Red Sonja

First I wish to say the main actress did an admirable job of acting and portraying the character, well enough to earn her creds.

The very, very obvious problem is that she was not physically made for the role. She was attractive enough, but not the buxom beauty that made Red's enemies regularly underestimate her. Most importantly, she didn't have the athletic / muscular build that would be required for the part. The choreography was poor to start with, but her lack of power and stamina made it that much worse, as she either obviously pulled her punches or didn't have much punch to start with.

Include in this repeated, repeated, repeated stabbing through plate armor and we have constant reminders of "plastic" Storm Trooper armor that wouldn't stop a stone shot from a slingshot. Pffft.

Typical story, highly predictable. At least it had a semi-twist ending that redeemed it a little. (No spoilers.) Sadly, this is a typical sword-adventure film with an unfortunately unconvincing lightweight main character. Kudos to the actress. She just needed a bit more meat on her bones and (to be blunt) a bit more cleavage to convincingly play the part of Red Sonja. They might have looked at some of the Ladies of Wrestling to find the right build. It's not a "guy review" thing; it's a matter of accurate and believable character portrayal. I would describe this actress as more slim / petite than barbarian. She simply needed more "body".

That said, I'll give kudos to the armor designer who eventually put her in something a little more stout than a barely-there chain mail bikini. A barbarian warrior with armor that at least covers her vital parts is far more sensible than the fan-service comic ever was.

Confession first: I discovered the Red Sonja comics as a young person mumble years ago, and they appealed to me for two reasons. First, the obvious reason a beautiful sword-wielding woman would appeal to a teenage boy; second, for her unique back-story and impressive collection of personality disorders.

I've long thought that Red Sonja deserved a film. She has, however, been short-changed in this area. To be sure, this effort is far superior to the abomination featuring Brigitte Neilsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it still left much to be desired. Most importantly, they threw away almost all that is canon about Red Sonja - the traumatic experience in her youth, the intervention by her goddess, and her idiosyncratic oath/curse.

Does this matter? Well, I think it does if you're going to call the film Red Sonja.

Leaving that aside, this film is not without merit. Matilda Lutz has decent acting chops, and enough charisma to give the film a solid centre. Among the supporting cast, however, Wallis Day as Annistja (a character who does have personality disorders) steals every scene she's in, and would've made a better Sonja. So, possibly, would Danica Davis in the small role of Teresia.

The film copes well with Sonja's famous outfit, there are a few laughs between the swordfights, and Robert Sheehan is just villainous enough as Draygen (who has a personality that would make Freud bite his pencil in two). The horse was good, as well. As for the actual plot - well, it was never going to be the most important part of the film (though, to be fair, it does pack one very good surprise).

In sum: Is this a good adventure film? Up to a point.

Is this a good Red Sonja film? No.

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.

There was no reason to make this garbage. It's like casting Bill Skarsgard to play Conan. The movie even took away the origin story of her power and strength. I grew up reading Red Sonja and I had really hoped there would one day be a good live action adaptation. At this point I'll stick to the animations and my old comics. You really can't have someone who hates women make a movie about a beautiful female fantasy warrior. This is what you get.

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.