The reboot of the 1980s classic “Conan the Barbarian” is an uncomplicated bit of fluff. What is lacks in the Nietzschesque pretensions of original, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, it more than makes up for in blood and thunder.
This time the barbarian is played by Jason Momoa, an actor who has made a career out of playing barbarian warriors in such TV shows as “Game of Thrones” and “Stargate: Atlantis.” Momoa has the character down, including the rippling pecs, the thick accent, and the uncomplicated view of life, “I live. I love. I slay. I am content.” And what more is there to life, anyway?
Like the original, the plot that holds together all of the decapitations and disemboweling is a revenge story. Conan, who is literally cut out of his mother’s womb on a battle field, is a bad ass killer from the age of about 11. Nevertheless he sees his father, played by a bushy bearded Ron Pearlman, and his entire village wiped out by an evil wizard named Khalar Zym, played with menace by Stephen Lang. Zym is putting together a magical mask, the pieces of which were distributed among the barbarian tribes, in order to become a god.
Fast forward years later, and the adult Conan is engaged in adventuring with a group of equally brawny friends. After freeing a camp filled with slaves, he encounters one of Zym’s henchmen whose nose he had lopped off years ago. It seems that Zym, with the help of his creepy daughter, Marique, played by Rose McGowen, needs the pure blood of someone to complete the ritual that will make him a god and resurrect his dead wife who was burned alive for being a crazy, genocidal maniac.
The pure blooded one is a female monk named Tamera, played by Rachel Nichols. For someone who has been cloistered, she is a feisty little minx, who can stick sharp objects into the bad guys with the best of them. The whole personality clash, followed by sex, is done by the numbers.
There is lots of bloody killing in this version of “Conan,” a body a minute on the average according to one account. Thus the movie is never dull and, if one approaches it in the spirit of the gorefest that it is, one will, if not rendered nauseous, will be content.
Source: Conan the Barbarian, Yahoo Movies