Cheap Conan - The Complete Quest (Conan The Barbarian/The Destroyer) (DVD) (Grace Jones, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olivia d'Abo) Price

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Customer Reviews of Conan - The Complete Quest (Conan The Barbarian/The Destroyer)

Robert Howard's greatest creation by way of Friedrich Nietzsche
In Conan the Barbarian, while Conan is not entirely presented the way Howard wrote him, the film is nonetheless well done and extremely entertaining. The points of straying from Howard are many--the appearance of other Cimmerians besides Conan in the story, the prefiguration of Conan's kingship (a plot device taken from L Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter's apocryphal entries into the series, and Conan praying, along with scenes taken from other Howard creations besides Conan--though for the most part, the movie actually tracks Howard's vision fairly closely. Of course the movie opens with Nietzsche's most famous quote and the plot turns Conan into a Nietzschean superman capable of overcoming appalling odds even though he is only a man and not a superhero. James Earl Jones gives great support as the Jim Jones-like cult leader Thulsa Doom (actually a villain out of Howard's Kull series), while Ben Davidson, Sven Ole Thorsen, Mako, Gerry Lopez, and Sandahl Bergman all serve effectively variously as friends and enemies. Late in the movie, Conan suffers in a way cleverly reminiscent of Howard's original creation then goes on to a swashbuckling finale and climax against Doom's followers. The end of the film--in keeping with the tone of the film a combination of Howard and Nietzsche--is very satisfying and beautifully done. While the sequel is much lesser and deserves no in-depth mention here, the first Conan movie is a fine entry into the sword-and-sorcery genre and should be more highly regarded both in its genre and among movies in general.

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incredibly good. the world of conan is brought to life with all due respect
The opening scene is incredible. <
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>Thulsa Doom, the villain from Conan the Barbarian is insanely evil. In the opening scene, after the entire village is slaughtered, Doom has the young Conan and his super-hot, leather-clad, sword-wielding, mom cornered. Doom dismounts from his horse and is handed the sword of Conan's just-slain father. He examines it with obvious appreciation and then turns to face Conan and his mother. NOT A WORD IS SAID IN THIS ENTIRE SCENE! Any movie made today would be falling all over itself to put in some cheesy one-liner that they could reference later in the movie to help show how this event molded Conan's life. ok, sorry for the rant, Doom begins to stare with his hypnotic blue eyes and turns slowly away as Conan's mother stands paralyzed, sword hanging useless at her side. <
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>Then, out of nowhere, Doom spins quickly and lops off the womans head! The sound effect for this decapitation is disgustingly effective. I have no idea how accurate it is, but it seems like they got the sound exactly right. You see her head fall and her body collapse to the side, pulling her hand out of Conan's. He simply looks at his now empty hand, then up at Doom. With still no words spoken you understand that Conan is going to spend the rest of his life in pursuit of Thulsa Doom. <
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>This movie is fantastic! The production value is of the highest quality and every aspect of the story and characters is treated with total respect. There are no cheesy one-liners, no cheap laughs or gags. The costumes look as realistic as you could want, but with beautifully designed fantasy elements. <
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>A lot of the stuff from the book have been left out (Conan fighting skeleton, monsters, etc.) but there are still lots of fantasy elements. The witch woman that Conan encounters and the giant snake raised by Thorgrimm are great additions. <
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>This may be one of the greatest movies of all time. If you consider how closely and accurately the movie portrays the character of Conan and his savage world, I think you will agree that this movie succeeds more than most others. <
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>If you like Fantasy, James Earl Jones, and Animation here is a great recommendation: The Flight of Dragons. It's primarily a movie for younger audiences, but Mr. Jones plays a character more evil than Thulsa Doom and Darth Vader! Seriously. The movie is about four wizards and how their realm of magic is being lost to the world of logic and science. Jones plays Omadon, the Red Wizard (long O sound). You will see just how evil he can be when he lays out his plans for the world to the other three wizards. Truly a scary scene when you take a look around and see the evil spreading in the world today.

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Excellent. Recommend Highly.
This dvd is absoletly neccesary in a good home dvd collection.