“Red Sonja” — is a relaunch of the classic 1985 fantasy action movie, which features the Devil with a Sword played by Matilda Loots. Interestingly, the actress herself has received a lot of praise from critics, while the overall reviews of the film are not impressive.
Currently, the new “Red Sonja” has a modest 55% from Rotten Tomatoes critics based on 29 reviews.
In the end, critics are divided: there is praise for Lutz’s acting, energetic direction, visual effects and lively action sequences, but the script is called clichéd and the dialogues are uninspired. In addition, the audience has a “constant feeling” of a limited budget. For example, Mary Cassel from ScreenRant writes that “the sword-and-sorcery genre takes a critical hit in this messy and unpleasant reboot,” noting that “Red Sonja” fails to tell a compelling story or make the audience care about the characters.
Red Sonja was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics in 1973, who in turn were inspired by Robert Irwin Howard’s character, Red Sonja of Rogatino. Throughout her career in comics and other media, Red Sonja often worked alongside Conan the Barbarian, where together they became known as the most dangerous force of the Hyborian Age. In 1985, the character got her own movie starring Bridget Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film was made against the backdrop of the success of the Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer dilogy, but there is no plot connection between the films, and Schwarzenegger plays a different character named Calidor.
Interestingly, the relaunch has surpassed the estimates of the 1985 version, which has a disastrous 21% from critics and 29% from viewers. However, this did not prevent the movie with Nielsen and Schwarzenegger from becoming an action classic of the time.
In the new film, Sonya is imprisoned by a cruel tyrant who wants to destroy her people, but the brave warrior gathers a team of unexpected heroes to confront Dragan and his wife, Dark Annisia. In addition to Loots, the cast includes Wallis Day, Michael Bisping, Martin Ford, Eliza Matengu, Veronica Ferres, Katrina Durden, Rona Mitra, Manal El Faytouri, Kate Nichols and Danica Davis. The film was directed by MJ Bassett (Reacher) and written by Tasha Huo.
“Red Sonja grew up in a world where barbarians destroyed villages, plundered and killed, and kings only wanted power and gold. She knew no home, only the battlefield. Her childhood was stolen by war and betrayal, and her youth was consumed by the arena, where she fought for her life every day to entertain the crowd and a cruel tyrant. In order to survive, she learned to hit first, and now she is unstoppable, neither by humans nor by monsters. Sonya doesn’t believe in prophets — she forges her own destiny,” from the official synopsis.
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