![]() The spirit of earnestness is ably supported by Basil Poledouris' score. Finally for all the film's ridiculousness – enshrined in that cheesy-as-cheddar prologue spoken by Mako – Milius resists the temptation to play the silliness self-consciously (as say Stephen Sommers would), but revels in the earnestness of Conan's personal quest for revenge against Thulsa Doom. Milius took time for characterisation and inserted action when it was needed, a formula that is more often than not reversed in films of this type. ![]() And while we're a long way from The Lord of the Rings, the characters of the film are memorable. Despite the unpromising pulp origins of the film's hero and the acting resume of its lead actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, director John Milius grounded his pre-Sumerian fantasy in a level of reality sorely lacking in most other fantasy films (even Barbarian's inauspicious sequel Conan the Destroyer). Conan the Barbarian was by all accounts the crowning achievement of this dubious film making spree, and it's not hard to see why. A child of the Year of the Monkey 1980, I came to this world a little too late to get caught up in the Western world's enthusiasm for the sword and sorcery epics and their parade of well-oiled bodies, primal love making, unspiced red meats and graphic life taking.
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