Conan the Barbarian
Lionsgate | Release Date: August 19, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
36
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
12
Negative:
15
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyAug 18, 2011
Brutal, bloody beyond belief, and has no socially redeeming value. So it is with a certain amount of guilt that I say it's kind of a wicked blast to watch, especially if you're in the mood for some righteous revenge. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichAug 17, 2011
The film's secret weapon proves to be Freddy Krueger–fingernailed witch Marique, whom Rose McGowan plays with the kind of fuck-it-all brio - imagine a cross between Madeline Kahn in "History of the World: Part I" and Lady Gaga - that should garner her a Razzie and an Oscar. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallAug 19, 2011
Conan the Barbarian has its small, insipid pleasures, if you're in the mood. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisAug 18, 2011
Mr. Momoa has some awfully big biceps to fill. He rises to that task with a pumped physique made for ogling. Thankfully, he also shows glints of self-awareness that can make hypermasculine blowouts like these more watchable and were largely missing from Mr. Schwarzenegger's wide-eyed turn in the first "Conan the Barbarian" (1982). Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderBen SachsAug 18, 2011
Rife with the oldest and simplest pleasures of 3-D movies: all sorts of objects fly at the camera, and the climactic battle takes place over a deep, dark chasm. At its best the movie suggests a funhouse at a state-of-the-art county fair; at its worst it's a fairly dumb celebration of brute violence. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 18, 2011
It's mostly noise and splurch and, as I mentioned, aaaaarrrrggggghhhhh! Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumAug 17, 2011
There's something and nothing for everyone in Conan the Barbarian 3D. Read full review
50
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreAug 17, 2011
Take away much of the myth, most of the sorcery and all of the humor of the 1982 John Milius-Arnold Schwarzenegger version of the sword and sorcery epic "Conan the Barbarian" and you've got an idea what the new "Conan" is like. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeAug 16, 2011
The well-executed picture solves the biggest challenge facing those hoping to breathe new life -- however nasty, brutish and short -- into the 79-year-old franchise by finding an actor capable of filling Ah-nuld's shoes. Read full review
45
MovielineStephanie ZacharekAug 18, 2011
The movie's look is artificially grainy, and most of the scenes are encrusted with CGI - you'd have to chip it away with a chisel to get to anything human or interesting or even remotely fantastical. Read full review
40
TimeRichard CorlissAug 18, 2011
A gaudily ornamented medieval banquet table groaning with junk food and open entrails. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazineTodd GilchristAug 17, 2011
The bigger problem is that the action literally bleeds together and there's no sense of pacing. Read full review
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