\n<\/p>\n
\n\tA new cinematic adventure fantasy revolving around the iconic female warrior character doesn\u2019t have much to live up to, considering that the 1985 version starring Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger isn\u2019t exactly beloved even among genre fans. Which makes it all the more disappointing that MJ Bassett\u2019s version turns out to be so lackluster, especially considering that its star, Matilda Lutz, proved so impressive in 2017\u2019s equally physically demanding and skin-baring Revenge<\/em> (directed by future Oscar nominee Coralie Fargeat).<\/p>\n \n\tHampered by the sort of low-budget production values that make it seem more suited for cable television, Red Sonja<\/em> is receiving a one-night theatrical release before being made available on VOD. Although even that may be too ambitious a rollout.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRed Sonja\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tThe Bottom Line<\/span> \tPlenty of sword and sorcery, but little of interest. \t\t\t\t\t\t\tRelease date<\/strong>: Wednesday, August 13 \n\tTo answer the obvious question first, yes, Lutz\u2019s Red Sonja does wear the iconic chainmail bikini while fighting gladiator-style, which, let\u2019s face it, doesn\u2019t offer a lot of bodily protection. But in a nicely feminist twist, she\u2019s self-conscious about it. And she ditches it as soon as she can, even if her subsequent outfits are scarcely more concealing.<\/p>\n \n\tAt the story\u2019s beginning, Sonja is living a contented life, frolicking in the forest with her loyal pet horse and co-existing peacefully with a variety of CGI prehistoric creatures. But her happiness abruptly comes to an end when she\u2019s captured and made prisoner by the Emperor Dragan the Magnificent (Robert Sheehan, The Umbrella Academy<\/em>), whose venality is made readily apparent by his moniker. She\u2019s confined in a large pit with her fellow rebels, including a nominal love interest, the highly self-regarding Osin the Untouched (Luca Pasqualino), whom the other ladies describe as \u201ca tasty morsel\u201d and \u201ca royal feast.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAs is to be expected in stories of this sort, Sonja is forced to fight for her captors\u2019 amusement. But when she refuses to engage with her fellow prison Petra (a welcome Rhona Mitra, who disappears from the film far too early), her moral stance doesn\u2019t end well. Later, she\u2019s made to fight a giant horned cyclops, whom Dragan summons with what looks like a flashlight, and manages to turn the tables by convincing the fearsome creature of who his real enemies are.<\/p>\n \n\tThe backstory behind this long-aborning project turns out to be more interesting than what\u2019s onscreen, with the screenplay by Tasha Huo leaning heavily into genre tropes while providing the sort of dialogue that would have seemed silly even millenniums ago. When Sonja and Osin are forced to separate, she advises, \u201cStay alive, Prince Osin of Shem. One day I will claim my prize.\u201d Dragan entices his long-suffering paramour Annisia (Wallis Day) to pursue the rebellious Sonja by promising, \u201cBring me her head, and you will be my empress.\u201d And when Sonja finally unveils her signature locks, Osin definitely notices. \u201cYou\u2019ve done something to your hair,\u201d he says. \u201cI like it!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOf course, fans don\u2019t see these sorts of movies for the dialogue, but rather the swordfight scenes which are delivered in ample amounts, including one apocalyptic battle that takes place amid both pouring rain and<\/em> massive fires. At one point, Lutz\u2019s Sonja receives a presumably fatal stomach wound (much as the actress did in Revenge<\/em>, weirdly), but manages to survive thanks to an intervention by her heavenly mother (a suitably ethereal Veronica Ferres).<\/p>\n \n\tAlthough she lacks the imposing height and fierce muscularity of Nielsen, her predecessor in the role, Lutz makes up for it with impressive physicality and excellent thespian skills, the latter of which come in handy while she\u2019s striving to keep a straight face during the absurd events here. Although even these fail her in the final moments involving an emotional encounter with Dragan, when it\u2019s revealed that he\u2019s not really so evil but rather scarred from having been traumatized as a little boy. Needless to say, the attempt at psychological depth doesn\u2019t come off.<\/p>\n \n\tThis Red Sonja<\/em> deserves credit for incorporating some feminist and even ecological themes into its fantasy world mix, but it\u2019s not enough to compensate for the overall cheesiness and, worse, dullness of the overly long proceedings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new cinematic adventure fantasy revolving around the iconic female warrior character doesn\u2019t have much to live up to, considering that the 1985 version starring Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger isn\u2019t exactly beloved even among genre fans. Which makes it all the more disappointing that MJ Bassett\u2019s version turns out to be so lackluster, especially<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[5161,9016,9017,1171,7135,4682],"class_list":{"0":"post-15448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-80s","9":"tag-bikiniclad","10":"tag-dull","11":"tag-film","12":"tag-spin","13":"tag-warrior"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Cast<\/strong>: Matilda Lutz, Robert Sheehan, Wallis Day, Martyn Ford, Michael Bisping, Phillip Winchester, Trevor Eve
Director<\/strong>: MJ Bassett
Screenwriter<\/strong>: Tasha Huo
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRated R,
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 hour 50 minutes\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/p>\n