Red Sonja (1985)

User Rating:

4.3/10   

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Robert E. Howard (character)
Clive Exton (written by) ...

Release Date:

3 July 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy

Tagline:

A woman and a warrior that became a legend.

Plot:

The tyrant Gedren seeks the total power in a world of barbarism. She raids the city Hablac and kills...

Plot Keywords:

Talisman | Topless | Underwater | Action Heroine | Based On Comic

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger	...	Kalidor
Brigitte Nielsen	...	Red Sonja
Sandahl Bergman	...	Queen Gedren
Paul L. Smith	...	Falkon (as Paul Smith)
Ernie Reyes Jr.	...	Prince Tarn
Ronald Lacey	...	Ikol
Pat Roach	...	Brytag
Terry Richards	...	Djart
Janet Agren	...	Varna, Red Sonja's Sister
Donna Osterbuhr	...	Kendra the High Priestess
Lara Naszinsky	...	Gedren's Handmaid
Hans Meyer	...	Red Sonja's Father
Francesca Romana Coluzzi	...	Red Sonja's Mother
Stefano Maria Mioni	...	Barlok, Red Sonja's Brother (as Stafano Mioni)
Tutte Lemkow	...	Wizard

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

Netherlands | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor) | Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Italy:T | Iceland:12 | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Australia:PG | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | UK:PG (cut) | USA:PG-13 | West Germany:12 (f) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Italy

Company:

Dino De Laurentiis Company

Trivia:

The original theatrical trailer of this movie contains cutting room-floor footage of scenes glimpsed only briefly in the film's prologue: Sonja, left to perish in her burning home, is saved by her dying brother Barlok; Gedren, prior to her disfigurement, addresses her soldiers and slaves.

Goofs:

Plot holes: Not having met Falkon and the Prince yet, Kalidor calls Falkon by name while fighting the killing machine.

Quotes:

Brytag: This is my land. All that pass through pay me tribute.
Red Sonja: How much, Brytag?
Brytag: Who mentioned money? Tribute, I said. The tender kind all women pay to Brytag.
Red Sonja: (drawing her sword) Suppose I don't. Suppose, instead, I open up that great, fat belly of yours?

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "In Living Color: Veracosa (#2.12)" (1990)

Not much of anything.

Sometimes intentionally campy, at other times unintentionally silly (like in the opening scene, where a woman is "informed" that she has been raped and that her family has been slaughtered, just for the sake of exposition), this film is ultimately neither funny enough nor competent enough (as a straightforward adventure story) to be really enjoyable. I'll leave you to decide which may be the highlight, but the low point is probably the fight with a silly metallic dragon. Brigitte Nielsen was a good choice for Sonja, with her fresh face and her firm, slightly muscular body (and I think that her dark-red hair suits her perfectly), but Schwarzenegger gives one of his few colorless performances as Calidor. (*1/2)