Brief Story Line
The red haired Sonja (Matilda Lutz - Reptile, Magpie etc) was a Hyrkanian who was separated from her tribe since childhood when the Barbarians invaded her homeland. All the years, Sonja had been trying to find the people from Hyrkania in the forest. One day she encountered some soldiers capturing wild animals and decided to free them but ended up getting into confrontation with Emperor Dragan (Robert Sheehan - The Umbrella Academy TV series, Bad Samaritan etc) who was accompanied by his protectors Annisia (Wallis Day - Krypton TV series, Sheroes etc) and General Karlak (Martyn Ford - House of David TV series, Final Score etc).
Unfortunately Sonja was captured and imprisoned in the capital along with fellow slaves like Hawk (Michael Bipsing - Den of Thieves 2: Pantera etc), Osin the Untouched (Luke Pasqualino - The Musketeers TV series etc) and others who were used for entertainment purpose. Now Sonja and the others must try to save themselves while trying to stop Dragan from destroying what was left of Hyrkania.
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this film.
End of Brief Story Line
As fan of sword and sorcery genre, I was obviously interested in watching this film even if the lead cast was not a really well known actress. Nevertheless it did not deter my interest and I still gave it a try. To be honest, in the beginning I was not too convinced that Matilda Lutz could pull it off especially when we were shown how she fought and lost. But as the story progressed, she was able to portray her better though there were still moments where her fighting movements were not exactly smooth and her characterization still a bit unconvincing. However, this might have been contributed to the way her character was written.
Talking about the writing which I am usually not very particular, I thought it was rather poor. They did not want to show how Sonja was able to become good in fighting and just straight away we were supposed to accept it as a fact. There were also times where the humor was very cheesy and the development of Sonja's acceptance by other slaves were too fast. But then again, it should not be a real bother for me if other aspects were satisfying. Sadly it was not too spectacular. The action were actually not bad, however they lack the ruthlessness. The CGI was not great either and it truly showed how this movie was lacking in budget.
The movie was directed by M. J. Bassett who was known for directing the critically acclaimed Deathwatch and Silent Hill: Revelation. It was written by Tasha Huo (showrunner of the well received Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft adult animated Netflix series). In case you are not aware, Red Sonja was based on Characters by Robert E. Howard (who also created the famous Conan The Barbarian) and was adapted into Marvel comics by Roy Thomas which would explain both their names were also mentioned as writers in the movie database. Btw, back in 1985 there was also another adaptation with same title starring Brigitte Nielsen as the titular character and Arnold Schwarzenegger. However it was poorly received by critics and audience as well.
The film did not have major Hollywood names as part of the cast. Aside from those I mentioned above, there were additional support from Veronica Ferres (The Unholy Trinity etc) as Sonja's mother Ashera, Rhona Mitra (Boston Legal TV series etc) as one of the slave Petra, Trevor Eve (Waking the Dead TV series etc) as Maester Crudelis and few others. I understand that the movie only got mixed review from critics while audience did not seem to totally embrace it. It has a duration of 110 minutes including closing credits without mid or post end credit scene.
Overall this was not a satisfying sword and sorcery movie. For me it lacked the brutality in the fights, the CGI was less than decent and the story was rather poorly written. It also has a strong TV pilot feel rather than a major action film. I watched this with the hope that it would become awesome in the end, but despite its best effort and some imrovements at latter stage, it never reached its peak. Though the finale fight scene was not bad, however I believe it would be more satisfying with more violence and greater sword fight choreography. So if you want to enjoy a great sword and sorcery film, I do not believe you would be satisfied with this. But if you manage your expectancy, you might find some positives in here. The choice is yours.
Mike's movie moments rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
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