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Conan The Barbarian: Collector's Edition
Universal // R // May 30, 2000
List Price: $29.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
As a child, Conan is taken to a slave camp after his parents are slain in a violent siege led by an evil sorceror. As he ages, the young Conan begins to look remarkably like Arnold Schwarzenegger, driven by his lust for revenge... The story unfolds with a surprisingly small amount of dialogue (particularly from Conan himself), and despite the incredibly large amount of violence and sex, those elements in Conan the Barbarian somehow avoid seeming gratuitous. The violence in particular is spectacularly well-choreographed, and many of the shots are breath-taking. Conan is certainly not a movie for the young or faint of heart, but it's a very entertaining and engaging fantasy and an incredible DVD.
Video: In a word, excellent. Though not flawless, the video quality of Conan the Barbarian comes as close as I could possibly expect from a film of its age. This is undoubtedly the best Conan has looked outside of its theatrical release.
Audio: A fairly impressive mono soundtrack -- clean, clear, and gets the point across. It's not a room-rattler like True Lies, but hardly disappointing.
Supplements: Some studios think a "special edition" means the inclusion of a commentary, a trailer, and a 10 minute HBO featurette. Though those extras are always appreciated, Conan The Barbarian is one disc that truly deserves to be called a collector's edition. The commentary with director John Milius and Arnie is fairly ordinary -- plenty of jokes swapped along with occasional tidbits of information; moderately entertaining, but not as substantial as I would've preferred. The commentary is certainly worth a listen, though hardly worth sitting through more than once. I found Conan Unchained, a nearly hour long documentary, to be far more worthwhile, particularly an incredible amount of detail as to how the movie came about. I had no idea Oliver Stone had anything to do with the film until seeing this documentary. Conan Unchained does drag at times, but it's a great companion piece to the film. Other extras include trailers, production notes, a brief special effects sequence (although from the "Special Effects" description on the menu, I was expecting a featurette detailing the level of effects in the movie), several scenes deleted from Conan that really weren't particularly compelling as a whole, and some truly impressive production art and photographs. I found it a nice change to have the art and photographs in featurette form rather than the traditional 'still gallery'. It's also worth mentioning that the version of Conan on this disc is the international cut, containing scenes not in the original R1 release. Yes, this is a collector's edition by pretty much any standard.
Conclusion: Although Conan The Barbarian does occassionally elicit a few groans, it holds up remarkably well. This is an incredibly loaded special edition, and for a disc that can easily be found online for under $23 before discounts, it's a must-purchase for fans of fans of action/adventure/fantasy films.
Video: In a word, excellent. Though not flawless, the video quality of Conan the Barbarian comes as close as I could possibly expect from a film of its age. This is undoubtedly the best Conan has looked outside of its theatrical release.
Audio: A fairly impressive mono soundtrack -- clean, clear, and gets the point across. It's not a room-rattler like True Lies, but hardly disappointing.
Supplements: Some studios think a "special edition" means the inclusion of a commentary, a trailer, and a 10 minute HBO featurette. Though those extras are always appreciated, Conan The Barbarian is one disc that truly deserves to be called a collector's edition. The commentary with director John Milius and Arnie is fairly ordinary -- plenty of jokes swapped along with occasional tidbits of information; moderately entertaining, but not as substantial as I would've preferred. The commentary is certainly worth a listen, though hardly worth sitting through more than once. I found Conan Unchained, a nearly hour long documentary, to be far more worthwhile, particularly an incredible amount of detail as to how the movie came about. I had no idea Oliver Stone had anything to do with the film until seeing this documentary. Conan Unchained does drag at times, but it's a great companion piece to the film. Other extras include trailers, production notes, a brief special effects sequence (although from the "Special Effects" description on the menu, I was expecting a featurette detailing the level of effects in the movie), several scenes deleted from Conan that really weren't particularly compelling as a whole, and some truly impressive production art and photographs. I found it a nice change to have the art and photographs in featurette form rather than the traditional 'still gallery'. It's also worth mentioning that the version of Conan on this disc is the international cut, containing scenes not in the original R1 release. Yes, this is a collector's edition by pretty much any standard.
Conclusion: Although Conan The Barbarian does occassionally elicit a few groans, it holds up remarkably well. This is an incredibly loaded special edition, and for a disc that can easily be found online for under $23 before discounts, it's a must-purchase for fans of fans of action/adventure/fantasy films.
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