Film Review: Red Sonja (by MJ Bassett)

Posted on June 4, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Red Sonja is one of those films that was in development forever.

In 2008, Robert Rodriguez was rumored to be planning to direct a Red Sonja film with Rose McGowan in the title role. Then, in 2012, it was Simon West who was being mentioned as the film’s director. In 2018, Bryan Singer announced that he would be directing but he was dropped from the project (and every other project he had going) in 2019. Joey Soloway, best-known for co-creating the briefly trendy show Transparent, was announced as Singer’s replacement. Soloway left the project in 2022 and was replaced by MJ Bassett. Red Sonja was filmed in 2023 and then sat on the shelf for two years before it was finally released in 2025.

Needless to say, a lot happened between 2023 and 2025. By the time Red Sonja was released, it felt like an artifact from a different world. Red Sonja is very much a film of the action girl era. Sonja can beat up just about anyone and she usually does it without breaking a sweat. As was so often the case with the films of the action girl era, the film is so proud of itself for featuring a woman who can fight that no one involved seemed to notice that they hadn’t really come up with anything interesting for her to do.

Sonja (blandly played by Matilda Lutz) has spent most of her life in the forests of a mythical land, searching for the otnher members of her tribe and communing with the animals. When she has to hunt and kill a animal in order to eat, she is sure to say, “Thank you for your sacrifice.” I’m sure her gratitude will provide comfort to the animal’s family. (I’ve never really gotten the whole attitude that hunting is somehow noble as long as you use every bit of the animal and thank it for dying. I’m sure the animal would still rather be alive.) When Sonja is captured and forced to become a gladiator, she discovers that her people are being held prisoner by the effete emperor, Draygan (Robert Sheehan, who is even blander than Matilda Lutz). In the arena, Sonja shouts questions at the emperor and the audience because, thanks to Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott, that’s what gladiators do. She’s also given her famous chain mail bikini. The film is quick to make sure we understand that Sonja isn’t into the whole chain mail bikini thing but she has to wear something. Unintentionally, the film also reveals that the filmmakers aren’t really interested in making a Red Sonja film. Everything that made Red Sonja a memorable character in the comic books and the original film is either ignored or viewed with snarky disdain. The only reason the film is called Red Sonja is because Grim Barbarian Woman didn’t have the same zing.

Now, I will say that Red Sonja does get better as it goes along. In fact, the film’s climax features an unexpected twist and, if the entire film had that scene’s courage, this review would be very different. Unfortunately, Red Sonja looks and feels cheap and worst of all, it’s never fun. It’s very much a 2023 film and 2o23 was a year when anyone who dared to enjoy themselves was viewed with suspicion. It may have more of a political consciousness than the 80s version but it’s not as entertaining.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Richard Fleischer Edition

Posted on December 8, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Director Richard Fleischer was born 109 years ago today.

4 Shots From 4 Richard Fleischer Films

Fantastic Voyage (1966, directed by Richard Fleischer)

Soylent Green (1973, directed by Richard Fleischer)

Mr. Majestyk (1974, directed by Richard Fleischer)

Red Sonja (1985, directed by Richard Fleischer)

Song of the Day: Red Sonja’s Main Title Theme by Ennio Morricone

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s song of the day comes from a film that may not be good but which is kind of fun, 1985’s Red Sonja. Ennio Morricone’s score for this film was enjoyably silly, much like the film itself. The main theme finds Morricone in a playful mood so listen and enjoy!

Previous Entries In Our Tribute To Morricone:

The TSL’s Grindhouse: Red Sonja (dir by Richard Fleischer)

Posted on March 31, 2019 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 1985 film, Red Sonja, invites us to take a journey to a forgotten age, a time of a mythical kingdoms, evil sorcery, epic sword fights, and annoying little child kings who spent a lot of time shouting. It’s a time of wonder, danger, heroism, and, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Reportedly, the once and future governor of California has frequently named Red Sonja as being the worst film in which he ever appeared. When you consider some of the other films that have featured Gov. Schwarzenegger, that’s indeed a bold statement. In Red Sonja, Schwarzenegger plays Lord Kalidor. Interestingly enough, Lord Kalidor is absent for the majority of the film. He shows up briefly at the beginning of the film and then he vanishes for quite a bit of Red Sonja‘s 89-minute running time. Whenever Schwarzenegger does show up, he wears the smirk of a man who knows that he’s going to get paid a lot of money for doing very little actual work.

The majority of the film focuses on Sonja (Brigitte Nielsen), a warrior who lives in one of those vanished ages, perhaps after the War of the Rings but before the sinking of Atlantis. When we first see her, she’s being spoken to by what appears to be a puff of smoke, which is apparently meant to be some sort of warrior goddess. The puff of smoke fills tells Sonja about everything that happened to her before the start of the movie, though we never do learn why Sonja needs to be told her own backstory. After rejecting the sexual advances of the evil Queen Gedren (Sandahl Begman), Sonja was forced to watch as her parents and brother were murdered and then she was raped and left for the dead by the Gedren’s soldiers. The Goddess promises to make Sonja into a superior warrior, on the condition that Sonja agree to never have sex with a man unless that man can first beat her in fair combat. Sonja agrees and is sent off to get trained by the Grand Master. It’s kinda like Kill Bill, if Bill was a puff of smoke.

Jump forward to …. well, I’m not sure how many years pass. To be honest, it’s next to impossible to really discern any sort of coherent logic to the film’s narrative progression so let’s just give up on that. What’s important is that there’s this temple and, inside the temple, there’s a glowing green talisman. Apparently, the talisman created the world but now it needs to be carefully watched over before being destroyed. Only women are allowed to handle the talisman (Yay!) but they’re not allowed to destroy it unless directed by a man. (Booooo!) The temple priestesses are waiting for Lord Kalidor to arrive so that they can get rid of the talisman. However, Queen Gedren shows up first. Not only does she steal the talisman but she kills the priestesses as well.

One of the priestesses was Varna (Janet Agren, who you might recognize from Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead). Varna just happens to be the sister of Sonja. (Sonja is now known as Red Sonja, because she had red hair. From now on, I want to be known as Red Lisa.) Now, Sonja has yet another reason to want to kill Gedren! Rejecting Kalidor’s help, Sonja heads off for revenge. Along the way, she meets an annoying child king named Tarn (Ernie Reyes, Jr.), who is upset that Gedren previously destroyed his kingdom. Despite hating him, Sonja allows Tarn and his guardian, Falkon (Paul L. Smith), to tag along with her. Despite not being an official member of the revenge party, Kalidor decides to follow after them because he wants to beat Red Sonja in fair combat, if you get what I mean.

Red Sonja is a spectacularly silly film. The dialogue is stilted. Even by the standards of the 1980s ,the special effects are poorly executed. This the type of film where the evil Queen nearly destroys the world not because she has any sort of grand scheme but instead, just because she’s evil and that’s what evil people do. Brigitte Nielsen delivers her lines with a forced solemnity while Schwarzenegger, Bergman, and the great Paul L. Smith seem to be struggling not to start laughing.

And yet, there’s a sneaky charm to be found in all of the silliness. For instance, when Sonja does finally reach the queen’s castle, she has to cross a bridge that appears to basically be the skeleton of giant rhinoceros. No none in the film seems to be surprised to come across a skeleton a giant rhinoceros and, to be honest, there’s no reason for it to be there. It’s just there and it’s so wonderfully out-of-place that it becomes rather fascinating. Add to that, while the portrayal of the evil lesbian queen is problematic in all sorts of ways, this is a film about a strong female warrior who doesn’t need a man to rescue her and that was probably even more rare in 1985 than it is today!

Watching Red Sonja, you get the feeling that nobody involved in the film took it all that seriously and that perhaps the best way to handle the movie is to just sit back and have a laugh. It’s dumb, it’s campy, it often makes no sense but, at the same time, it’s still a lot easier to follow than Game of Thrones. Like many bad films, it’s only bad if you watch it alone. Watch it with a group of your snarkiest friends and you’ll have a totally different experience.