Red Sonja (2025)

 

Red Sonja (2025)

 

3/10

Starring           

Matilda Lutz

Wallis Day

Robert Sheehan

Michael Bisping

 

Directed by M.J. Bassett

 

I can say this was a wasted effort of the talented Matilda Lutz who played Sonja. The poor production, bad directing, low level CGI, weak plot, and bad pacing made the whole thing feel like I was watching an episode of a TV show. The dialogues looked like ChatGPT was called into play to assist, and the movie is predictable, chunky, and does not go down well.

I have never heard of this hero before, and before I saw this movie the only thing I knew about her is that she is a superhero who wears an armour bikini. I cannot faithfully say I know a lot about the comic character to tell you how much it stayed true to or deviated from the comic plot, so I am reviewing this movie as I saw it.

The CGI and scenery of this movie are a joke. From the start I actually laughed out loud when I saw it and was wondering if this was a video game intro I was watching, until I saw real humans. With the kind of money Marvel, Sony, and DC are pumping into these superhero movies, I just knew with this limited release one I was not going to be getting the best of the best when it came to effects, fight choreography, story, and possibly acting.

Everything I expected was true, although I have to give Matilda Lutz some props. Her acting performance in this movie was good enough to keep me glued. She grew into her character on screen and tried her best to sell it.

The plot is about Sonja, a nomadic huntress who witnesses the death of the creatures of the forest at the hands of the men of Emperor Dragan. In her revenge for the death of these creatures she finds herself captured and forced to fight in the gladiator arena. As you can predict, as she fights she rallies up the other fighters, and together they try to reclaim their freedom and overthrow Dragan.

Dragan, on the other hand, is expanding his empire. With a book he has, he is able to create scientific devices which he uses for his expansion mission to run the world. The book he has is just the first half, and he is on the hunt for the second.

In the end, I cannot in good faith say go watch this movie. The bad pacing and boring start may cause you to fall asleep before you even get to know what this movie is about.