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Director John Milius (Big Wednesday, Red Dawn) brings Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian to the big screen with Austrian bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role. The film is an origin story, opening with young Conan witnessing the murder of his parents at the hands of Thulsa Doom (a well-cast James Earl Jones), a religious cult leader with a propensity for pillaging and human sacrifices. Conan is enslaved by Doom and forced to do non-stop hard labor, escaping years later with a vow of vengeance. He teams with a thief (Gerry Lopez), a warrior love interest (Sandahl Bergman), and a lively wizard (Mako) on his perilous journey to Thulsa Doom’s temple for a climactic showdown.

Conan the Barbarian is a well-structured, lovingly-crafted sword and sorcery flick that will satisfy most fans of genre fare, but it may not achieve the verisimilitude required to enrapture more mainstream audiences. Arnold Schwarzenegger, limited as he may be, was born for this role, protected by a screenplay that demands very little dialogue from his thick Austrian tongue. In fact, there’s relatively little dialogue in large swaths of the film, leaving the bulk of the storytelling to pronounced visuals and Basil Poledouris’ brilliant music, one of the most exciting scores ever recorded for film.

Writer/director John Milius seems rushed at times, but some scenes are extraordinarily polished. I enjoy the first half-hour most of all. The death of Conan’s mother could not be done better. It’s all at once surprising, frightening and moving. James Earl Jones’ silent glare in that scene is pretty bone chilling. The transition into adulthood is also superbly conveyed via the ‘Wheel of Pain’ sequence. The last half of the movie is not quite as good as the first, but the finale is satisfying (and bloody) enough to bring it all together. Perfect viewing for a Saturday matinee.

With a memorable cameo from Max von Sydow.