A less macho 'Conan the Barbarian'

It's no insult to Arnold Schwarzenegger to say that he was perfectly cast as the thick-skulled, ox-like, nearly mute hero of 1982's "Conan the Barbarian." As much animal as man, the character survived on brute instinct rather than intellect, and the actor wisely did the same. It also helped that the film itself, co-written by a young Oliver Stone, was itself one giant, sweaty id, filled with grunting sex and violence.

The new "Conan the Barbarian," by contrast, feels a little light in the sandals. Its star, Jason Momoa, plays Conan not as a man-beast but as a charming rascal, all green eyes and lush brows, a veritable metrosexual among barbarians. The film, too, lacks the musky machismo of the original, despite outrageous amounts of blood and gore. The more this "Conan" tries to bare its fangs, the gummier it looks (and the sloppy, choppy 3-D conversion only makes it worse).

In this telling, Conan is born in battle -- via primitive C-section -- and grows into a warrior-beheading prodigy. His idyllic childhood ends when Khalar Zym (the irrepressible Stephen Lang, of "Avatar") razes Conan's village and kills his father (Ron Perlman) while searching for a mask with supernatural powers. As an adult, Conan tracks down Zym, who is planning to sacrifice Tamara, a pretty "pure-blood" played by Rachel Nichols. (The original Conan's strapping blonde lover, Valeria, would have eaten this chick for breakfast.)

Director Marcus Nispel, a habitual remaker ("Friday the 13th," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"), shows glimmers of imagination: There is a rollicking sword fight on a spinning wheel, and Zym's witchy daughter, Marique, is amusingly weird (Rose McGowan plays her as a Hyborian-era goth rocker). "Conan" may be big, loud and bloody, but it never finds the beating, primitive heart of its hero.

PLOT A reworking of the 1982 film that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as the brutish Cimmerian warrior. RATING R (violence, gore, explicity sex)

CAST Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang

LENGTH 1:42

PLAYING AT Area theaters, some in 3-D

BOTTOM LINE Despite buckets of blood and gore, "Conan" can't fill the sandals of the ultra-macho original.

Back story: New muscle man with flex appeal

Jason Momoa is no stranger to the fantasy/sci-fi genre, having appeared in the Syfy series "Stargate Atlantis" and in the HBO fantasy series "Game of Thrones." The muscular half-Hawaiian, half-Irish actor now tackles the iconic fictional warrior Conan the Barbarian in a reboot of the franchise.

"I'm a fan," he says. "If you're a fan or geek of something, and your dream comes true to play a character that you love, it's overwhelming. You also want to give it your all. I'm a huge comic-book fan. It's an honor." Momoa is following in some famous footsteps. Bodybuilder-turned-actor Arnold Schwarzenegger had his breakthrough playing Conan in the 1982 action-adventure. Momoa wasn't intimidated by that fact and did not try to imitate Schwarzenegger but made the character his own.

"You're comparing Sean Connery to Daniel Craig as Bond," he says. "They're both amazing. Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger the Joker. Both of them killed it. One won an Oscar. I cannot ever take anything from Arnold. He's Arnold."

Director Marcus Nispel says that after seeing more than 200 would-be Conans, he came across Momoa.

"What you want is a primal energy," he says. "We found it in Jason Momoa."

-- Entertainment News Wire