Ambitiously Messy Red Sonja Takes a Transformative Trip to the Hyborian Age
The last time a Red Sonja adaptation hit theaters was in the infamous, and yet still fascinatingly rewatchable, 1985 effort starring Brigitte Nielsen in the title role and Arnold Schwarzenegger as her determined compatriot Kalidor. Since then, while there’s been constant talk of a redo, it’s taken four full decades for one to finally see the light of day, veteran action director M.J. Basset and screenwriter Tasha Huo finally getting the assignment.
Was a new take on the character, originally created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics in 1973 and inspired by author Robert E. Howard (who, for the record, did not have his version of Sonja ever interact with Conan the Barbarian), worth the wait? I’m having trouble determining exactly whom I would recommend this one to. Messy, overly convoluted, made on a noticeably shoestring budget, and at times unintentionally hilarious, there’s definitely plenty here that does not work.
Yet, there’s still plenty about this ambitious, not-so-subtly Queer, wannabe Hyborian Age blockbuster I got a kick out of. Bassett makes the most of very little, and while the seams do show through, much like with the filmmaker’s last Howard-inspired mid-budget epic — and admittedly far superior — 2009’s Solomon Kane, there is a confident vision fueling this adventure. Even when the picture stalls, which is often, my interest still remained constant. I was eager to discover where things were going to go next, and that’s a positive I refuse to ignore.
For less than two hours of story, there’s a freakish amount of plot to dig through. Everything revolves around Hyrkanian Sonja (Matilda Lutz), one of her clan’s few survivors after a marauding horde wiped their village out when she was still a child. She’s raised herself in a mysterious forest in kinship with the mystical creatures and forces who reside there. But after hunters controlled by the mad King Dragan (Robert Sheehan) invade her abode and slaughter a pride of animals for sport, Sonja ventures out into the world beyond the woods to exact her vengeance.
Basset and Huo pull from Gladiator, Conan the Barbarian, Braveheart, Princess Mononoke, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and so many additional fantastical sources that it’s impossible to keep track of them all. Sonja ends up having to fight for her life in a gladiatorial arena, stages a bloody prison break, leads an insurrection, makes nice with a cyclops, encounters a secretive glowing power source, searches for her kin back in the forest, and encounters mystical forces that help her transform into the hero she was born to be.
As narratively standard as much of that is, it’s still a lot to keep track of. While Basset does her best to maintain coherence and cohesion, her success rate is truly only a wee bit better than fifty-fifty at best, especially during the overstuffed second half. Budget constraints also come into play, and what is built up to be this massive climactic battle between two powerful forces suddenly mutates into a solo assault inside a guarded compound, the majority of the conflict happening out of sight behind closed wooden doors.
Still, Basset stages some of the better action sequences of 2025. The visually precise fluidity of the camerawork and the meticulous intimacy of the editing supply aggressive urgency to the proceedings, as does the thunderous brutality of the fight choreography. Lutz, while not exactly as intimidating a physical presence as Nielsen was in the 1985 version, still brings seething intensity to her performance that’s both similar to her mesmeric turn in Coralie Fargeat’s magnificent Revenge yet also its own ferociously unique karmic predatory beast. Her resolute stare pierces the screen, and Basset has no qualms utilizing this to the film’s advantage.
But none of this — the action, the creative makeup effects, how it seemed to be loopily referencing Hayao Miyazaki, John Milius, Ursula K. Le Guin, Jules Bass, and Arthur Rankin Jr. all at once — is what I found most fascinating about Red Sonja. This venture into the Hyborian Age embraces its nonconformist internalized aspects. While not exactly The Matrix, it’s impossible not to miss all the Trans-inclusionary subtext, especially as it pertains to the dual paths both hero and villain are on. I was floored.
Genders blur and identities are continually in flux. Masculine behemoths proudly showcase explicitly feminine traits. Womanly warriors fearlessly let out manly yells of anger as they disembowel their enemies. Everything builds to a mythologically biblical sequence of sacrifice, death, and rebirth, and it is in this moment of destruction and resurrection that a measure of peace is found, and it all gifts Basset’s violent spectacle a layer of courageous profundity I hadn’t anticipated.
I can’t make the case that Basset’s Red Sonja meets with complete success. It’s frequently let down by its budget and, because of this, it does not rise to its aspirational intent. But the film embraces its comic book antics wholeheartedly, has several rousing set pieces, and is so unabashedly weird that it cannot be dismissed. It all makes this latest journey to the Hyborian Age a trip I’m happy to have taken, this bloody adventure of identity, vengeance, and transformation a rip-roaring good time.
– Review reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle
Film Rating: 2½ (out of 4)
