'Conan the Barbarian' - High-Def Digest Review

[Dark_Light]

Adding this to nagysaudio's description of the issues (from a thread over at imdb):

1) There is a piece of choir missing even before the riders reach the village - it is from the moment that we see Franco Columbu (the Pict scout) standing on the stone and riders passing him - about 6:55 - onward (although the choir is not very distinctive here even on the original mono track - but should be, judging by the soundtrack).

2) Not only as horsemen approach before the final battle, but also during the battle the choir is mostly missing.

3) In the tavern scene (just after they jump of the Tower of Set) the music is basically inaudible at first (the Subotai part) and quite faint after that.

4) And a video issue has been discovered by someone over at avsforum. At about 25 min when Conan is running from the wolves and climbs the hill (before he falls down to the tomb) - this scene takes place at night on the DVD but on the Blu-ray it takes place during the day. Apparently they forgot to put on the night filter for the transfer.

[Thulsadoom]

Amazing... for once it seems the UK release is a tad better lol!

I recently got the UK version, and although I haven't had time to watch the full film yet, one major thing it has, is the special edition cut, with the princess carried away at the end, and namely the scene with Subotai (The correct spelling! ) and Conan discussing the paths their lives have taken. It's a wonderful little scene that in probably an extra minute, adds more for the characters than any number of long 'special editions' of other films do. It really adds so much to the film in my opinion, that I couldn't watch the film without it now. Unfortunately I haven't had time to watch the whole film yet, so I haven't checked the music issue that others have mentioned, but I'd be surprised if it isn't the same.

Another odd thing with the UK release... They've always cut the film so that it jumps at certain sections (Namely the village battle at the beginning, and the battle of the mounds) due to some horse stunts that would no longer be done. The daft thing is, these kind of stunts are left in other old films, and in the case of Conan, the horses weren't actually injured during filming. Though oddly, because the disc is obviously the same version for other parts of europe that allow the footage, if you change your Blur Ray player (in the main settings, not on the disc's own menu) to play the disc in french, or something similar, it plays the film properly without the edits!!

[Godstar]

I got a chance to watch this last night, and I thought overall the video quality was very good, though there was some heavy grain in a couple of the night scenes near the end of the movie.

I think my biggest issue was with the sound. I think the mix is off. The dialog was often if not always overwhelmed by the music, and I would have to turn up the volume just to hear it - which in turn would mean the music volume was overly loud. I'm not sure if anyone else has thought the same, but it seems they didn't boost the vocals enough.

[Sky_Captain]

Amazing... for once it seems the UK release is a tad better lol!

I recently got the UK version, and although I haven't had time to watch the full film yet, one major thing it has, is the special edition cut, with the princess carried away at the end, and namely the scene with Subotai (The correct spelling! ) and Conan discussing the paths their lives have taken. It's a wonderful little scene that in probably an extra minute, adds more for the characters than any number of long 'special editions' of other films do. It really adds so much to the film in my opinion, that I couldn't watch the film without it now. Unfortunately I haven't had time to watch the whole film yet, so I haven't checked the music issue that others have mentioned, but I'd be surprised if it isn't the same.

Another odd thing with the UK release... They've always cut the film so that it jumps at certain sections (Namely the village battle at the beginning, and the battle of the mounds) due to some horse stunts that would no longer be done. The daft thing is, these kind of stunts are left in other old films, and in the case of Conan, the horses weren't actually injured during filming. Though oddly, because the disc is obviously the same version for other parts of europe that allow the footage, if you change your Blur Ray player (in the main settings, not on the disc's own menu) to play the disc in french, or something similar, it plays the film properly without the edits!!

If you put the UK disc in a Region A player, you don't have to do any of that shit. It plays the uncut version automatically. Makes sense, when it's exactly the same disc as the Hong Kong release,(who are Region A), and they wouldn't have the cut version.

One disc to rule them all!*


*Except America. Typical.

[Elvis_Rambo]

so your saying the UK version is the one to get?

[Dark_Light]

The US version is the 129 min international cut and the UK version is the 130 min extended cut. The only difference is that the UK version has the "Moby Dick" scene (Conan and Subotai talking before the final battle).
As written above the UK disc is designed to play the UK censored version (horse falls and naked witch) on Region B english devices (Australians beware!) so in that case don't forget to change the language to get the uncensored version.

However right now I would say don't get any version as there is hope the audio/video issues might soon be fixed. From thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents :

There appears to be an audio problem with Universal's new Conan the Barbarian Blu-ray. Essentially, the film's "remastered" 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack is missing several pieces of choral music in Basil Poledouris' score and select instruments are apparently inaudible in the mix. It also appears there may be occasionally inaudible sound effects. And the disc doesn't include the original mono mix, so you've no other option. I've alerted Universal to this and am told that they're looking into it. Hopefully, they'll correct the problem and issue replacement discs, because this is the kind of thing that drives diehard fans of a film absolutely crazy. We'll let you know as soon as we hear more.

[D_Strasse]

Oh freaking A.

I really hope they fix this as even though I prolly wouldn't have noticed it, stuff like this always grates like as I'm just OCD enough to let it get to me.

[nagysaudio]

I've received an email response from Universal Studios. Please continue to send letter of complaint to them. I will keep everyone updated as I get more information. Here is their response:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us.

We are looking into the matter that you reported, and we'll be back in touch as soon as we have information for you.

We appreciate your patronage and hope that you will continue to enjoy our releases.

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT

[Horsemeat Discoer]

Frame grabs from the differences between the US & UK BD's http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=357350

[slimdude]

I don't think 1 minute shorter between the DVD, and the Blu-ray, is going to make that big of a difference in the movie overall.

[Josh Z]

Another odd thing with the UK release... They've always cut the film so that it jumps at certain sections (Namely the village battle at the beginning, and the battle of the mounds) due to some horse stunts that would no longer be done. The daft thing is, these kind of stunts are left in other old films, and in the case of Conan, the horses weren't actually injured during filming.

The BBFC cuts animal stunts regardless of whether the animal was actually hurt or not. Their reasoning is that it's cruel in itself to put the animal in a dangerous situtation where it could possibly get hurt.

They also want to discourage copycatting. Which is the same logic they used for many years when they cut any depiction of headbutting or use of nunchucks. I believe they've backed off on those latter two in recent years, though.

[Philnerd]

Which is the same logic they used for many years when they cut any depiction of headbutting or use of nunchucks. I believe they've backed off on those latter two in recent years, though.

I always thought that amateur use of nunchucks was just part of the natural selection process.

[Josh Z]

I always thought that amateur use of nunchucks was just part of the natural selection process.

Yes, headbutting as well.

[FoxyMulder]

The US version is the 129 min international cut and the UK version is the 130 min extended cut. The only difference is that the UK version has the "Moby Dick" scene (Conan and Subotai talking before the final battle).
As written above the UK disc is designed to play the UK censored version (horse falls and naked witch) on Region B english devices (Australians beware!) so in that case don't forget to change the language to get the uncensored version.

However right now I would say don't get any version as there is hope the audio/video issues might soon be fixed. From thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents :

Is the UK disc affected by the music issue or just the USA Universal one. ?

If the UK disc is affected then don't we also need people making complaints to Fox in Europe.

[Drag0nFly]

Has anyone (other than TDB) actually verified the supposed sound glitch and care to provide more specifics on what exactly is affected? There has been surprisingly little information about this issue; apart from the comment posted over a month ago (and which to my knowledge hasn't received a follow-up by the author or elsewhere)