Red Sonja (2025)

My quick rating – 4.4/10. Way back when, I was a fan of the 1985 Red Sonja, or at least a fan of Schwarzenegger swinging a sword while Brigitte Nielsen tried her best to look like she could cut down an army. That movie was a glorious mess, but it had a certain pulp charm. Fast forward forty years, and Hollywood has unsheathed the sword again, handing the role of the She-Devil to Matilda Lutz. The question is: can this reboot slice through the curse of its predecessor, or does it end up swinging wildly in the dark?

The movie wastes no time throwing Sonja into peril. After crossing paths with Annisia (Wallis Day), a tormented warrior with imperial ambitions, Sonja finds herself defeated, beaten, and quickly imprisoned by the scheming emperor, played by Robert Sheehan—last seen (by me, anyway) wisecracking through Umbrella Academy. Sheehan brings the same smarmy energy here, which helps, but the script doesn’t give him nearly enough to work with.

It’s during Sonja’s trial-by-monster that the film tips its hand: a cyclops fight straight out of the SyFy Channel’s B-movie archives. I couldn’t help but grin at its absurdity. Some will see it as a cheap distraction, but I found it oddly entertaining. The strange part is how the rest of the movie looks perfectly fine. The set design is solid, the effects are decent, and the world feels lived-in—so why this one scene feels like it was outsourced to bargain-bin CGI remains a mystery. “Uneven” is the best word for the visual presentation throughout.

Story-wise, it trudges along the expected path: imprisonment, escape, chase, rinse and repeat. The music does its absolute best to trick you into thinking you’re watching an epic with booming orchestral swells so triumphant I half-expected hobbits to show up. By the time the credits rolled, I was convinced my speakers had wandered off into Lord of the Rings territory.

The fight choreography is a letdown, often more sluggish than savage. For a film promising the most feared warrior woman of all time, the battles feel like rehearsals rather than climaxes. Sonja herself doesn’t help matters. Lutz is competent, but she never fully inhabits the character. Anger often comes across as mild irritation, and the costume doesn’t exactly flatter her presence—though the film at least has a sense of humor about that. “And that protects?” she asks. “Nothing, absolutely nothing, but the crowd will LOVE it.” At least they knew the audience might laugh with them, not just at them.

Curiously, the film sports an R rating despite violence that barely rises above PG-13 territory. No nudity, no profanity that stuck out, and the blood is minimal. Perhaps the MPAA was feeling generous that day. At 110 minutes, the pacing drags more than it drives, and it could have easily shaved twenty minutes without losing anything important.

Some will argue this reboot stands taller than the 1985 version. I’ll reserve judgment until I revisit that camp classic, but I’m skeptical. What I can say is that Red Sonja is not a disaster; it’s just a sword that doesn’t quite cut.

Amazon is the sole provider right now, and Plex has it coming on 08.29.25.