Red Sonja (1985)

That was an excellent one.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

You get pretty much what you expect. poor dialogue, weak acting, Arnold showing his muscles, Brigitte Nielsen showing her legs, comedic sidekicks. but one part that always makes me laugh in this film, when Sonja tells Conan...er, Kalidor, "I don't need a man's help." except the men who trained her, fed her, housed her, armed her, and provided her horse. lol but the film was entertaining for what it was.

Red Sonja (1985) Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brigitte Nielsen, Sandahl Bergman, Paul L. Smith, Ernie Reyes, Jr., Ronald Lacey, Pat Roach, Terry Richards, Ronald Lacey, Donna Osterbuhr, Lara Lamberti, Hans Meyer, Francesca Romana Coluzzi, Stefano Maria Mioni, Tutte Lemkow, Kiyoshi Yamasaki, and Tad Horino Directed By: Richard Fleischer Review A woman and a warrior that became a legend. Apparently Arnold uses this to punish his children, I can see why. I was dreading what I was in for when I heard about that and having just finished it I'm going to read a Red Sonja graphic novel that shows this character at her best because if anything this is her weakest. Red Sonja is a film based on Robert E. Howard character about a woman who is left for dead after her whole family is butchered and she is violated. It is because of this she does not trust men. But when her sister is killed and the talisman is stolen by Queen Gerden who intends to use the talismans power to rule the world. Red Sonja accompanied by two men and a boy must destroy the talisman and defeat Gerden. The film only has two redeeming qualities, the first being is how short it is and the other being all the cool sword fights in it. All the good things about the movie end there. The acting is some of the worst I have ever seen even from Arnold an actor who can be very good. Brigitte Nielson is a beautiful woman and with a better script could maybe make a good Sonja and the kid can be quite annoying but surprisingly didn't bother me that much. The acting still sucked. It didn't work in the actors favor that the dialogue was just the worst. The camera shots from the director are not that good either if anything most of it is standard but then there's one scene where Sonja and Kalidor are sitting by a tree and I felt that the camera was shaking a little. Red Sonja is a film that comes together as a poor attempt to give a great female sword and sorcery character her own series, I could enjoy this as a guilty pleasure movie but there were too many problems for me to ignore, it's not as bad as I was expecting and is leap and bounds better than Supergirl which is another female lead movie that tried to capitalize on her male counterpart but that's not much, I'm giving Red Sonja a 4 out of 10.

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.

Veteran director Richard Fleischer follows up his movie "Conan the Destroyer" with this fantasy-adventure also based on the writings of Robert E. Howard. Ultimately, this movie is a trifle compared to the original "Conan the Barbarian", but if the viewer isn't too demanding, it may yield adequate entertainment.Like "Conan the Destroyer", it's supposedly aimed at a younger demographic, but is actually a little strong for its PG-13 rating, with some gory bits, decapitations, implied rape, and the lesbian overtures made by the villainess towards the heroine.The movie is basically competently made, with good production design (by Danilo Donati) and stunts, reasonably diverting swordplay, and a decent pace (this only runs 89 minutes long). There's also a fairly effective score by the great Ennio Morricone. However, there's never much of a sense of danger; this story definitely lacks edge.Said story centres around the title character, played by Brigitte Nielsen in the role that introduced her. She's a warrior whose people were wiped out by an evil queen (Sandahl Bergman, who of course was Valeria in "Conan the Barbarian") and she embarks on a quest to destroy a powerful "talisman" that's fallen into the queens' hands. Her fellow travellers include muscle bound Kalidor (Arnold Schwarzenegger, presumably doing a favour for Fleischer), an insufferable brat of a prince (Ernie Reyes Jr.) and the princes' put-upon, comedy relief guardian Falkon (Paul L. Smith).The acting ranges from acceptable (also appearing is Ronald Lacey of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as the queens' creepy flunky) to just incredibly laughable. Nielsen and Bergman are so terrible that their performances are sure to generate some big guffaws from the viewer. Still, they both look great, and that has to count for something. Reyes Jr. certainly does succeed at making his character annoying.While it manages to remain watchable throughout, this is pretty forgettable once it's over. It's got some amusing moments, but none to give it any real spark.Five out of 10.