Red Sonja is not a character I have much familiarity with. The most I\u2019ve known about the character is that she was inspired in name and appearance by a Robert E. Howard story, and the character came to full being in the pages of Marvel Comics. She was often paired with Conan the Barbarian, setting her within his canonical world known as the Hyborean Age. I know there was a movie made in 1985 starring Brigitte Nielsen which featured Arnold Schwarzenegger, famous for playing Conan in two feature films, as someone who wasn\u2019t actually Conan the Barbarian. I have never seen it.<\/p>\n
That really is the sum total of my Red Sonja<\/a> knowledge. I\u2019m just trying to be upfront here because after watching the new Red Sonja film from director M.J. Bassett and writer Tasha Huo, I feel like I\u2019ve been opened up to a world and character that I would very much like to see more of.<\/p>\n While Red Sonja doesn\u2019t mean much to me as a faithful iteration of an established and beloved character or their universe, it does evoke plenty of positive comparisons to entertainment I did grow up with. Not only is Conan the Barbarian one of the greatest achievements of the cinematic art form, but the many ripoffs of the John Milius blockbuster hit were also an integral part of my upbringing. The Beastmaster and The Sword and the Sorcerer \u2014 both movies you can check out on the GenreVision podcast \u2014 were the kinds of \u201clower grade\u201d takes on the genre that made an impression on me as a young film freak.<\/p>\n Red Sonja fits in perfectly with those kinds of movies. Its ambitions as far as telling an entertaining pulp fantasy adventure are well above admirable. Ever since Game of Thrones<\/a> signaled a seismic shift in how serious cinematic fantasy stories were presented, it\u2019s been tough finding a place for classically comic book sword-and-sorcery fare. To its immense credit, Red Sonja takes itself just seriously enough to earn legitimate emotional investment while also throwing itself full tilt into the base, goofy pleasures of the genre.<\/p>\n The biggest thing working against Red Sonja is something out of its greater control: the budget. I always try to evaluate a movie based on the apparent limitations of its production in relation to how creative it\u2019s able to be with the material it needs to execute. There is some very cartoony design work here that wouldn\u2019t be out of place in a Guillermo del Toro Hellboy<\/a> movie, and I appreciate the movie doing its best to adhere to that visual ethos even if the money isn\u2019t there to make it look as great as a Disney venture.<\/p>\nThe Best of B-Movie Fantasy<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Red Sonja<\/strong> Wants More Green<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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