4 Star

Sword, Sorcery, and Evil Doings.

From the director that brought us favourite films from the early 1950s right through to the late 1980s, Richard Fleischer (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Vikings, Fantastic Voyage, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Soylent Green, The Prince and the Pauper, Amityville 3-D) with a career that spans so many genres, and following up from directing Conan the Destroyer he once again takes inspiration from writer Robert E. Howard (Conan the Barbarian) in bringing in newcomer, model Brigitte Nielsen (Rocky IV, Cobra, Beverly Hills Cop II) as the lead role alongside the now established Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Long Goodbye, Total Recall, Red Heat), as we head into a fun filled time of sword, sorcery and evil doings.

 

Set in the same universe as Conan, the Hyborian Kingdom is a restless place, especially if you have spurned Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman, She, Hell Comes to Frogtown) advances, ending up with the Queen being facially disfigured. For that she sends her army to destroy your home and slaughter your family and rape you in the process, they leave her believing she has passed away. But she isn’t dead, as she lies badly injured, she calls out for vengeance, this plea is heard by red goddess, Scáthach, who appears to her and gives her heightened strength, stamina, agility and fighting skills on the condition that she never lie with a man unless he defeats her in fair combat.

With this new lease of life, Red Sonja seeks training from the sword master “The Grand Master” (Tad Horino, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Mulholland Drive) where she becomes the master of masters, and as a sign of respect she is gifted the sword of her choice. Once again, directed by Scáthach to make her choice.

Hatred of men in a lovely young woman… Such could be your downfall.

 I don’t hate ALL men, Grandmaster.

Those words would have brought music to my heart, thirty years ago.

Elsewhere in Hyborian, lone rider Kalidor (Arnold Schwarzenegger) looks out on the vast landscape and sees that the bridge is out, so he has to go the long way round. Nearby Varna (Janet Agren), Sonja’s sister, is a member of an order of priestesses who are preparing to banish a mystical light-powered relic, the Talisman, that created the world and all living things, and can also destroy with its powerful storms and earthquakes, as long as it is wielded by a woman, for only they can touch it.

Queen Gedren wants this power, and she sends her second in command Ikol (Ronald Lacey, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Firefox), and her army to retrieve it, before the maidens can lock it away in darkness forever.

Gedren’s army attack and slaughter the maidens, and she secures the talisman, but Varna manages to escape the temple but is mortally wounded, Kalidor stops her from entering the afterlife straight away, she pleads for him to find Red Sonja, at the sword masters.

She’s dead, and the living have work to do.

Kalidor and Sonja’s lives are now entwined, whether she wants it or not, as a smug Gedren takes her new weapon to the city of Hablock, and raze the city around the young stubborn ruler Tarn (Ernie Reyes Jr., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). Gedren must be stopped, and our team has assembled to bring her down.

This 4K release is definitely for the nostalgic 1980s film fan, or for those that are fed up hearing about how great films were back in the day, as it is now in crispy 2160p.

Red Sonia is available on 4K Blu-ray

SPECIAL FEATURES available on Blu-ray and a 4K Ultra HD™ Limited SteelBook Edition: 

• Feature-length Documentary about Renato Casaro: The Last Movie Painter
• Documentary Feature: “Arnold Schwarzenegger – The Man who raised Hollywood“
• Interview with Assistant Director Michel Ferry: “Red Sonja vs. Kalidor – The Making of a Misunderstanding“
• Renato Casaro: Photo Gallery
• Original Theatrical Trailer