"What is best in life?" Conan would respond with the following: "Crush your enemies, see them driven before you , and to hear the lamentations of the women." I, however, would much rather watch an old movie and eat pizza but to each his own. I recently revisited Conan The Barbarian and was shocked at how well the movie has held up over the years.
It isn't perfect, mind you. The costumes are laughable, the budget isn't super high, most of the acting is bad, and the sets are reminiscent of an old episode of Star Trek. None of these thing are a big deal, though, because this film has style and that is a claim very few recent movies can make.
If you have never seen the movie, I'll give you a brief rundown of the plot. The film follows Conan, who was taken by raiders and sold into slavery as a child. He becomes a renowned and highly trained pit fighter and is eventually released by his master. From there, he begins his quest to take revenge on the man who captured him and slaughtered his people. He meets friends, suffers hardships and losses, and eventually succeeds by but only at a great personal cost. It is a perfect revenge story and one that is worth experiencing or re-experiencing.
In spite of its issues, Conan The Barbarian is intelligently directed. Director, John Milius, knew that the actors were not great so they are given very few lines to mess up. Instead the visuals and the action are used to tell the story and this is extremely effective. In fact, some have made the comparison between Conan The Barbarian and 2001: A Space Odyssey for this reason. If a film is compaired to anything by Kubrick, it must be doing something right.
The music in the movie is great too and helps to build the fantasy atmosphere very well. Fun fact, according to IMDB, the studio originally wanted to use contemporary pop music in the film which would have, doubtlessly, ruined it. We are, fortunately, treated to a very competent and genre appropriate orchestral soundtrack that fits the film's tone. If I hear the opening theme (titled "Anvil of Crom") my blood still gets to flowing as my anticapation for the excitment to come builds.
This movie is pushing forty years old so there isn't much else for me to say that hasn't been said by smeone else. Conan does hold up very well. If you have never seen this movie then give it a chance and if you have seen it before think about revisiting it because it is far better than the bland pile of mush that Hollywood serves up to us these days.