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Conan The Barbarian is an unsuccessful attempt to reboot the Conan stories, using a fairly good script but fairly poor direction and mostly unimpressive performances. While the movie was shot well for 2D exhibition, it was then converted to 3D in post-production, which adds very little to the visuals and is more distracting than immersive. The Blu-ray release of the title features solid picture and sound quality, particularly in the 2D version, along with a brace of extras.
CONAN THE BARBARIAN 3D
Studio: Lionsgate/Millenium Films
Release Year: 2011
Length: 1 hr 52 mins
Genre: Sword & Sorcery/Pulp Story Adaptation
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
BD Resolution and Codec: 1080p, 3D - MVC (average 20 mbps primary stream, 10 mbps secondary stream), 2D – AVC (average 25 mbps)
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1 (@ an average 5.5 mbps, up to 7.2 in the big scenes)
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Film Rating: R (Strong Bloody Violence, Some Sexuality and Nudity)
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Starring: Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Rose McGowan, Said Taghmaoui, Leo Howard, Bob Sapp and Ron Perlman
Written by: Thomas Dean Donnelly & Joshua Oppenheimer and Sean Hood
Based on the Character of Conan as created by Robert E. Howard
Directed by: Marcus Nispel
Film Rating: 2/5
Conan the Barbarian is actually not as bad as I feared, after the reactions I have heard from several people who saw it before me. At its core is a fairly good script that reaches back to the original iteration of Conan as envisioned by Robert E. Howard in the original pulp pages, long before the days of Conan comic books or movies with Arnold Schwarzenegger. The story is similar to that of the 1982 John Milius film starring Schwarzenegger, in that it’s an origin story that begins with the death of Conan’s parents, features him as a mercenary and pirate for much of the running time, and transitions to a simple revenge story by the movie’s climax. On paper, this all works fine. Unfortunately, the film is saddled with a director who is simply incapable of coherent action staging, so that several of the film’s key action beats are impossible to follow other than as a flurry of activity. The film is additionally hampered by much of the cast, none of whom jumps out at the viewer in the way that either Schwarzenegger or James Earl Jones did in the 1982 film. The one person who seems to fare decently is Rose McGowan, who has a great time playing an evil sorceress with deadly fingernails. Unfortunately faring less well is Stephen Lang, a fine actor who seems to be repeatedly cast in villainous roles since Avatar and who chews an unbelievable amount of scenery here. In the lead, Jason Momoa doesn’t register, at least not in the iconic manner of Schwarzenegger or even in the way seen in the Marvel comic book. The film is at least handsomely designed, and the Bulgarian locations actually look better than one might think, given the rushed nature of the actual production. But once again, the filmmakers have confounded themselves, this time by converting what was a good-looking 2D movie into 3D. The result is that for much of the film there isn’t much impact or dimensionality from the 3D, but in the key battle sequences, the added complication makes what was already confusing (due to the unclear direction) and renders the situation completely incoherent at times. That said, there are a few odd moments here and there where the 3D does create some coherent separation or dimensionality, but these are fleeting. This film is likely example 234 of why not to release a movie in 3D that was never intended to be seen that way.
Conan the Barbarian was released on Blu-ray at the end of November, in an edition that included both 3D and 2D versions of the film, along with a brace of extras on the Blu-ray. A bare-bones DVD edition was also included in the packaging, along with instructions for downloading a digital copy compatible with iTunes.
VIDEO QUALITY 3/5
Conan the Barbarian is presented in a 1080p 2.40:1 MVC encode, which has two video streams running to create the 3D effect. As said above, the 3D is only intermittently successful in creating a layered environment. Much of the time, the effect is simply distracting, making clear that the 3D was added as an afterthought rather than envisioned as the original plan. A 2D AVC encode works better and shows better color range throughout.
AUDIO QUALITY 4/5
Conan the Barbarian is presented in an English DTS-HD MA 7.1 mix that gets fairly aggressive during the battle scenes, what with the bombastic score and the heavy impacts of the swords and other cutting tools. Technically speaking, the sound mix probably works better than anything else in the movie.
SPECIAL FEATURES 3/5
Conan the Barbarian comes with a bunch of extras on the Blu-ray, including two commentaries and three featurettes. Nothing digs too far below the surface, but the featurettes at least acknowledge the origins of the material and show some interesting behind-the-scenes footage here and there.
Commentary with Director Marcus Nispel – Marcus Nispel contributes a scene-specific commentary that mostly focuses on the story, without getting too much into the nuts and bolts. Many times, he gets caught up in his own narrative, apart from whatever is happening onscreen – which is fine if you’re really interested in his story and not looking to learn about the production.
Commentary with Jason Momoa and Rose McGowan – Jason Momoa and Rose McGowan have a great time watching the movie together and talking back to the screen. A love scene gets particularly sarcastic treatment from them. If anything, they’re having fun – the listener may not learn much, but there is something infectious about hearing two people just having a great time. (This is similar to the effect of listening to a commentary by John Carpenter and Kurt Russell)
The Conan Legacy (18:01, 1080p) – This featurette goes back to the beginning for Conan, but also gets into some of the mechanics of this film’s production. The 1982 film is discussed with a fair amount of reverence, although some test footage of Jason Momoa is also presented as a way of justifying how he was cast in the role. Paul M. Sammon (author of Conan the Phenomenon) participates in the discussion, as does Roy Thomas, who wrote the Conan comic books 20+ years ago. Director Marcus Nispel mentions consulting John Milius about the movie, particularly the casting.
Robert E. Howard: The Man Who Would Be Conan (11:24 1080p) – This featurette focuses on Conan’s creator, author Robert E. Howard. Howard’s life and approach to Conan are discussed a bit more in depth than one might have expected.
Battle Royal: Engineering the Action (9:55, 1080p) – This featurette covers the stunt work and the action beats in the movie, particularly a carriage attack and an arena fight between Conan and various sand warriors. All the principals are interviewed about the material, and a generous amount of on-set footage is shown.
Staging the Fights (5:47, 1080p) – This is actually a compilation of the video previsualizations of the action beats, shown on their own and at times in comparison with the completed fight scenes in the movie.
Trailer (2:16, 1080p) – The movie’s theatrical trailer is presented in high definition 2D.
The movie and the special features are subtitled in English. A pop-up menu is present, along with a complete chapter menu. The main menu is in 2D, but when you select the “Play Movie” option, you are presented with an additional option of whether to view in 2D or 3D. Trailers for various other Lionsgate releases are also presented in 1080p, both when you first activate the disc, and if you select the appropriate option from the main menu..
DVD Edition – A standard definition copy of the movie on DVD is included in the packaging. It contains the movie, with an English 5.1 Dolby Digital mix (at 448 kbps), and with none of the extras found on the Blu-ray.
Digital Copy – Instructions for downloading a digital copy of the movie are included in the packaging, along with a caution that this copy will only work with iTunes. The digital copy may no longer be available after November 22, 2012.
IN THE END...
Conan the Barbarian is an example of what probably was a good story and script idea, undone by poor direction, uninspired casting and an unfortunate choice to convert a 2D image to 3D after the fact. Some of the extras on the Blu-ray are interesting, and the 2D picture and sound are very good, but that’s honestly not enough to merit a recommendation for purchase or even rental.
Kevin Koster
January 2, 2012.
Equipment now in use in this Home Theater:
Panasonic 65” VT30 Plasma 3D HDTV – set at “THX” picture mode
Denon AVR-3311Cl Receiver
Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Player
PS3 Player (used for calculation of bitrates for picture and sound)
5 Mirage Speakers (Front Left/Center/Right, Surround Back Left/Right)
2 Sony Speakers (Surround Left/Right – middle of room)
Martin Logan Dynamo 700 Subwoofer
