Years ago, before Arnold Schwarzenegger became governor and even before James Earl Jones was degraded to "This is CNN", there was a powerful movie that starred both these actors. Me and my brothers are, and have always been, avid readers of the Conan comic books. We still buy the weekly issue and use much of our time reading about this righteous mans ways.

Conan of Cimmeria isn't your off the shelf type of hero, he's brutal in his ways, he's intelligent, he's muscular and can fight off every demon thrown his way. I think this is one of the many reasons why people like to read about him, he doesn't think twice when it comes to killing the bad guys, and most of all he doesn't sugarcoat the way he deals with them either.

In contrast to his first impression of being a muscular giant that has a soft spot for women and alcohol, he is in fact a very intelligent person who can sense trouble miles away. The reason why I’m stressing on his personality is because this is a very big issue when it comes to making a movie based on his character.

I have yet to see a good movie based on a comic book. The ones that have been produced are either straight forward bad movies or miss out on catching the true essence of their characters. Most recently I have to say that "Hulk" and "Spiderman" have disappointed me the most. I believe that "Hulk" was made a couple of years ahead of time since the cgi-effects were lacking of realism. "Spiderman" is suffering from bad casting, Tobey Maguire was ok in the first movie since it showed a young Spiderman, but I think there should have been a more mature lead in the sequel. Oh yeah, Kirsten Dunst isn't even near being as beautiful has Mary Jane in the comic book and don't get me started on "The dare devil".

Besides "X-Men" I feel the need to go back to the 80's again to find a good interpretation of a comic book hero. The movie I’m pointing towards is "Conan the barbarian" starring none other than "Ahnol".

The movie stays true to Robert E. Howard and takes place in the Hyborian age. A young Conan has to see his parents get killed the evil tribe called "The Vanir" lead by Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones). Conan is sent off to work as a slave until he grows up to become a monster of a gladiator in pit fights.

As his father told him, he only trusts in his sword and becomes a master in killing off his opponents. When he becomes almost invincible, his owner frees him from slavery, this sparks revenge in Conans eyes as he sets out to kill Thulsa Doom and retrieve his father’s sword that was stolen by the cult. On his journey he is joined by the archer and thief Subotai and "The queen of thieves", Valeria. The "queen" is played by Sandahl Bergman who would later star in a Conan spinoff also starring Arnold called "Red Sonja".

In this movie we see Conans character grow as he learns new things coming out of slavery and becoming a real master of swordship. Conan, Valeria and Subotai try to infiltrate Thulsa Doom's cult and fail, this causes a big downfall for Conan as he is crucified and left for dead. Of course it doesn't take long before he's on the same track and killing everything in his way.

One of the ways it stays true to the comics is the way it's so visually strong, there are a lot of shots of vast landscapes that can be tracked down to the comics, the same goes for the costumes that look pretty authentic for the time. Oliver Stone might have had a finger in this since he co-wrote the screenplay. Arnold Schwarzenegger who plays Conan delivers one of his best roles besides "The Terminator". This fact has little relevance to his acting skills, he's good in this movie because he's so....huge.

He also delivers lines that reflects his comic book character, he's brief but to the point. As when he is asked about what is best in life he replies "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentation of their women". Poetry in motion. Fans of Arnold will also find subtle humor in the movie, one of the scenes that always cracks me up is when Conan is sweet talking to a cult member in order to get his clothes. Other than that the music in the movie is pretty awesome, not only does it follow the pace of the action but it also delivers a certain feeling during all of the scenes.