Review of Red Sonja (1985) by Matthew V — 25 Jan 2011

*sigh*...

So much wasted potential.

It's was tough to find any "excellent" pure-fantasy films back in the 80's. There were a couple but they were few and far between. There is a real distinction between "science fiction" and "fantasy" in film. They are not the same.

The deficiencies in producing a decent fantasy film in the 80's, generally stemmed from over-reaching imagination, versus a lack of budget and/or technical ability...

RED SONJA is not an example of this.

Technically... they did a really good job.

It's the acting that sinks them.

Following on the heels of the incredibly satisfying, pure- fantasy of 1982's -CONAN THE BARBARIAN, (and to a smaller extent, 1984's - CONAN THE DESTROYER), this production of RED SONJA had a great deal of memorable moments, but unfortunately, they were horribly overshadowed by a great number of negative ones.

In the title role of RED SONJA, Brigitte Nielsen is awful. Her lines are delivered so woodenly that to call them laughable is a kindness. It's not like this film has award winning dialogue to begin with but despite seeming quite earnest to succeed, Nielsen's inabilty to convincingly deliver her lines manages to suck any gravitas or emotion out of her appearance with no effort at all.

She also rocks a killer mullett.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's accent was mocked incessantly throughout most of his career and while the world has come to accept it now, it's difficult to watch Brigitte AND Arnold up on the screen, mangling the english language so effectively at the same time.

Schwarzenegger already had tremendous amounts of screen presence as early as '85 and managed to deliver an enjoyable performance here as "Kalidor" but understand... he's the best actor in RED SONJA by default. (He was actually meant to reprise the role of CONAN for this film but issues arose with character rights).

Incredibly talented in the martial arts as he is... Ernie Reyes Jr was far too young to deliver any real depth in his role as Prince Tarn. Every scene he's in just makes you want to skip forward. His character is written to be annoyingly impudent... but young, Ernie Reyes himself, was annoyingly impudent as a performer. This only serves to magnify your disinterest in his character.

Sandahl Bergman's contribution ain't great either. Sure, the overall level of performance in this movie isn't amazing... but at least it's uniformly consistant. Bergman comes along and delivers her lines in such a flippant and thoughtless manner that it feels like she's in a completely different film.

"Bad" as their performances may be, at least Arnold, Brigitte and Reyes all look and feel like they're trying... Bergman isn't.

But it isn't all bad...

There are some good reasons to watch!

RED SONJA clocks in at a merciful 90 minutes and they do go by fairly quickly. This is due largely to the tight direction by veteran helmer, Richard Fleischer who manages to keep his players focused and the story moving along at a decent pace. Also, adding to the film's undeniable charm are the incredible vistas of Celani, Italy where the film was made.

And this is where RED SONJA becomes interesting. In it's delicate balance between style and substance.... RED SONJA is a film that's so paradoxical in it's creation, that it ends up becoming a massive curiosity for me.

Here we have an unbelievably, super-talented film crew (that does everything it can to deliver a top-knotch product)... that somehow got itself stuck with an absolutely shitty cast.

Cinematographer, Giuseppe Rotunno was an astounding addition to the crew of RED SONJA. His expert eye was able to frame the incredible interior sets magnificently and he managed to capture some genuinely memorable shots. His outdoor photography shows awesome vistas of majestic desolation which evoke feelings of vast, frightening loneliness... that at the same time, completely absorb and welcome you.

The colour scheme used in the film is extremely effective. Of course the film is imbued with obvious, exaggerated tinges of red throughout... but the filmmakers intentionally contrast this with a vast swatch of multi-varied, slightly muted colours to create a very dreamlike look throughout.

RED SONJA uses colour very, very thoughtfully and with much style.

Costume designer, Danilo Donati gives us outfits that are equal parts authentic and fantastic. You know that barbarians weren't walking around in this kind of garb, but it all looks very stylistic and somehow, practical.

Ennio Morricone provides us with an exceptional soundtrack. A soundtrack that's probably far better than RED SONJA deserves but this just goes to further complicate the paradox that is RED SONJA.

So bad, it's good...

So good, it's bad...

The sets were also well done (for the most part). The interior sets were very well conceived and quite believably presented, though the same cannot be said for some of the exterior sets that were constructed. Again, the "natural" exterior landscapes were breathtaking but there were instances where a little more effort on "constructed" exterior sets would have been greatly appreciated. (The giant, Dinosaur skeleton bridge comes to mind as an example of this).

When you stop to consider the overall quality of available, pure-fantasy films from the era, RED SONJA is imminently watchable. It isn't high art by any means... but I think there are enough flourishes of brilliance within, to merit at least one viewing.

The only real "substance" in RED SONJA is in the quality of it's "style" and that's just fine with me.

It's a fun little movie...

A guilty pleasure.