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Conan The Barbarian: SE
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
The movie that really made Arnold Schwartzenegger famous, "Conan The Barbarian" took a leap off the printed page and onto the big screen. The 1982 film stared Arnold in the title role, a warrior walking around in a wild world of monsters and plenty of enemies to do battle with. The special effects are slightly silly, but actually not that bad considering how long ago the film was produced.
Conan starts off as a child who is captured when his village is taken over. He journeys throughout the country, eventually adding allies and going towards the eventual fight with his enemy, Thulsa Doom(James Earl Jones).
The acting isn't that great, but it really isn't needed in a film like this. Schwartzenegger does a fine job with the battles and looking ultra-serious. James Earl Jones makes a decent bad guy as well - although he's not on-screen that often, he makes a good impression when he appears. Overall, "Conan" makes for a couple of hours of entertainment, with a good-looking film with a strong story.
The DVD
VIDEO: Although I haven't seen the original edition of "Conan" that Universal released, I must say that I was hugely impressed with the quality of this special edition re-release. The image quality is superb, with images that are sharp and clean, with few flaws. Colors are rich as well, not overly bright or vibrant, but looking pleasing, with no instances of bleeding(well, there are a lot of instances of bleeding in the movie, but not with the colors). Flesh tones are accurate and black level is good, as well.
The print used is extremely clean, with only a few very minor instances of marks or other flaws, which don't really distract from the otherwise fine presentation. Some sequences look a little grainy, but it never becomes an issue. There really are some gorgeous shots in this film(as we hear in the commentary every so often), and the presentation from Universal is certainly a strong one, giving the images in general a very clean, very film-like look that will please fans of the movie quite a bit. Excellent work.
SOUND: The sound included here is the original mono audio, and it's actually pretty good. There is never any distortion to cause a problem, and dialogue remains clear. It's certainly limited in nature, but it's not bad at all.
MENUS:: Universal has done a fine job with the menus, showing an animated main menu with images from the movie playing.
EXTRAS:
Commentary This is a commentary from actor Arnold Schwartzenegger and director John Millus. I'm not going to talk too much about this commentary because, well, there really isn't that much to talk about. If you're looking for a wealth of insight into the making of the movie, this really isn't the place for it. The discussion alternates between the two joking about the movie, making random comments and praising their work highly. I'm entertained by the film myself, but occasionally I thought their comments held a little long on their praise for the film when I would have liked to have learned more about how it was made, or even some more stories from the set.
Occasionally, the two are able to share an interesting comment about the production, but other than that, the commentary falls back to either Arnold commenting on a "nice looking shot" or Millus chatting intensely about the themes of the film, taking it all a little bit too seriously. The fact that the two sound like they're just having fun saves a lot of it from becoming too rambling. It's not a great commentary and it doesn't offer too much information, but there are some funny moments (intentionally and unintentionally) and it's good for a listen.
Conan Unchained: The Making Of Conan...: This is a 53 minute "making-of" documentary that takes a look back at the making of this film. If you're looking for more information about the movie, this is a better place to go than the commentary track. This documentary takes us through the history of the production, with the producers talking about the journey to get the rights and the actors together, setting up the film to the production itself.
Interviews are included with many people who were involved with the film in one way or another, from Oliver Stone to Arnold to the producers to director John Millus. It's an extremely informative look at the history of the film, taking viewpoints from many of those involved. I suppose that it does make a nice pairing with the commentary, which is just more in fun than this documentary.
Deleted Scenes: About 6 minutes worth of deleted material. Special Effects: Actually, only a look through "split-screen" at the before and after of one of the special effects sequences from the film.
Conan The Barbarian Archives: This is a 12 minute documentary that simply takes a look at image after image of concept art and other production material from the film. The images go by a little too quickly, but it's nice to have the score playing in the background while the images play out.
Trailers: A couple of funky looking trailers for "Conan".
Also: Production notes, cast/crew bios, recommendations and web link.
The movie that really made Arnold Schwartzenegger famous, "Conan The Barbarian" took a leap off the printed page and onto the big screen. The 1982 film stared Arnold in the title role, a warrior walking around in a wild world of monsters and plenty of enemies to do battle with. The special effects are slightly silly, but actually not that bad considering how long ago the film was produced.
Conan starts off as a child who is captured when his village is taken over. He journeys throughout the country, eventually adding allies and going towards the eventual fight with his enemy, Thulsa Doom(James Earl Jones).
The acting isn't that great, but it really isn't needed in a film like this. Schwartzenegger does a fine job with the battles and looking ultra-serious. James Earl Jones makes a decent bad guy as well - although he's not on-screen that often, he makes a good impression when he appears. Overall, "Conan" makes for a couple of hours of entertainment, with a good-looking film with a strong story.
The DVD
VIDEO: Although I haven't seen the original edition of "Conan" that Universal released, I must say that I was hugely impressed with the quality of this special edition re-release. The image quality is superb, with images that are sharp and clean, with few flaws. Colors are rich as well, not overly bright or vibrant, but looking pleasing, with no instances of bleeding(well, there are a lot of instances of bleeding in the movie, but not with the colors). Flesh tones are accurate and black level is good, as well.
The print used is extremely clean, with only a few very minor instances of marks or other flaws, which don't really distract from the otherwise fine presentation. Some sequences look a little grainy, but it never becomes an issue. There really are some gorgeous shots in this film(as we hear in the commentary every so often), and the presentation from Universal is certainly a strong one, giving the images in general a very clean, very film-like look that will please fans of the movie quite a bit. Excellent work.
SOUND: The sound included here is the original mono audio, and it's actually pretty good. There is never any distortion to cause a problem, and dialogue remains clear. It's certainly limited in nature, but it's not bad at all.
MENUS:: Universal has done a fine job with the menus, showing an animated main menu with images from the movie playing.
EXTRAS:
Commentary This is a commentary from actor Arnold Schwartzenegger and director John Millus. I'm not going to talk too much about this commentary because, well, there really isn't that much to talk about. If you're looking for a wealth of insight into the making of the movie, this really isn't the place for it. The discussion alternates between the two joking about the movie, making random comments and praising their work highly. I'm entertained by the film myself, but occasionally I thought their comments held a little long on their praise for the film when I would have liked to have learned more about how it was made, or even some more stories from the set.
Occasionally, the two are able to share an interesting comment about the production, but other than that, the commentary falls back to either Arnold commenting on a "nice looking shot" or Millus chatting intensely about the themes of the film, taking it all a little bit too seriously. The fact that the two sound like they're just having fun saves a lot of it from becoming too rambling. It's not a great commentary and it doesn't offer too much information, but there are some funny moments (intentionally and unintentionally) and it's good for a listen.
Conan Unchained: The Making Of Conan...: This is a 53 minute "making-of" documentary that takes a look back at the making of this film. If you're looking for more information about the movie, this is a better place to go than the commentary track. This documentary takes us through the history of the production, with the producers talking about the journey to get the rights and the actors together, setting up the film to the production itself.
Interviews are included with many people who were involved with the film in one way or another, from Oliver Stone to Arnold to the producers to director John Millus. It's an extremely informative look at the history of the film, taking viewpoints from many of those involved. I suppose that it does make a nice pairing with the commentary, which is just more in fun than this documentary.
Deleted Scenes: About 6 minutes worth of deleted material.
Conan The Barbarian Archives: This is a 12 minute documentary that simply takes a look at image after image of concept art and other production material from the film. The images go by a little too quickly, but it's nice to have the score playing in the background while the images play out.
Trailers: A couple of funky looking trailers for "Conan".
Also: Production notes, cast/crew bios, recommendations and web link.
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