Conan le Destructeur

This film even though is the second part of Conan the barbarian but it is a damn good film. My kids love it and even I have seen it so many times with them. Arnold is fantastic and so is Grace Jones and Sara Douglass. I wish director Richard Fleischer makes more of this type of films like Conan 3,4,etc., before Arnold gets too old.

Queen Taramis (Sarah Douglas) offers Conan the barbarian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to bring back his love Valeria back from the dead. Conan and his sidekick Malak (Tracey Walter) is to escort Taramis' virgin niece Jehnna (Olivia d'Abo) to find a key and a jewel horn. Her bodyguard Bombaata (Wilt Chamberlain) accompanies them but Taramis tells him to double-cross Conan. On the way, Conan saves wizard Akiro (Mako) and Zula (Grace Jones) and they join the ragtag band of travelers.

It's sillier than the first movie. Its saving grace is that it's fun as long as you don't take it seriously. I think the dialog actually got more clunky. There is certainly nothing quite like this. Grace Jones looks crazy awesome. Mako and Tracey Walter are making jokes. Wilt Chamberlain is actually acting. At least he's not much worst than Arnie. Olivia d'Abo looks really pretty. This is one crazy group.

While the original 'Conan the Barbarian' was more dramatic, the sequel is played more for laughs. Nonetheless, it is still a highly entertaining sword and sorcery fantasy flick. The music is again outstanding and carries the movie where the dialogue fails. Of particular note is Wilt Chamberlain's impressive performance as the immense Bombatta. He has a tremendous screen presence, more than just his stature (plus he had to do his own stunts!).

There are lots of memorable scenes throughout the movie. Not a cerebral film, just good old-fashioned fantasy!

If you're looking for a deep, interesting and layered fantasy flick which makes sense and has an original story, go rent out the first Conan movie. Conan the Destroyer is pure Hollywood cheese, made because the Conan the Barbarian was such a hit. The studio execs made the story more light-hearted, with sidekicks and magic and the kind of story a thirteen-year-old could watch without getting in trouble.

Oddly enough, it works. While it's light years away from Robert E Howard's original Conan stories, Conan the Destroyer is still great fun, even twenty years after it was made. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes the most of the very silly lines he's given, Tracey Walter proves a capable if somewhat pointless comic foil, and the irony of casting Wilt Chamberlain as a protector of a young princess' virginity is hilarious.

Mako hams it up, Grace Jones takes it all too seriously and Olivia D'Abo makes for a good childlike princess because she was 16 when the film got made. The music's over-dramatic, the lines are laughable ("Some wizard you are! Go back to juggling apples!") and the story's cliché, but for Saturday night viewing, nothing beats Conan the Destroyer.

Possibly Interesting Trivia: This movie was produced by Raffaela De Laurentis, daughter of the famous Dino De Laurentis. She also produced the confusing big-budget epic "Dune". Both Dune and this movie flopped at the box office, and both were filmed in Mexico.

I have been captivated by Conan's heroic fantasy world for many years. For this reason alone I am rating this film as 6/10. Do not expect a continuation of the first Conan film. 'Conan The Destroyer' is too light in its scope and Conan is not the same man anymore. The villains are also not as menacing.

Having said that it was good to see Grace Jones and Sarah Douglas and also Conan's companions had good lines and were very funny at times.

As a side note I found the adjective 'Destroyer' in the title quite misleading and unfortunate. For those of us that read the Conan novels we see Conan driven by his own motivations, and fighting his battles only if he had to and not for the sake of destroying. The film distributors could have picked something else to promote the movie.