I was lucky enough to catch the new Red Sonja movie in theaters last night. Lucky because it unfortunately only had one night in theaters. Drove down to Greenville SC to see it at a Regal Cinema. That is about an hour and forty five minute commute. I am so glad I made the drive. I love this character. I love most of your sword and sorcery barbarian heroes. This captured the feeling of renting Conan the Destroy on VHS from Pick A Video circa 1996. A feeling I long for in the modern era.
Matilda Lutz stars as the chain mail bikini clad, fiery warrior woman we all know and love. My first time seeing her in a movie was Revenge, and when casting news was hitting the normal sites I knew she would do a fantastic job. She is as savage as you want her to be from the panel and page, but a wonderful balance is shown when you get to the scenes where she is gentle and compassionate. Which is very much inline with a lot of the modern comics. I very much appreciated these scenes. The final scene with Draygan, as an example. Not what you would expect the final showdown of a blood and guts sword and sandal epic to be, and the movie is better for it.
Speaking of Robert Sheehan, of Umbrella Academy fame, is expertly cast in this role as Draygan. Would be emperor of the known world. He chews the scenery and gives you an enemy you want to see humbled, at every turn he becomes more and more villainous.
Wallis Day is Draygan’s right hand woman. An empress to be. Annisia is the most skilled warrior in this whole epic. Which comic fans will appreciate. Dark Annisia, half sister of Red Sonja in the comics, is hell with any edged weapon known to man. And they keep that part true to panel. They never bring up her direct link to Red Sonja in the same way the comic does. I think this is to do with a couple of act 3 reveals that would have made that trope over played in this film. So I actually do not mind the change up here. Day is elegant and deadly. Her features are sharp and beautiful. She reminds me of a Jae Lee painting. I could see her on a comic over on the new release rack of your favorite comic shop.
The score is fantastic and makes you want to take up honest steel and fight a cyclops. So a job well done all around. No notes. Top Marks. I will be using this for my Tunnels and Trolls one shot this week. Speaking of steel. As a sword nerd I really like the design of Sonja’s blade in this movie. Its simple but usable. It has the fantasy look you want and the believability that someone could slay their foe with it. I really really didn’t like the sword from the first movie for that reason. As a lore nerd I would have liked a cool back story for the sword, like in Conan the Barbarian. But the lack of lore could also give us plenty of cool backstory to how the sword got into Dane’s weapon stock. A few pages as the back up of a Red Sonja comic?
The movie doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it doesn’t set out to. It is loyal to its genre, and thats a good thing. It mixes its source material well. Its an amalgamation of Gail Simone (who doesn’t get a thank you in the credits? Whats up with that?) Roy Thomas (the man, the myth, the legend), and a little bit of Mark Russell. It all worked for me. I loved the creature designs, the combat, (even the bits that were right out of a comic that shouldn’t look good in motion) the practical effects of the creatures (the ape people look fantastic!), all of it works in the light of low budget camp. The start of the movie is a little slow. Usually these sword and sandal epics get started with a bloody battle and we figure everything else out as we go. After seeing the film as a whole I respect the slow intro more. It sets up the world well. We get to see the shrine to her goddess Scáthach, who grants Sonja her power in the original comic stories. Which has a great pay off in act 3 of this film.
For all of the folks that have been complaining about the trailer. The movie fixes most of your problems organically throughout the story. No chain mail bikini, check, hair not red enough, check, lack of combat prowess, check. It all gets explained and by the end of the movie we see the Sonja we know and love.
So, all in all I really enjoyed my time with this movie. Is it going to change your life? No. Does it deliver what it promises? Yes. Without a doubt. I hope dearly it finds its audience and we get to see more Sonja on the big screen.
I give it 4 chain mail bikinis out of 5
