Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Just happened across a few snippets about this film project a few days ago. Sounds interesting, more so at least than Arnold re-prising his Terminator role. I always wanted to see more about Conan as he appeared in that final shot of the original 2 films, with him on the throne sporting a full beard ...and a world-weary stare. At least Arnie would be the right age, more or less, to be believable as the aged Cimmerian ruler of mighty Aquilonia, and father of young Conn, embarkng on one final quest, to rescue his kidnapped son... or whatever they're planning to do story-wise.

My excitment pretty much depends on the script & director. I know Arnold can push himself to get in great shape for the part and the FX will give us a fantastically realized Hyborian world. No matter what, it's gonna sort of suck just because Basil Poledouris is no longer with us... and my ears are all the sadder for it.

Thoughts???

i like the idea, and there is plenty of source material in order to avoid something like the Conan reboot... but my real interest will be decided when a director is named.

The last thing I want is old man Arnold playing a Conan movie. He couldn't do the character right 30 years ago, what makes him think he can do it right now?

The problem isn't so much Arnold, really. I mean I know there's a stigma of sorts whenever he's involved, but c'mon... you know Arnold can pull off the look, the swordplay and the other general action that a film like this would require. Also, since the story is apparently featuring Conan during the period in his later life when he's King of Aquilonia, then Arnie IS the appropriate age.

There's so much history to pick from with this character. They tried a reboot from scratch last summer and while I did enjoy some of it, the whole thing more or less left me with a big sense of "so what?" when it was all over with. I did not get a sense of epicness, grandeur or spectacle. I dunno, perhaps I've been too jaded by the likes of Hercules & Xena stuff and the LOTR movies and so forth and so on... but the Mamoa film just felt like any other fantasy movie to me. I also did not feel any connection from Jason Mamoa in the lead role, and that's no offense to him; he had the looks & moves, but he commanded no presence.

The script, director and budget will make or break this new movie, not Arnold.

I don't feel it was the action that was the problem, but more so with a lackluster villain (what villain takes 15 years to only get halfway through his task???) and they tried to show every aspect of Conan (merc, pirate, warrior, thief, etc) instead of focusing on one or two aspects.

My problem with Arnold's Conan is that he is too dumb and clean. Conan should have messy hair, scars, and he is intelligent. Yes, he has his barbaric moments, but he is still smart.

Well I read that Paul Verhoven has shown interest to possibly direct, so that has me VERY much amped. Robocop/Total Recall level violence with what is hopefully a wiser, as well as older Conan would be a ton of fun. Getting Arnold doctored with some battle scars should be no problem and hopefully a bevy of Frazetta-esque curvy beauties to surround him with ...and of course throw in some cool prehistoric monsters & subhuman cannon fodder fighters for him to cleave in two just for good measure.

The main problem with the Mamoa film, for me, was that he did not dstinguish himself much in the scenes where he was in mixed company. He sort of blended right in. Arnold stood out in every scene he was in. And I totally agree that they tried to squeeze in every single aspect of Conan's long, bloodied career into one film without any focus. Too much for just one film. And the dumbest, slowest villain in recent memory certainly didn't help drive the story. The real Conan would've beeyotch slapped that annoying witch-daughter within a few seconds. The dumb villain, boring "creature" fights and general lack of a focused direction for the script & Conan character made this movie just feel like a heavily-padded episode of The Legendary Journeys of Hercules to me, with extra blood and a few femboobs thrown in to qualify for an R rating

If Verhoven directs then the creative team owes it to themselves to get the absolute best, most well-polished script they can, perhaps even tapping Milus to take a pass on a fresh script or maybe use his "Crown of Iron" treatment as a starting block. And obviouly this thing needs to be a hard "R" film; no kiddie-friendly PG-13 gunk like 'Destroyer' was. Conan's world has no place for Tracey Walters-type hijinks and soft fist fights instead of battle axes thru the head and big-breasted amazons loving and perhaps even battling alongside Conan, (if they want to PC the female aspect of things a bit). Howard's original concepts should be used as a road map for the film makers though, rather than a total re-write/ignornance of the character & his world. That reason alone makes me doubt they'd approach Milus for scibe duties. Perhaps that's a good thing.

2015 eh