Conan the Destroyer is a 1984 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, who reprises his role of Conan, the Sword and Sorcery hero; A direct sequel to Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer is a shorter and lighter take on the Robert E. Howard’s Conan series.
While traveling with his new thief companion, Malak, Conan runs into Queen Taramis, who promises him that she can bring Valeria back to life if Conan can complete a task for her. Conan must take Princess Jehnna, along with her bodyguard, Bombaata, to retrieve a treasure and return her. Unbeknownst to Conan, the Princess will then be sacrificed.
After gaining a couple more allies: the Wizard from the first film (who now has the name Akiro), and the warrior Zula, the party reaches their destination — a castle in the middle of a lake. Of course, Princess Jehnna is captured while they sleep. Conan and company must travel through the fortress and save her. The party eventually does indeed save Jehnna and manages to grab the treasure. After some more enemies to fight on their journey back, Bombaata and Princess Jehnna slip away and make their way back to the Queen. Conan arrives just in time to save Jehnna from being sacrificed, and to finish up by battling another rubber monster. After saving the day, and being offered to marry the princess, Conan leaves to have his own kingdom and his own queen.
We have PG rating, and it’s very humorous, the film, and much lighter than the first one”
Arnold schwarzenegger
The rating and tonal shifts of this sequel just don’t come together. The humor is not funny; Malak being the worst culprit of this with his dopey remarks and weird voice. We no longer are treated with any deeper meanings or philosophy; Conan the Destroyer is just a popcorn action flick now aimed at children. One of the monsters Conan fights literally does WWE wrestling moves on him. None of these changes helped the film at the box office. Quite the opposite, actually, as it only raked in 31 Million worldwide. Pretty awful, considering Conan the Barbarian grossed 69 Million.
There just isn’t any character development in this film. Conan, is just the stupid strong-man; there are multiple times he notices Bombaata attempting to deceive him, but just lets it slide for some reason? Zula joins them because Conan sets her free, but is mostly forgettable. Malak is awful. Bombaata and Akiro get decent screen time, but they’re just sidekicks. Princess Jehnna falls in love with Conan because he’s hot and he saves her. That pretty much sums up what I got out of these characters.
Conan the Destroyer just feels like a cash grab. The first film was a surprise hit, so they hit while the iron was hot and got a sequel out quickly.
I rate on a 5-Star Scale:
1 – Awful – Stay Away
2 – Bad – Didn’t like it
3 – Okay – Mixed bag
4 – Great – Really enjoyed it
5 – Amazing – Must watch
Conan the Destroyer gets a 2/5
Conan the Destroyer is disappointing, especially when watched right after Conan the Barbarian. It’s a forgettable movie, which might be fine if you’re just looking for some fantasy sword fighting, magic…and wrestling moves.
Next up for review will be Red Sonja, a sort of quasi-sequel to the two Conan films.
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