Red Sonja

I went into Red Sonja (2025) hoping for at least a guilty-pleasure fantasy adventure, but what I got instead was an absolute disaster that had me checking my watch before the first hour was even up.

Complete disregard for source material: The film takes the name Red Sonja but throws away everything that made the character and her world iconic. The lore, the tone, even the personality of Sonja herself-none of it survives. It's as if the filmmakers skimmed a one-sentence Wikipedia summary and decided to "make it their own," stripping out all the grit, charm, and spirit in the process.

Abysmal acting by no-name actors: I'm all for giving new talent a chance, but these performances are painful. Every line sounds rehearsed but never felt. Emotional scenes land with a thud, and action moments feel like the actors are just waiting for someone to yell "Cut!" It's wooden, awkward, and sometimes unintentionally funny-but not in a good way.

Non-existent budget: I swear the budget for this thing could have been covered by a month's rent in Los Angeles. The sets look like they were assembled in a community hall, with walls that practically wobble if anyone leans too hard. There's no sense of scale, no atmosphere-just cheap backdrops and bad lighting.

Inaccurate costume design: Whoever handled costumes either didn't care or had no clue. Instead of the fierce, practical-yet-stylish fantasy gear you'd expect, we get outfits that look like bad cosplay rejects from a discount bin. They don't match the tone, the era, or the character at all.

Poor fight choreography: The sword fights are slow, awkward, and so badly timed that it feels like watching kids play-fight in the backyard. Blows clearly miss, reactions are late, and the camera work tries (and fails) to make it look exciting. There's zero weight or danger to anything.

Pathetic direction: This is the final nail in the coffin. The pacing lurches from painfully slow to rushed, scenes have no emotional payoff, and the overall tone is a mess. It feels like no one was steering the ship, just hoping it wouldn't sink before the credits rolled.

By the time the film limped to its ending, I wasn't just disappointed-I was angry. *Red Sonja* deserved better. The fans deserved better. What we got instead was a lazy, cheap, passionless cash-grab that should serve as a warning to anyone thinking of buying a ticket.

Everything about this movie is cheap. The sets, costumes, camera movements, music score, and level of acting is about equivalent to a high-school play. I could not find how much money they spent on this, but based on what I saw I would say perhaps $400k.

What could have still saved this movie would have been if the action and sword-play was exceptional. Sadly it is not. The action is not even passable and chopped up into millions of cuts to hide how badly done it is.

Not everything is horrible. The main actress is not bad. Lacking the charisma, beauty, and physique of Red Sonja she still manage to put in a good performance believable enough. The basic story is okay and close enough to the comic to be passable. Sonja also get her red hair and bikini-like armour (slightly more covering her body) in a natural video-game sort of a way which make sense. There are also a couple of scenes and events which elevate the movie somewhat.

I was almost entertained and could almost emerge myself into this world. But, at the end of the day when they spend so little money and bring in a amateur director hired for box ticking reasons then it does not get better than a 3/10.

Stay away, especially if you like the character.

Was only in theaters for a day. One Showtime only as well. Solid 5. Don't know why it was rated R. All the violence/gore was toned down or not shown at all. Decent acting across the board. Didnt care for the main villain however. Worth a watch...one time. Sequel? Apparently according to the ending 🤔

What can I say about this version of Red Sonja? Not much as it turns out and not to be confused with the 1985 version of El guerrero rojo (1985). I doubt there will be a second installment to this too, even though the end left it open for one. I can see that some effort was put into this movie, but it fell short to be entertaining. Reminded more of of a long episode of Las aventuras de Merlín (2008). I don't think that I can recommend this one.

This could have been such an epic movie.. Holy cow.. If you are not equipped to handle cult movies, do not get involved in those projects. I am talking to you uninspired writers and clueless directors.

I am dumbstruck by how people can make such low IQ, zero depth, completely amateurish movies for big screen in 2025.

I've been waiting for this movie for a long time and have not even opened the IMDB page of it to avoid spoilers.

Oh boy, how disappointed i am.. The directing is horrible, writing is horrible, production is so cheap that i thought i was watching Xena the Warrior Princess (it was amazing for it's time, but this is 2025).

Thank you for ruining another franchise which could've been an epic movie series.