Raiden Reviews

In his original timeline, Raiden was a mortal who resided in the Earthrealm. He typically wore white robes with a blue vest and a straw hat. His abilities have always consisted of electrical bolts and he is able to move as quickly as lightning. He can also teleport, shock, and can sometimes summon a lightning rod.

In current Mortal Kombat storylines, Raiden is the God of Thunder and Protector of Earthrealm. He eventually turns into Dark Raiden, where his glowing white eyes transform to red. In this form, he is heavily armored, though his signature straw hat is intact.

I really like Conan the Barbarian, and while I heard Conan the Destroyer had a dubious reputation I was all for seeing it. Conan the Destroyer is disappointing, lacking the fun and kitsch magic of its predecessor. It does have its good things however, the scenery and costumes do look great and the special effects are an improvement I think. The ending is also fantastic and makes up for the truly dull middle section, and as the villainess Sarah Douglas is perfect. I am not sure whether I take the fact that there is more action here as before as a good or bad thing, either way it was quite exciting. Against all that, the score was rather uninspiring, most of the direction was flat, the story is meandering and dull and the dialogue is cheesy, Tracey Walter's dialogue especially is reminiscent of a badly written Scooby Doo episode. The acting is nothing to write about either, Douglas is for me the only good performer. Arnie is charismatic but the fact that he has more dialogue here than before does show his limitations as an overall actor, Grace Jones does little more than be sexy and hiss and fight, Tracey Walter is annoying with grating catchphrases, Olivia D'Abo is cute but hopelessly miscast and Wilt Chamberlain may have a towering presence but his acting is laughable. All in all, disappointing but I would hardly call it one of the worst sequels ever. 4/10 Bethany Cox

When I was a kid, I used to love those Conan flicks. A couple of years ago, I watched again the first installment and even thought this time, the limited acting skills of Arnold Schwarzenegger was pretty obvious, I still thought it was thoroughly enjoyable, even after all these years. This sequel, on the other hand, always had a rather lousy reputation but I still wanted to check it out again out of sheer nostalgia. Honestly, I don’t think it was that bad at all. Indeed, in my opinion, it remains a fun fantasy feature with some nice atmosphere. I also thought that Wilt Chamberlain and Grace Jones were actually well cast, even though just like Schwarzenegger, they were far from being some great actors. At least, they looked pretty awesome. Eventually, Olivia d’Abo turned out to be the weakest of the bunch but since she was just only 15 years old at the time, I’ll give her some slack. Eventually, the only real issues I had was that the jokes were all pretty lame, and above all, their biggest mistake was to have toned down the grittiness to make it a family friendly production. Still, in spite of its flaws, I still believe it is a decent fantasy feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Jehnna: I go where I feel myself led.
Conan: So I've noticed.

Conan leads a ragtag group of adventurers on a quest for a princess.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Conan

The first outing, Conan the Barbarian, really is a classic. It is unpretentious, raw, and mythical. It is an adult fantasy action film. However Conan the Destroyer was made for a younger crowd - children to teenagers to perhaps young adults. Despite the PG rating, it does have plenty of rolling heads and blood, though to satisfy the adult audience. The difference in this film is that there is an emphasis on humour and the characters are not as interesting. It IS the weaker film, but it still is a good film.

With a clear minded vantage point, as every film should be viewed, this is a nice little fantasy. The scenes with the evil wizard in the ice palace are wonderfully mythical and the sword-fighting is simply chivalrous and true to the Conan character. The musical score, by the returning Basil Poledouris is still on form too. It really adds to the credibility of the film project. Schwarzenegger is memorable here too also. He seems to be having fun and he definitely enjoys returning to the role. Just as good is the return of Mako as Akiro the Wizard. He is definitely Conan's best ally and he turns in a much better performance than the rest of his team. Chamberlain is good enough and it was smart that he doesn't have too much dialogue. He gets to look imposing. Sarah Douglas is terrific as the sexy evil queen and the only shame in her character is that we do not see more of her. She has a certain dignity and mystical quality that a beautiful evil temptress should have.

Jehnna: I suppose nothing hurts you.
Conan: Only pain.

What doesn't work as well in the film is the acting of the supporting cast, thus the people I mentioned. Most of all, it is weakly directed, and poorly constructed, restricting sexual scenes and extreme violence. There just doesn't seem to be a driving force in what the film is trying to be. It feels as if wanders along trying to please all audiences instead of focusing on the appreciators of the franchise, the fan-boys. It would also be a realistic train of thought, to see what makes the princess choose the course that they take. The film lacks a certain credibility for purpose and motive.
Overall, though, this film entertains and is still a worthy sequel to Barbarian. It rates slightly lower though, almost solely based on the lack of directing strength that John Milius gave to the first film. He is what is sorely missed in this one. On its' own, however, this is still a fun realized film.

Malak: Why are they trying to kill us?
Conan: Maybe they want to capture us, and torture us to death.

This film follows the quest narrative. A Hero has to embark on a quest with which he gathers various companions and returns for his prize.

I enjoyed this more than its predecessor. The group party reminded me of classic console RPGs which I am a big fan. The obvious betrayal of Bombaata never sat right with me.

Mediocre film at best.