You won't be disappointed!

Fresh and Exciting

A lot of fun.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

In this absurd film, Wilt Chamberlain who played the role of Bombaata was the worst basketball player who signed up for this role. His acting was just horrible to watch, so awkward and deadbeat, so painful to watch. The runner-up was the young female actress who played the princess role, so bad and so painful to watch.This 1984 film is worse than the 1982 Conan The Barbarian. The screenplay was bad enough, all the new characters created were just terrible. There were so many laughable details that only could let pass for its ridiculous fantasy genre. The princess must had a personal hair stylist, a costume designer, a seamstress to tailor her wardrobe and accompanied her in an RV along the journey. Arnold also performed worse than his prequel The Barbarian, lot of awkward and exaggerated facial expressions, looked more like a comedian or a drunk.

Conan The Destroyer (1984) Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Grace Jones, Wilt Chamberlain, Tracey Walter, Mako, Sarah Douglas, Olivia d'Abo, Pat Roach, Jeff Corey, Sven-Ole Thorsen, André the Giant and Ferdy Mayne Directed By: Richard Fleischer Review THE MOST POWERFUL LEGEND OF ALL IS BACK IN A NEW ADVENTURE. After the first Conan film making it big at the box office a sequel was on the cards an not just a sequel but apparently Arnold was signed on for a ten year contract with Deno De Laurentiis, the plan was to produce a Conan movie every two years. After watching this I wish that was the case. Conan the Destroyer features the hero (Arnold Schwarzenegger) as he is commissioned by the queen Taramis (Sarah Douglas) to safely escort a teen princess (Olivia D'Abo) and her powerful bodyguard (Wilt Chamberlain) to a far away castle to retrieve the magic Horn of Dagon. Unknown to Conan, the queen plans to sacrifice the princess when she returns and inherit her kingdom after the bodyguard kills Conan. The queen's plans fail to take into consideration Conan's strength and cunning and the abilities of his sidekicks: the eccentric wizard Akiro (Mako), the wild woman Zula (Grace Jones), and the inept Malak (Tracey Walter). Together the hero and his allies must defeat both mortal and supernatural foes in this voyage to sword-and-sorcery land. This follow-up was made to address the issues fans had with the first movie. They put in a higher fantasy element and the film was more outlandish and colorful much like the comic from Marvel(funny actually) from the 1970s-1993. It left fans of the first film disappointed(shocked I am not) many cited the change of tone and push for a more family- friendly approach as the wrong way to go but on the plus side some critics felt it was a fun sword/sorcery film that was obviously faithful to the Marvel comics, since Edward R. Pressman suggested that the writer of those comics Roy Thomas write the script. The ending was suppose to have a demon instead but things seemed to expensive and they had to be scaled down. Roy and Gerry weren't happy with the end result of the script. Universal and Dino wanted to maximize profits for the sequel and the best course of action was to try and reduce the rating to a PG and appeal to younger viewers. Arnold expressed his concern on the reduced violence he felt they were going to alienate the fans and would cause problems with its success, but he still had fun making the film. Arnold is back and he does a pretty good job in the film, I can't necessarily say that he was just as good as he was in the first because I don't think hes that good here but hes still the person that will always come to mind when I think of Conan. He put on an extra ten pounds for the role. Sarah Dogulas who plays queen Taramia is just as great as she is in another comic book movie Superman II. Grace Jones plays Zula a character who was originally a man and created by Roy Thomas in the Marvel comics. Olivia d'Abo in her film debut and was only 15 years old at the time of shooting plays the beautiful princess Jehnna, for her film debut she did pretty good but was mostly screaming every time she got captured which for some could be pretty annoying but it didn't bother me. Tracey Walter plays Malick a thief who works along side Conan and is a bit of a coward who doesn't care much for the quest. Mako is back as Akiro the wizard to help Conan fight off other wizards along the way and is only other returning cast member from the first movie. The movies visual effects are still pretty great despite usage of blue screen. But the miniatures are the effects that are the best, like the castles and expand the world. The beast the wizard turns into is a nice design but doesn't give the actor much to do with his facial features. The winged creature that he also turns into is also nicely executed. The films goal was not only to capitalize on the success of the first film but to also make a more comic book style sword and sorcery adventure. The story and other characters do feel pretty weak given how good there performers are. The film does have quite a few problems such as that and can suck you out of it if your looking for something more. The tone is also not consistent with its first movie which is kind of problem considering how masterful I think that movie is. Conan The Destroyer is a fun watch but don't expect the first movie. Its goal was to have a higher fantasy elements and be more colorful towards children. With that in mind I think its great as a stand- alone film not as a sequel and I'm a huge sucker for sword/sorcery. It has good performances and great action and music but it is weak on story and side characters. Call me crazy but I still love it just as much as the first but for totally different reason I'm giving Conan The Destroyer a five out of five.

I think it's fair to say that a lot of movie sequels just don't live up to their predecessors. The same can be said of CONAN THE DESTROYER, in which a definite case of "dumbing down" has been performed to make the film appeal to a younger audience. Gone is the excess violence and downbeat story of CONAN THE BARBARIAN, and in its place a family-orientated and lighthearted adventure full of wisecracks and unnecessary comedy. I have to say that this kind of comedy is the bane of '80s (and later) sword and sorcery movies for me. The peplum films of the '60s which covered similar themes did well enough without them, and if I want to watch a comedy then I'll do just that. I'm not a fan of genre crossbreeds.However, if you accept that this film has a lighter spirit and is made in a totally different style to the first then there is much to enjoy, if you ignore the mid-'80s cheesiness. The film has lots of action and swordplay to recommend it, and while the blood doesn't flow as thickly as in the first, there is still a fair share of gruesomeness and decapitated heads. There's also an assortment of monsters for Conan and his friends to fight, and I'm a sucker for monsters. One cheesy highlight has Arnie battling a beast-man (called "Man-Ape") in a hall of mirrors which ends with the villain being bloodily dispatched. Also popping up are a tribe of bloodthirsty cannibals, and at the end of the film, the Lovecraftian God "Dagoth" comes to life from a statue as a huge horned slimy monster (played by wrestler Andre the Giant). It's all fun stuff to watch, if not particularly profound.The film once again has some impressive location filming in the desert, and some of the sweeping visuals that made the first so memorable. Also present is another score from Basil Poledouris, which reuses some of the first film's music to good effect. The costumes look good and Richard Fleischer's direction is pacing and keeps things moving along nicely. The special effects do look very dated in today's light but are still impressive to an undemanding fan, with the dream team of Italian effects aces Giannetto de Rossi and Carlo Rombaldi supplying the makeup and the Dagoth creature respectively. Probably the worst effect was the animated bird that Pat Roach turns into.Arnold Schwarzenegger here returns as a more vocal Conan, but he's still up to his old tricks like punching out horses and performing incredible feats of strength. In one scene he bends bars like in a Steve Reeves epic - I liked the reference. Schwarzenegger has a more mainstream supporting cast this time, including the gigantic basketball player Wilt Chamberlain as a traitor, probably the only man capable of making Arnie look small in comparison! Grace Jones puts in a memorable turn as a fierce warrior woman although I've never cared for the actress. Mako returns from the first film as well, although in a very small nearly pointless supporting role (although he does have one funny wizard battle). Tracey Walter is actually quite likable as the irritating whiny sidekick, and deserves commendation for being such. Olivia d'Abo's character of a spoilt Princess is extremely aggravating but her good looks make up for that. Other familiar faces like those of Sarah Douglas, Pat Roach and Ferdy Mayne flesh out the rest of the roles.The plot is a very simplistic one and not ideal, taking the usual form of a quest for a stolen crystal, or some such nonsense. The fact that Arnie's ally is in fact a traitor gives the film an edge in that we (the audience) know that he's preparing to kill Arnie but Arnie himself doesn't realise. Things culminate in an over-the-top finale in which the pair have an impressively powerful battle, ending in Arnie getting his ear bitten off (maybe Tyson watched this to get tips)! Then, of course, there's the lightning, storm, collapsing palace and howling weird monster-thing for our hero to battle. It's all very silly and cheesy, really, but I couldn't help enjoying it while watching. Not ideal but still a fun movie if you're in the right mood.

"Conan The Destroyer" is one of those movies that most people seem either to love or hate. Personally I love it. One IMDb reviewer said it was "campy & humorous, but still enthralling entertainment". Another that it was "stupid but fun". Both reviews are accurate, in my opinion. Another reviewer called it "total crap". Maybe, but it's fun crap. Personally. I liked this movie more than the original "Conan The Barbarian", which took itself more seriously. Aside from Arnold Schwarzenegger playing our hero Conan, it is full of fascinating characters. Sarah Douglas as the evil Queen Taramis is an absolute hoot & so too is Grace Jones playing Zula a gritty female warrior. Far less interesting is Olivia D'Abo as Princess Jehnna who seems miscast &, quite frankly, a poor actress. The gruff-voiced actor Mako, a Japanese who emigrated to the USA, plays one of Conan's friends a powerful wizard named Akiro. He also gets irritating after a while. The film's story, to try & pare it down, is that Queen Taramis enlists the help of Conan to find the horn of an evil god Dagoth. The horn will enable Queen Taramis to rule the world, she believes. The virginal Princess Jehnna has to be sacrificed as a part of the deal & the evil queen's agent Bombaata (Wilt Chamberlain) accompanies them in their quest. He has been sent as guardian to the princess, to ensure that the princess remains a virgin & to spy for his queen. At any moment Bombaata could turn against Conan & try to kill him. Along the way they encounter Zula who joins the team after Conan saves her from being executed. Some of the sets made for this movie are both imaginative & very creative. It is campy, certainly, but it also generally a lot of fun. The IMDb user-rating of 5.8 is, in my opinion, far too low. I would score it a minimum of 8.