Film Review | Red Sonja | From The Couch

Released: 1985
Starring: Brigitte Nielsen, Sandahl Bergman, Paul Smith, Ronald Lacey, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Director: Richard Fleischer
Produced by: Dino De Laurentiis Company, Famous Films (II)

“A woman and a warrior that became a legend.”

So much potential and momentum spoiled by poor casting, acting, and production. Red Sonja should have been the female equivalent to the original Conan, but did not live up to the expectations on its release. However, it does have enough camp and fight scenes to keep a fan of the sword and sorcery movies interested until the credits roll.

In the U.S.A., it seems that Red Sonja has only been released on DVD in 2004 by Warner Bros (there are Blu-ray releases in countries outside the U.S.). Exploring the DVD takes little time because there is only the film, language selection (English and French dubbed) and the trailer for the film. The trailer does have some scenes in it that were not used in the final film, and it is fun to watch because they focus laughably more on Arnold than on the title character. Even the cover of the DVD is 90% Arnold (check out the DVD art at the bottom of this review).

Anyway, onto the plot of the movie. Red Sonja’s family is slain, herself raped by soldiers, and her home burned to the ground by the evil Queen Gedren in retaliation for Sonja rebuking the queen’s advances and scarring her face. Red Sonja is visited by the goddess Scáthach who gives Sonja the strength and abilities needed to avenge her family on the condition that she never gives herself to a man unless he can defeat her in combat. While Sonja is training in sword combat, her sister is part of an order of priests who are about to destroy an ancient talisman which gains power from light exposure and can only be touched by women. Gedren and her army raid the temple holding the relic before it can be destroyed. They kill or capture all the priests except for Sonja’s sister who attempts to escape to warn Sonja. She is mortally wounded in the escape, but delivers the message with the help of Prince Kalidor who was traveling to see the talisman destroyed. Sonja travels to destroy the talisman and kill Gedren in revenge for her family.

While the plot of the movie sounds pretty good and the story is pretty fun to watch play out, there are a lot of problems that held this film back from being a big hit. Brigitte Nielsen (Beverly Hills Cop II, Rocky IV) stars as Red Sonja and while she had the warrior/Amazonian look for the character, she didn’t have the acting experience for such a big role. Her delivery shows little to no depth of emotion even at peak emotional moments like when her sister dies.

Another poor performance is the main villain in the film, Queen Gedren. Sandahl Bergman’s (Conan the Barbarian, Hell Comes to Frogtown) performance is almost as bad as Brigitte Nielsen’s. Her acting did not portray a character insane with power or a leader that is feared by her subordinates. She just delivers an all around dull performance. The character’s sexual preferences portrayed as an evil trait was uncomfortable when Red Sonja was released and may even be offensive today.

One of the better characters is Falkon (Paul L. Smith; Popeye, Haunted Honeymoon), who delivers some good comic relief playing manservant to the arrogant, spoiled child Prince Tarn (Ernie Reyes, Jr.; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, The Last Dragon) and holds his own in the few battles he joins.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator, Predator) being in the film adds little and almost is a detriment. As Conan, his presence would have made a great connection to the franchise. Unfortunately, as Lord Kalidor, he presence just gives the impression that producers were banking on his popularity to bring in bigger audience numbers. They should have either eliminated the character or brought in a different actor and let Red Sonja be the star, not a co-star. His performance is classic Arnold though so fans won’t be too disappointed.

Costume design for the film was actually not too bad. There are some good standouts including The Sword Master, Queen Gedren’s golden armor, and Prince Tarn and Falkon’s outfits. They show a range of colors, influences, and designs and give you the feeling that these are all people from various kingdoms and cultures. Set design is creative. There are plenty of interesting buildings and other landmarks and scenery including a bridge made of the skeleton of some large beast and the temple where the talisman was to be destroyed.

The score for Red Sonja was composed and conducted by Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, The Thing). It is a great addition to the movie and does a perfect job of accentuating the dangers in the battles, the heroic moments, and the bit of romance that is in the film. They picked an excellent composer for Red Sonja and he didn’t disappoint.

Red Sonja may have also been hurt by the PG-13 rating. An R rating gives everyone so much more space to be creative and with a warrior character like Red Sonja and a violent setting like the Hyborian Age, you need the room to create an engrossing action-packed film (which is where this movie could have hit its mark). Yes, this can limit an audience, but plenty of R movies have gone on to have a tremendous amount of success. The small amount of blood and gore in this film made the battle scenes lackluster. Large slow moving weapons like broadswords, clubs, and the like are not as exciting as lighter smaller swords which can be used in a fencing style with quick and flashy movements. So the slower fights need to be supplemented by showing a more realistic interpretation of the damage they can inflict. Without this, almost all of the fights are tedious. Other aspects of an R rating can include swearing and nudity, but I don’t think the lack of these would hurt the movie as much as the toned down violence.

Even with these problems, Red Sonja can still be a fun film to watch and because of its relative tameness with violence, can be a good introduction to the sword and sorcery genre for younger viewers. You still get the atmosphere of a barbaric era, a hero adventuring to fight evil, plenty of swordplay, and even a little bit of magic, but if you go in wanting Conan, don’t be surprised to be disappointed.

Rating:

Jack Savage:

Brigitte Nielsen may have had the look for Red Sonja, but her delivery made a potentially exciting and strong character seem more like a talking piece of wood. While I normally dislike remakes, this is one film I think needs it. With a high caliber actress in the lead, Red Sonja could go far. Until that happens, we have this version.