...light compared to other novels for adults, plus she made voldermort as the stupidest and sissiest baddy of all time, what kind of a baddy is that? he's like Dr. Evil in Austin Powers, at least Dr. Evil is a comic and he makes u laugh, but the dude who shall not be named feels , especially when u know the ending, and i'll stop here and not spoil it for those who doesn't know yet

This post has been edited by stormlcc: Jul 11 2011, 10:29 AM

Well, the out of breath is a good point in the books and if you want to compare it side by side (movie and book) the plot line are still in line tho there are difference in the scenes that are brought into motion pictures. Eg:

In two towers; The battle of helms deep, they were not supposed to have any elf helping but gandalf brought the old trent(not Greybeard's but older) to help and the movie doesn't even capture the men of dunland protecting the dike.

In RoTK; Aragon should be accompanied by Arwen's brothers and the Rangers of the North and there are ghost in the book. Saruman's presence in the Shire at the end was also not included in the movie.


If its literature, your comment of ''the only fantasy author worth reading is Tolkien'' is misleading as they are others that is definitely worth reading. CS Lewis's Narnia is also a literature but directed towards children.

On the note of LOTR movie is the best epic fantasy adapt to a movie, I say it as a yes. But in comparison to the books, I say if one could adapt 100% of it with the songs and such, it will be a bland movie as what Peter Jackson's has done, made the movie watchable to people of every stages. In the Game of Thrones, season 1 adapted from Book 1 is easier to conduct rather than the sequels. The hardest bottleneck a director would have to face is the amount of characters depicted in the books and the budget to cater them. Its harder than you think even if the author is involve with the production.

Hence, even a simple fantasy could make a great movie but a great fantasy book does not necessarily make a good movie and should be left alone in the papers (unless a movie could lengthen to say about 5 hours per movie )

Movies such as thriller or fiction is an easier choice because mostly revolves around 1-2 characters and meet new ones along the way.

My 2 cents.