Conan the Barbarian (2011)

CONAN FROM A DUMB TEENAGER'S PERSPECTIVE
by Reymundo Salao

Over the years, there were several attempts to continue the legacy of Conan in film. And it seems that this new one wishes to re-ignite the flames of the barbarian character, and perhaps start a new film series. Unlike the 1982 film adaptation by John Milius which had some few alterations from the source material, this new one claims to remain true to the original books. But while it did seem to capture that visually, it failed to establish some degree of emotional and cerebral factor which made the 1982 version a classic.

Comparatively, where the Milius and Schwarzenegger Conan was given ample time for quiet and more thoughtful moments, Marcus Nisepel's and Jason Momoa's Conan was always in a rabid action mode; more arrogant, thoughtless, and after a while, his monotone and lack of character made him too boring and too cardboard-like to sympathize with. The lines he spat out were all barbaric machismo and of vengeance and savagery, which after a while began to sound annoying and awfully corny.

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Conan the Barbarian unleashes its motion poster

The new Conan the Barbarian poster is up, and its not just any poster; its a motion poster. The film will be released on August 19, 2011. Well, I think the poster is awesome, I just hope it will exceed or satisfy my expectations; the first Conan the Barbarian, for me is one of my top 5 personal favorite movies of all time; this one better be good enough.

Photos from the upcoming Conan the Barbarian

In case you didn’t know, a new CONAN THE BARBARIAN movie is being made. It is directed by Marcus Nispel and stars Jason Momoa (from Stargate Atlantis) as the title character Conan. It also features (the Avatar villain) Stephen Lang as the movie’s villain Khalar Zym; Ron Perlman (Hellboy himself) as Conan’s father Corin, and also stars Rose McGowan and Rachel Nichols. Dolph Lundgren had spoken to the producers in November 2009 for an unspecified role. Filming began on March 15, 2010 and concluded on June 5, 2010. The movie is set for a 2011 release, but no specific date has been announced yet.

Personally I am an enormous fan of the first Conan the Barbarian movie which stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by John Milius (I hate the sequel Conan the Destroyer). Conan the Barbarian remains as one of my top 5 favorite films of all time. Because of that, I am pretty much updating on how the new movie would go.

The photos of Momoa that had been released earlier was, for me, very disappointing. I hated the way he looked. He looked too tame. Too “muscular pretty boy”. I was afraid Conan would become this posterboy for something really dumb, silly, and annoying. Conan should be scary. He should look like an animal, or even worse. Beastly with a regal aura. He’s NOT supposed to be a pretty boy.

Well, the recent photos have been redeeming so far. These new photos kinda cured my hopelessness for this project. These photos do look a bit better in the sense of showing a Conan that is more beastly than just some dumb pretty boy. Let’s all just hope that this will be as magnificent as the original.

Lang confirmed as Conan Villain

He was a bad-ass in "Public Enemies", even though his role was sort of a minor one he engulfs the air with his wicked coolness everytime he appears onscreen. He was also an unforgettable, mean, alien-hating villain in the ultra-successful "Avatar". Now it's confirmed that STEPHEN LANG is indeed going to be the villain in the upcoming CONAN (the Barbarian) movie.

Stephen Lang will be playing a character named Khalar Singh, a warlord and formidable warrior, brilliant, cruel, weathered and tanned by the many campaigns he has waged and won. He is driven in his quest to find the Queen of Acheron and has been building an empire to do so.

In an interview with MTV news, Lang quotes: "I have no idea how I'm going to do it," Lang laughed. "First I'm going to find out how I'm going to sound. I'm going to get back on a Mongolian pony and ride like the wind. I'm going to flash my scimitar. I'm going to cut the nuts off Conan and his father."

Mickey Rourke getting big roles in upcoming "epic" movies

I know many of you cannot wait to see IRON MAN 2 wherein Mickey Rourke will play the villain known as Whiplash (check out this poster of his character). Seems like Rourke's prominence as a high profile actor just keeps getting bigger and bigger as he grows older. He has appeared in movies such as "Sin City" and the highly-praised "The Wrestler" And it seems that Rourke isnt slowing down. He is set to appear in two movies that promise to have an epic scale.

Rourke is set to join the remake of Conan The Barbarian, titled just Conan, which is the Marcus Nispel-directed reinvention of the Robert E. Howard creation. Rourke is negotiating to play Corin, the father of Conan who's played by Jason Momoa. There is talk that Stephen Lang (who played the military main villain in Avatar) will be the main villain in this movie, but there are still no confirmations of this. On the other hand, Rachel Nichols (who played Scarlet in the recent GI JOE movie) has been cast to play the lead female character named Tamara, in this movie.

At the same time, Rourke will also star in Relativity Media's Greek mythology clash "War of the Gods" opposite Henry Cavill and Freida Pinto. Rourke's been cast as the villain, King Hyperion. Tarsem Singh is directing with production set to start in April.

Story follows a young warrior Theseus who leads his men into battle with the immortal Greek gods to defeat evil elder gods of the Titans in order to save mankind.

Jason Momoa is the New Conan

We've been very excited for the return of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian (the first movie was the timeless epic directed by John Milius and gave birth to the stardom of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but unfortunately had an awful sequel entitled Conan the Destroyer). Millennium Films, Lionsgate, and rights holder Paradox Entertainment have revealed that Jason Momoa will be Conan, in the rebirth of the Robert E. Howard-created series. The brawny star of Stargate Atlantis who also stars in HBO's Game of Thrones, Momoa got the nod over Kellan Lutz, the Twilight guy, thank God for that at least!

March 15 production start in Bulgaria, and it closes a long ordeal in bringing the saga back to the screen. Paradox originally set up the film with Warner Bros in 2002, and then moved it over to Millenium in 2007.

I have not seen any of his screen appearances, but basing on these internet photos, well he looks too puny for what I percieve as what Conan should look like. He's muscular, but sh!t man, he looks "pretty boy" muscular. (this pic I found of him is as closest to a decent Conan that I could find. His other pix online are just too horrendously matinee idol-ish )Personally, I want Conan to NOT look like a f%cking pretty-boy, and actually, he should look kinda butt-ugly and a bit scary. But I dont think studio executives share that idea. They probably want to tap a large female demographic, rather than concentrate on the more primal and savage aspects of what Conan should be. Well let's just hope that I am wrong.

In other Conan news, Latino Review says that an offer has gone out to Mickey Rourke to play Conan's father Corin, though this is unconfirmed at this point.

source: Latino Review