Red Sonja

This is one of the great movies of the 80s in MY collection that I think about all the time. This is such a great sword fighting moving that is really magical. Arnold is very good as always and Brigitte Nielsen is something else! She is perfect for the part and she is so neat. Pat Roach aslo has a good part and he does it well. Sandahl Bergman is beautiful! Wow is she pretty! Anyway all Conan, sword fighting, and Arnold fans with love this for its nonstop action, its scenery, its terrific and magnificent score, and it great scenes with Arnold and Sonja herself!

you know, i gave this movie an eight. yeah. really. i shouldn't have, but i did, and it's because it's a feel good movie, and better then that "santa clause: the motion picture," thing, even though santa and sonja are both kinda red. sort of. like, whenever you're watching it, you have this stark realization that life isn't so bad, that the vapors vapping your inner peace are really just the nasty shrimp you ate for dinner. i don't recommend shrimp for dinner or any time else. but shrimps are red, like sonja, and "red sonja," unlike shrimp, is worth it if only for some of the sword play and the fallen limbs, heads, rocks, etc. plus there's a bunch of scars and costumes, and costumes that are scars. oh, and arnold lifts a bunch of stuff too.

Richard Fleischer was not the right man to direct this movie, not only being long past his prime, but that fantasy was not his forte. Some scenes go on forever, while other scenes are cut short or seem missing. (There are indications that they tried to save this in the editing room.) In fairness to Fleischer, he was working with a tight budget that made everything (even the wilderness scenes) look cheap and cheesy. Also, the screenplay is hard to take seriously, with its unfunny comic relief and goofy touches. Some of the swordplay isn't bad, but a little of that goes a long way. An embarrassment to everyone involved; even the Morricone score manages to be lackluster.

This is another masterpiece from Richard Fleischer: the camerawork is great, as is the editing, the music and the sets (just look at that wonderful interior of Geddren's throneroom! Or the outside of her castle with it's expressionistic wall-design full of mourning faces!)! Sandahl Bergman as Queen Geddren is so wonderful that you wish there would be more scenes with her in the movie. OK, the voice-acting abilities of Nielsen and Schwarzenegger are somehow limited, but the german-dubbed version extinguished this fault with great voices for Bergman, Nielsen and Schwarzenegger! Really, there is nothing dumb or clumsy in this movie, Fleischer again shows that he is one of the best directors!

OK, I know I'm going to either get a lot of hate for this and a lot of confused emails, but Red Sonja to me is an ultimate guilty pleasure. My sister and I used to watch this movie all the time when we were kids, we both wanted to so badly fight with Red Sonja and be apart of the group. So oddly, after years of not watching this since I was a kid, my sister and I found the DVD for 5 dollars and decided to watch it. Oh, the things that are so wrong with this film that makes it so right again. Looking to be a spin off of Conan, we were introduced to Red Sonja played by Flava-Flav's ultimate true love, Bridgitte Nielson. The 6 foot tall drink of glass shows us that this was her acting class as she rehearses her lines as if she had just read them the night before and screams "Gedren, where are you?!" while moving her mouth in the strangest way. She teams up with world's other tall drink of … beef(?) Arnold Schwarzenegger as they battle it out on who can act the worst? Well, who knows who will win with this silly story. A large temple full of white-robed priestesses are getting ready to destroy a large, glowing green orb called the Talisman. This dangerous artifact's destructive power increases from exposure to light and the priestesses intend to destroy it before it gets out of control. However, the evil Queen Gedren and Ikol attack with their army. The warrior-priestesses resist, but are ultimately subdued by Gedren's forces. Gedren gets her hands on the Talisman, but not before proving the myth that only women can touch it and survive. Gedren orders the remaining priestesses to be imprisoned in the vault which held the Talisman. One of those priestesses, Varna, manages to escape. She doesn't get far before she's mortally wounded by an arrow in the back. As luck would have it, she literally falls into the arms of the mighty Lord Kalidor. She begs him to help find her sister, Red Sonja. Sonja has been training with a Chinese sword master when Kalidor informs Sonja about her sister. Sonja arrives just in time for Varna to tell her about what happened at the temple. Before dying, Sonja's sister urges her to find the Talisman and destroy it, or else the world will be destroyed. Everything about this movie is bad, but that's what I love about it. You know how sometimes you just need a bad movie that you can make fun of and have a good time with? Supposedly, Arnold Schwarzenegger jokes that he uses this movie as punishment for his kids when they act up. Is it that bad? It is bad, but it's a ton of fun. I loved the action, Arnold fighting Bridgitte for her love as no man may have her unless he's trying to kill her, lol. I loved the last fight scene between Red Sonja and Queen Gedren, Gedren loves pulling a ton of jump cuts on her as well as one of Gedren's wizards who is using vodoo to cut Sonja to weaken her, then when she discovers the wizard, instead of him cutting her again, he just stands there, lol. Also the little Prince Tarn with Falkon was classic and they worked so well together. I think the scene that made me laugh the most was when Red Sonja, Prince Tarn and Falkon are stuck in the cave with the machine dragon and Arnold is just riding around with it making it look more like a roller coaster ride rather than a fight for his life, lol! My opinion, if a movie entertains you even if it is bad, why fight it? This is a good bad movie and I know I will always enjoy it. My recommendation being if you have an open mind and decide to just let go and enjoy the ride Red Sonja takes you on, take it or leave it. 7/10

Thrilling and spectacular movie full of imagination and fantasy that introduces us a brave heroine , female counterpart to Conan , and appointed to juvenile public and full-blooded adventure aficionados. Sword-and-sorcery saga with silly action , spectacular images and fantastic scenes with witchcraft and necromancy . This is a tale of fantasy , magic , imagination, blood and wizardly set in a mythical primitive world of barbarisms. This is an amusing adventure saga inspired on Robert E Howard's pulp tale , it stars Brigitte Nielsen ( by that time married Silvester Stallone) who join forces with the mythic and valiant warrior Kalifor ( a super-swordsman Arnold Schwarznegger in a brief guest spot), a Hyborian Age hero , a Conan-alike , taking on heinous forces of devil and evil minions . A nasty sorceress kills the keeper (Janet Agren) of a powerful green bulb that gives her great power , but Red Sonja is sister of the keeper and seeks vengeance on villainess Gedren who also massacred her family . A selfish little boy prince named Tarn (Ernie Reyes Jr) and his underling Falkon (Paul L. Smith), whose kingdom was wiped out by Gedren soon joins them . They undergo on a perilous trip to find the talisman , confronting magicians , spectres and dangerous adventures. Our heroine fights the evil hoodlums of brutal Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman) who seeks the total power and leading a vibrant ending. This exciting film packs noisy action, fantasy, adventure, witchery , and rip-roaring fights . Dumb images , unintentionally hilarious and lots of amusement and entertainment . Made on a fairly big scale with spectacular set design and glimmer photography . Quite budget for an Italian/Netherland/US co-production and lavishly produced by Dino De Laurentiis , her daughter Francesca and Jose Lopez Rodero. This entertaining picture contains frenetic action , tension , necromancy, and moving action scenes . The film is full of freaks and bemusing situations ; it is quite entertaining because being a laborious and intriguing adventure tale with some humor . Colorful cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno , Federico Fellini's usual . Very derivative special effects , grand production design by Danilo Donati ,and matte paintings by Albert Whitlock and Emilio Ruiz del Rio . Impressive musical score composed and conducted by the master Ennio Morricone. The motion picture is middling directed by Richard Fleischer . He's an expert director , with adventure classics (Vikings, 20.000 leagues under sea) and noir cinema (Narrow margin,Clay pigeons,Trapped). The film will appeal to fantasy buffs with enough action to make it worth looking in on . In other words, it seem likely Conan enthusiasts and juvenile viewers will be delighted because thrills, action and adventures are brilliantly presented and edited to offer the maximum impact. Rating : 5,5 ; it's an old-fashioned B film on an acceptable scale and basically enjoyable because of it.

I don't think anyone ever likes admitting they enjoyed a movie with Brigitte Nielsen- nor do they enjoy admitting they like a "hokey" comic book movie. But hey- this really is a pretty fun flick, and this is one of the few roles that seem meant for Brigitte. Red Sonja properly belongs in the Conan series- Sonja herself is a character first introduced in the Conan story series. It seems quite a coup to have gotten Arnold himself for the film, even though with licensing rights tied up they couldn't *say* "Conan". Everyone knows who it's supposed to be. As to Arnie's top billing- it makes sense when you realize that when this movie came out, Arnold was very well known and loved as Conan. The producers had to do everything possible to attract the Conan-fan who isn't aware of who Red Sonja is... so hype Arnie's name, and you get bigger box office. Simple, really. Don't watch the movie expecting anything more than an adventure film, though!

This is Saturday afternoon fodder, and it is great fun. Brigitte Nielsen plays Red Sonja a little as though she is reading her lines off hidden cue cards, in fact the entire cast appears to have received the script on the day they began shooting, but this is still great comic book stuff all the same. It lacks the fancy CGI that we have come to expect, and is, in my opinion, actually the better for this lack. The set pieces all work well, and even the very tentative love story is not a major distraction. Settle back to enjoy skimpy skirts and lots of sword play, years before Xena the Warrior Princess hit the small screen.

Quote of the movie: "so it is true, only women may touch it" What was good: The Soundtrack was really good thanks to genus, Ennio Morricone. Red Sonja looked really good in that little cloth piece she wore throughout the movie. There is more red hair in this film than a shedding Irish Setter. What was bad: The little kid playing the ruler of a land terribly over acts. I am not sure if this is because he is a bad kid actor or if it was suppose to be. There was a scene where Arnold rides around hitting people from his horse, but in a wide-angle shot, there is nobody dead on the ground. The special effects for 1985 are fairly lame, including the mechanical spider in the castle lair is so bad-dd. The costumes were designed as if there was a sale at a early 1980's salvation army. Costume of the movie goes to the oriental old man, "grandmaster", with the white sheet and black straps is quite a sight. With poles that come out of his back, I don't know how he can enter a doorway. It takes 18 minutes for Arnold to actually read a line. A fun movie to drink a little and laugh at the action or lack of action. This movie could of been done a lot worse.

This movie gets better with age. If you've got a sense of humor and don't need Industrial Light and Magic special effects, the combination of actors (all playing off the winsome Brigette Nielson) makes this a fun movie to see again...or for the first time. It's probably also the movie that got Arnold in hot water during the "recall."