Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Conan the Barbarian (2011) Trailer



Now this looks awesome.  Nothing in the trailer, nor anyone in the list of characters in the Wikipedia article about the film stand out as being based on any particular story or culture from Robert Howard's stories.  IMDB mentions Valeria, but I don't see her in the Wikipedia cast list.

That being said, I don't think I've actually read any of Howard's Conan stories, only about them.  I have read L. Sprague de Camp's Conan stories, but those were written later on, to fill in the gaps in Howard's chronology, and many fans do not regard them as canon.

Also, although Conan objects strongly to being enslaved himself, I don't think he's ever expressed general anti-slavery sentiments ("no man should live in chains").

Some of the material I've read about Howard's work indicates he develops stronger morals and a sense of responsibility that comes with leadership as he ages, leading to him suppressing the banditry he'd started his career in when he became King of Aquilonia, but that would be years later.  In the movie, Conan appears to be a young man, and based on the Wikipedia article, is still in his "make money by violence and then blow it all gambling, drinking, and whoring" phase.

That being said, this looks awesome and I will definitely see it.  It already looks better than the original Conan the Barbarian from the 1980s.

BTW, thanks belong to James R. Tuck for finding this and posting it on his Facebook page.  He's got a three-book deal about a monster hunter and the above link is his author page, so if the phrase "Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter" appeals to you, you might want to check this out.

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