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It’s been a long time since the glory days of the ’80s, when video store shelves were overrun with sword‑and‑sorcery mayhem after John Milius unleashed a then‑rising action titan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the now‑iconic Conan the Barbarian. Back then, you could barely walk into a rental shop without tripping over some knockoff featuring a jacked warrior swinging a massive blade with a buxom companion at his side. A few standouts like The Sword and the Sorcerer tried to push the subgenre into new territory, while countless others were forgettable, low‑rent DTV imports from Italy and beyond.
Riding that wave of Robert E. Howard’s Conan dominance, writer Roy Thomas and legendary Marvel artist Barry Windsor-Smith forged the barbarian’s fiery-haired counterpart in Red Sonja, loosely inspired by Howard’s Red Sonya of Rogatino and first appearing in Marvel’s pages in 1973. She burned brightly for a time, but Marvel shut down her solo adventures in 1986, leaving Dynamite Comics to eventually pick up the sword and reshape the character in different ways. Even if she’s lurked in the shadows of pop culture, Red Sonja has endured, becoming a beloved icon of strength and power for diehard fantasy fans who devour both pulpy paperbacks and blood‑and‑steel epics on screen.
During Marvel’s run, Universal—fresh off releasing the first Conan and its sequel Conan the Destroyer—decided to cash in and bring Red Sonja to the big screen, with Schwarzenegger drafted in as box office muscle. His role was conceived as an extended cameo, but the studio milked every frame of his screentime, trying to sneak out a pseudo‑Conan sequel without him realizing it. When Arnold finally figured out what they were doing, he was furious. Brigitte Nielsen stepped into the boots and bikini armor of the title slayer, and the result was a cheesy, unapologetically tongue‑in‑cheek romp that tanked hard at the box office. Over the years it’s carved out cult status with a loyal fanbase, but no one can deny the film’s glaring flaws—even if we still have a soft spot for it.
A fresh take on Red Sonja then vanished into development hell for decades, with directors and stars coming and going like mercenaries on a doomed quest. At various points names like Robert Rodriguez, Simon West, and Rose McGowan (once slated to wield the sword herself) were attached, only for the project to stall out. That changed a few years back when filmmaker M. J. Bassett—who directed the criminally underrated Solomon Kane and delivered hard‑hitting episodes of Strike Back—jumped in to finally drag this beast across the finish line. Her chosen warrior: Matilda Lutz, who blew the doors off in the ultra‑violent, pulpy revenge thriller Revenge, a blistering, nightmare‑noir of payback. If you haven’t seen it, that film is a brutal gauntlet where a wronged woman flips the script on her attackers, and Lutz is phenomenal—so handing her Sonja’s sword was a no‑brainer, and she absolutely rises to the challenge.
Flash forward to now and Bassett’s Red Sonja has finally ridden into town with a one‑day theatrical engagement before heading to digital and VOD at month’s end. This time, the director goes right for the jugular, crafting a more grounded, savage world while still honoring the fantasy DNA baked into the character. This is absolutely not the 1985 film—gone is the campy wink, replaced by a dead‑serious tone, amped‑up violence, and hard‑R adult content. Some viewers will definitely push back on this approach, but if you grew up on steel‑clanging, blood‑and‑thunder epics, there’s plenty to feast on here—as there was for me.
This incarnation of Red Sonja opens on a young girl in the harsh land of Hyrkania during the early days of the Hyborian Age, that stylized, mythic era imagined by Howard. Tasha Huo’s screenplay makes some bold swings that may rub hardcore purists the wrong way, but for casual viewers and longtime fans like myself who aren’t precious about every detail, this Red Sonja lets the reins loosen a bit while still honoring the spirit of the legend.
Tragedy hits early when Sonja is torn from her people after a brutal raid by marauders led by a merciless warlord hungry for power and new territory. Years later, she’s an adult living off the grid in the forest, her only loyal ally a trusty horse, but her heart still burns to find any survivors of her shattered clan. The world she rides through is relentless—cruel, violent, and unforgiving—and Sonja has been forged in that crucible, becoming a razor‑sharp fighter who survives by meeting brutality with her own brand of steel.
Sonja’s path takes a vicious turn when she’s captured by a bloodthirsty tyrant named Dragan (Robert Sheehan of the hit series Umbrella Academy). Dragan commands a massive army and sprawling empire, and he’s out to reshape the world through a twisted mix of science and technology powered by a mysterious book—of which he currently possesses only half. Obsessed with uniting it, he scours the land, leaving death and devastation in his wake. Enslaved, Sonja is thrown into the arena, forced to battle the empire’s gladiators, the Damnati, but it’s only a matter of time before she starts plotting rebellion against Dragan and his even crueler right hand, Dark Annisia (Wallis Day).
From frame one, it’s crystal clear that Bassett is here to crown her Red Sonja—and Matilda Lutz—as a full‑on, take‑no‑prisoners warrior icon. This Sonja is miles away from Nielsen’s campy incarnation and closer in spirit to Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman from the now‑defunct DCEU: noble, powerful, and commanding. Yes, Lutz looks phenomenal, but this isn’t about ogling; she strips the character down to raw nerves and fury, delivering a fierce, fully committed performance. If you came hoping for an 80s‑style parade of nudity, look elsewhere—this Red Sonja is about world‑building, character, and the arrival of a new kind of action hero.
Lutz throws everything she’s got into the role, embodying Sonja as a crimson‑haired warrior who grows in confidence, hones battle‑tested skills, and still carries a core of empathy. She may be physically petite, but she radiates coiled‑spring energy—a lioness waiting to pounce—and when the film’s numerous fight sequences kick off, she explodes with total authority, cutting through enemies like she was born with a blade in her hand. Red Sonja here is equal parts human and hellcat, and Lutz feels perfectly cast for this interpretation.
The supporting cast steps up as well. Sheehan leans into everything an on‑screen tyrant should be as Dragan: hateful, smug, and deliciously sinister, yet there’s more to him once the dust settles. He knows exactly what movie he’s in, hamming it up at just the right moments and making sure the audience is counting down the minutes until he gets what’s coming. Without spoiling anything, you may even feel a twinge of something unexpected for him by the end, which is a credit to both the writing and performance for slipping past standard villain clichés. Dragan is absolutely a scourge—razing the world with his newfound tech and twisted science—but there’s a beating heart buried beneath the monster.
As Dark Annisia, Dragan’s would‑be queen and deadly enforcer, Wallis Day brings a cold, haunted intensity to a woman who’s killed and is now drowning in the cost of it. On the surface, she’s as rotten as they come, driven by blood, lies, and manipulation, but there’s torment underneath that icy exterior. She becomes Sonja’s most dangerous rival, putting the heroine on her back foot more than once and firmly staking her claim as a fearsome, scene‑stealing threat.
Rounding out the roster, former MMA bad boy Michael Bisping shows up as one of the gladiators and, unsurprisingly, gets to dish out some of the bone‑crunching work he’s known for. Genre stalwart Rhona Mitra is criminally underused, and fans will likely want to riot once they see where her character ends up. There’s also Martyn Ford—soon to be Shao Khan in Mortal Kombat 2—who disappears into a savage monster/human hybrid that’s as physically imposing as you’d hope. Several other players, sadly, don’t get the fleshing out they deserve, including Strike Back’s Philip Winchester, who only appears in the film’s final stretch with minimal dialogue and action. Fortunately, Lutz shoulders the movie with ease, and when Sonja finally completes her transformation into the fully realized, sword‑swinging, red‑haired destroyer, the payoff is glorious.
It’s worth stressing that Red Sonja is not playing with a Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones budget, but Bassett and her team squeeze every drop of value out of what they’ve got. Yes, there’s some dodgy CGI in the mix, but taken in context, the visual effects are solid enough for this kind of lean, scrappy production. The Cyclops sequence, in particular, could have gone off the rails in epic fashion, yet they pull it off with style—it’s one of the standout action beats in the film. Honestly, I braced for far worse until I saw the trailer and then the finished product, so hats off to the filmmakers and cast for delivering something this ambitious with the resources at hand.
If I’m going to nitpick further—and I’m not here to torch the film for bending the source material—it has to be some of the wooden, occasionally clunky dialogue scattered throughout. To be clear, this never comes close to wrecking the experience; I’ve seen (and loved) far worse with even stiffer line readings. Just know going in that a few moments feel off in terms of acting and scripting, but the sheer energy and overall execution of the film more than steamroll those rough patches.
As I said in the headline, this Red Sonja goes full‑tilt brutal, tearing out the throat of its predecessor with a barrage of well‑staged battle scenes and nasty, imaginative kills. Each set piece escalates from the last, serving up plenty of gladiator‑style mayhem alongside large‑scale clashes that go hard and vicious in their execution. The finale in particular swings big, with Lutz turning into a one‑woman army—raining arrows, flipping off balconies, carving through enemies, and unleashing primal screams while sticking the superhero landing. I do wish the climax ran a little longer, because I was soaking up every drop of the carnage and dismemberment, and we get shortchanged on a more savage final showdown thanks to a late‑game plot twist. It’s a sympathetic choice story‑wise, but part of me still craved a more barbaric end, given the world we’re in.
Overall, while the original Red Sonja played as a tongue‑in‑cheek, sword‑swinging guilty pleasure, this long‑awaited new take on Robert E. Howard’s flaming‑haired warrior charges straight for the jugular, dragging the audience into a savage, visceral world. It keeps the fantasy DNA intact while unleashing a more barbaric, grounded, and brutal tone, and the action is pure carnage—an onslaught of blades, blood, and bone‑crunching beatdowns.
Yes, there are issues—spotty CGI and some wooden, uninspired lines and deliveries—but Matilda Lutz goes all‑out as a one‑woman killing machine on a blood‑drenched quest for vengeance. Some viewers will line up to bash it, but the fans this was built for should revel in its gnarly pleasures. It’s a loud, bloody, crowd‑pleasing way to spend a Saturday night.
VERDICT: 3.5 Out of 5 Stars
Red Sonja Hits Digital & VOD on August 29th!
TRAILER
EXCLUSIVE CLIP
