Red Sonja (1985)

Wonderfully offbeat film!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This one screams girl power in the age when a 2000's idiot critic may suggest it didn't exist. The truth is, for every guy flick you had a girl flick for the second date back in the 80's, because American cinema was about the creation of heterosexual couplings, not dividing or replacing them with candied men cowering before their women, or same sex unions.Of course, then the Madonna fans graduated from cinema schools.Girl power, from the virgin amazons guarding the talisman at the start, to the evil queen of supreme power who comes to claim it for use in what any woman in power generally would.Red Sonya, was so hot and so badass at the same time it made you proud to be light hued and ginger haired. Boy or girl, this movie had it all, and was a great empowerment film.Like "Legend", in that it brought boys and girls along for the ride and left both respecting the role of the other.The novelty characters and bad special effects are on a par with, Deathstalker, but the swordplay is very good for the time.A must watch for S&S fans.

Ruthless Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman) raizes Red Sonja (Brigitte Nielsen)'s village. Gedren's men rape her and leave her for dead. She gets guidance from a goddess spirit and a master teacher. She becomes a powerful swordswoman. Gedren massacres priestesses guarding a powerful talisman. It gains power from the light, can level cities, can only be touched by women, and could destroy the world in 13 days. Despite refusing help from men, she is assisted by mercenary Kalidor (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from time to time. She encounters the arrogant Prince Tarn and his personal guard Falkon after Gedren destroyed his city.The acting is really bad. Nielsen should not be allowed on a high school stage production. It's odd that Schwarzenegger isn't doing his Conan character. I don't get it. This should be a duo adventure with Conan and Red Sonja. Also why does he keep disappearing? The rest of the actors are all generally poor. The priestesses' fight is embarrassing. My best compliment is that Nielsen can look the part. She's statuesque and gets physical. They should have kept her dialogue to a minimum. There is a metal serpent. This is camp if I'm being kind. One can certain have fun with this silliness.

Arnold the Barbarian meets his match in the shapely form of statuesque Brigitte Nielsen as Red Mullet, who rivals The Austrian Oak's ability with a blade while proving herself equally as inept as the musclebound star at delivering her lines. With these woefully wooden performers sharing much of the screen-time, working from a pitiful script that is heavy on the cheeze, Red Sonja is unintentionally camp, mid-80s sword and sorcery adventure that proves far more amusing than thrilling.In the film's horribly trite opening scene, young Sonja rejects the sexual advances of evil Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman), slashing the wicked ruler's face as she struggles to escape; as a result, the queen orders her guards to kill Sonja's family and gang rape the insolent young woman. Years later, having learnt fighting skills from an old master, Sonja is given the opportunity to settle the score when she embarks on a quest to recover a powerful talisman that has been stolen by the despotic Queen Gedren. Together with man mountain Kalidor (Arnie), irritating Prince Tarn (Ernie Reyes Jr.) and his willing slave Falkon (Paul L. Smith), Sonja travels to the queen's fortress to destroy the talisman and put an end to Gedren's tyranny.Despite fairly decent production values—the film boasts impressive sets and costumery, reasonable effects (including some lovely matte paintings), spectacular cinematography, a rousing score from Ennio Morricone, and some well choreographed swordplay—Red Sonja is a rather embarrassing addition to the barbarian genre as a whole. The flat direction from Richard Fleischer renders the action scenes ineffective, the acting is diabolical, the storyline and dialogue utterly asinine, and the film's uneven tone makes it hard to figure out who the intended audience was: much of the movie seems light-hearted and rather juvenile at times, but the severed limbs and gouts of blood make it unsuitable viewing for children.Of course, quite a few giggles can be had from the film's shoddier elements, which include a glowing wood spirit that inexplicably bestows special powers on Sonja (although just what these powers are is never really clear), Arnie riding a mechanical water dragon, Queen Gedren's giant vibrating pet spider, and a shonky steam-driven video screen that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon serial from the 30s.

This is a important "culte" film for my very personnal universe, but...what can we say? "red Sonja" looks like a Conan 3. Indeed it is done just after the second episode is an adventure independent, Kalidor looks like Conan but it will eventually Red Sonja (the original title). It remains in the spirit of Conan the Destroyer also directed by Richard Fleischer, a simple action film in the barbarian fantasy universe. Despite the promising features such as the introduction superbly served by the theme music of Ennio Morricone, the film is still disappointing, in the tradition of Conan the Destroyer elsewhere.Red Sonja warrior wants to avenge the theft of an artifact to excessive and destructive powers and the death of her sister. Kalidor who have just enough time to bring Varna (Sonja'sister) to Sonja, will travel with Sonja to have this revenge. By the way they will encounter a couple slightly loufouque a young prince insolent child and his faithful servant, who go to avenge the destruction of their city kingdom. This group of four raiders will travel to the palace of Queen Gedren to avenge her.The plot is fast. We quickly found the palace And very quickly to meet the wicked queen and the four raiders. A very fast action and fighting clumsy especially in the interpretation of stunt or figuration with a great reinforcement of the decor that smell strong cardboard a inanimate sea monster and the atmosphere of the film resembles a large series B to moderate budget.This movie is disappointing despite the talents involved. But all fans of barbaric fantastic and simple fantasy films must watch it because this universe is too rare in a movie.jelios [email protected]