For those who fall in love with fantasy worlds and remarkable heroes, you won’t find these things inRed Sonja. Starring Matilda Lutz as the titular Sonja, a spinoff character fromConan the Barbarian, the film crafts a new and more fulfilling backstory for our hero, Sonja. While there’s plenty of space in the fantasy genre for exciting, strong female characters,Red Sonjadoesn’t offer this or any meaningful storytelling. The film sits at a strange intersection betweenGladiatorand the campy 1980s fantasy films that haven’t aged well.
After the critically panned 1985 attempt to bring the comic book heroine to life, this take onRed Sonjaneeded to justify the revival of a dying franchise. Unfortunately, the movie falls short in every possible way. Right now, strong original fantasy movies are in short supply.Red Sonjacould’ve filled a niche that was sitting wide open. Instead, it’sa painful, vapid excuse to squeeze a few more dollars out of a franchisethat went out of style a long time ago. Not even Robert Sheehan, a fantasy darling, could get me to care aboutRed Sonja.
It’s Tough To Find A Redeeming Quality In Red Sonja
From The Characters To The Production Design, There’s Not A Lot To Like About The Film
When a movie begins with a voice-over, an almost always lazy choice, it should at least communicate essential exposition and world-building. This doesn’t happen inRed Sonja. Knowing more about the backstory of our main character would work wonders to make us care about her and the plot. However, the necessary context is sprinkled in strange bursts throughout the film’s runtime, diminishing its impact. Somehow, we never learn much more about her than her name and the fact that people love to sexually objectify her, a trait she apparently shares with the comic book character.
In the search for redeeming qualities, viewers will find themselves coming up short. I have a high tolerance for speculative fiction and will willingly suspend my disbelief in most cases, but only if the world has at least a semblance of logic. There are hints of a magic system and an interesting otherworldly universe that never gets off the ground. Instead of spending some of the over-inflated runtime showing the viewer why we should care about Sonja and her quest to defeat Draygan (Sheehan), all we get is a lot of poorly written dialogue recalling events we never see.
The pacing is all over the place, failing to hit the beats of an origin story and never quite reaching the heights of an old-fashioned adventure. I wish there were characters or relationships I could point to that would absolve the film of some of its shortcomings in terms of plot, as this would at least spark some emotional investment. However, even when Sonja remembers the pain of losing her family and her culture, this pain is short-lived. For every conflict that’s introduced, there is never a moment when the audience questions if there’s a flaw in her plot armor.
Not quite low quality enough to be campy, but still using CGI in ways that no one should have to see,Red Sonjais too plastic and manufactured to have the warmth and nostalgia factor of the films it pays homage to. There are a few action sequences that sneak by as almost passable, but their lack of emotional build-up or stakes makes them ultimately meaningless. As the minutes tick by, simultaneously nothing and everything happens, and you’ll be left wondering what you’ve spent the last two hours doing, because it certainly wasn’t being immersed in a fantasy world.
Red Sonja Fails In Its Attempt To Revive A Franchise
This Will Likely Be The Last We See Of Red Sonja
ThoughRed Sonjaprops open the door for her next adventure, it’s safe to say no one will be subjected to a sequel. Sonja’s last-minute decision to set off to see the world instead of settling down with the family she had supposedly been searching for her entire life is the kind of franchise set-up we’ve come to expect from this genre. However,Red Sonjapales in comparison to even the most basic comic adaptations of the last few years.
The line between the fantasy and superhero genres is blurry, andRed Sonjacould’ve helped bridge this gap, heralding a new appreciation for the former. Instead, the movie makes it embarrassing to be a fan. Perhaps it’s my own fault for seeking logic in the film, but the lazy storytelling ended up making me view the characters with even more contempt, as not only do I know nothing about them, but their choices are nonsensical.Red Sonjafalls short of expectations from beginning to end; it only succeeds in following in the footsteps of the 1985 flop.
Red Sonjawill be available to watch in theaters on August 13th, 2025.
