Red Sonja (film)

Red Sonja
Directed by	Richard Fleischer
Produced by	Christian Ferry
Written by	Clive Exton George MacDonald Fraser
Starring	Brigitte Nielsen Arnold Schwarzenegger Sandahl Bergman
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Cinematography	Giuseppe Rotunno
Editing by	Frank J. Urioste
Studio	Dino De Laurentiis Company
Distributed by	MGM/UA Entertainment Company
Release date(s)	July 3, 1985 (1985-07-03)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States Netherlands
Language	English
Budget	$17,9 million (est)
Box office	$6,948,633 (USA)

Red Sonja is a 1985 sword and sorcery/action film starring Brigitte Nielsen as the title character, with Arnold Schwarzenegger in a supporting role. The film features the sword-wielding Marvel Comics character Red Sonja, created by Roy Thomas, who first appeared in Marvel's Conan the Barbarian series (#23) in 1973. Red Sonja was based on Red Sonya of Rogatino, a character invented by R. E. Howard appearing in his short story, "The Shadow of the Vulture" (1934). The film acknowledges that it was "based on the character created by Robert E. Howard" in the intro-credit sequence. As in Howard's stories of Conan, the film takes place in the Hyborian Age, a fictional prehistoric time that had been depicted previously in the films Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer. The film was shot in Italy, on location in Celano and the rest of the Abruzzo region, and in the Stabilimenti Cinematagrafici Pontini studios near Rome. The film has been criticized for portraying homosexuality as a negative, evil trait.

Plot

Red Sonja (Brigitte Nielsen) is visited by a spirit who grants her the strength to seek her revenge against Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman). In a flashback scene, Gedren murders Red Sonja's brother and parents after Sonja rejects the Queen's sexual advances, and Sonja is raped by Gedren's troops.

Later, Gedren's army and her aide-de-camp Ikol (Ronald Lacey) attack a temple full of white-robed priestesses, who are preparing to destroy a large, glowing green orb called the Talisman, used by the Creator to forge the world. This dangerous artifact's destructive power is growing, and the priestesses intend to destroy it before it gets out of control and destroys the world. Only one of the priestesses, Varna (Janet Agren), manages to escape, and she is mortally injured. Varna encounters Lord Kalidor (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and begs him to help her find her sister, Red Sonja. Kalidor finds Sonja and tells her that her sister is dying. Before dying, Varna tells Sonja what happened at the temple, and urges her to find the Talisman and destroy it. Sonja begins a journey to Berkubane, Gedren's Kingdom of Eternal Night.

Sonja sees a storm in the distance, indicating that someone is using the Talisman. Kalidor offers to help her, but Sonja rejects his offer and rides to the now-ruined kingdom of Hablock. There she meets the young Prince Tarn (Ernie Reyes, Jr.) and his servant, Falkon (Paul L. Smith). They tell her that Gedren wiped out Hablock and its army with the Talisman because Tarn refused to surrender. Tarn announces that he is raising a new army to crush Gedren and invites Sonja to work for him as a cook. She declines and goes her own way.

Sonja kills Lord Brytag (Pat Roach) after he refuses her passage through the mountain passes. His troops surround Sonja, and Kalidor, who has secretly been following her, attacks their rear, allowing Sonja to escape. Sonja comes across Tarn and Falkon in the mountains. Tarn is being tortured by bandits. Falkon rejoins Sonja to help her kill the brigands and free the prince. They travel onward toward Berkubane.

At Castle Berkubane, Gedren and Ikol watch Sonja and her party approaching on a magic screen. Gedren recognizes Sonja and orders that she be brought back to the fortress unharmed. She and Ikol use the Talisman to conjure up a storm, forcing Sonja's band to take shelter in a watery cavern. Gedren unleashes an "Icthyan Killing Machine" in the cavern. Kalidor reappears, and helps Sonja blind the beast.

Sonja now accepts Kalidor's oompany, but also warns him that "no man can have her" unless he can defeat her in a swordfight. Kalidor challenges her and they fight to a draw. Kalidor, Sonja and Falkon then infiltrate Castle Berkubane. To protect Tarn, they convince him to stay behind in order to prevent Gedren from escaping. Sonja confronts Gedren, while Kalidor and Falkon deal with her guards in the castle's dining hall. Ikol tries to escape with gold looted from Hablock, but is stopped by Prince Tarn, who accidentally kills him.

The Talisman, which Gedren has placed in a Chamber of Lights, is becoming too powerful to control. Its power breaks the floor open, revealing a chasm of molten lava beneath the castle. Sonja and Gedren fight in the Chamber, and Gedren falls into the chasm; Sonja throws the Talisman in after her, destroying it and starting a chain reaction that tears Castle Berkubane apart. The heroes barely manage to escape as the castle is consumed by the rising volcano beneath it. Sonja and Kalidor kiss. Prince Tarn and Falkon look on before departing.

Cast

• Brigitte Nielsen as Red Sonja
• Arnold Schwarzenegger as Lord Kalidor
• Sandahl Bergman as Queen Gedren of Berkubane
• Paul L. Smith as Falkon
• Ernie Reyes, Jr. as Prince Tarn
• Ronald Lacey as Ikol
• Pat Roach as Lord Brytag
• Terry Richards as Djart
• Janet Agren as Varna, Red Sonja's sister
• Donna Osterbuhr as Kendra (High Priestess)
• Lara Naszinsky as Queen Gedren's handmaid
• Hans Meyer as Red Sonja's father
• Francesca Romana Coluzzi as Red Sonja's mother
• Stefano Maria Mioni as Barlok (Red Sonja's brother)
• Tutte Lemkow as Wizard
• Kiyoshi Yamasaki as Kyobo
• Tad Horino as Swordmaster
• Sven-Ole Thorsen as one of Lord Brytag's bodyguards
• Erik Holmey as Lord Brytag's bodyguard who battles Red Sonja before she kills him

Production background

In Conan the Barbarian, Sandahl Bergman played Valeria, a thief and the love of Conan's life. Bergman was offered the role of Red Sonja, but turned it down, choosing instead to play the villainous Queen Gedren. It took Dino De Laurentiis almost a year to find an actress "Amazonian" enough to play the title character; he was still looking eight weeks before the scheduled production, when he saw Brigitte Nielsen on the cover of a fashion magazine. The 21-year-old native of Helsingør, Denmark, in Milan for a modeling job, soon found herself on a plane heading for Rome and a successful screen test.

Reception

Red Sonja flopped at the box office, grossing only $6,948,633 in theaters, far below its budget of $15 million.^{[citation needed]}

Film critic/historian Leonard Maltin called it "Spectacularly silly...Most of the fun is in deciding who gives the worse performance, Brigitte Nielsen or Sandahl Bergman."

Schwarzenegger commented, "It's the worst film I have ever made." He joked, "Now, when my kids get out of line, they're sent to their room and forced to watch Red Sonja ten times. I never have too much trouble with them."

Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 20% "rotten" as some critics have called it "Hilariously awful" and "Unwatchably bad sword-and-sorcery nonsense".

The Encyclopedia of Fantasy gave it a scathing entry. The main criticism was that it was a "B-movie" with bad characterization, bad acting and an entirely clichéd display of swords and sorcery. In particular, the Encyclopedia accuses the movie of being homophobic and of purposely portraying homosexuality as a negative, evil trait. Gedren is portrayed as a lesbian whose rivalry with Sonja is based partly on the fact that Sonja once rejected her sexual advances.

Awards

• Golden Raspberry Awards
  • Worst Actress (Brigitte Nielsen) - Nominated
  • Worst New Star (Nielsen, also for Rocky IV) - Won
  • Worst Supporting Actress (Sandahl Bergman) - Nominated

Remake

A second Red Sonja film has been in development for some years. In 2008 Robert Rodriguez and his production company Troublemaker Studios were working on a version that would have starred Rose McGowan as the titular character. By 2009 however, the Rodriguez project had been scrapped, and as of February 2010, rights holders Nu Image are moving forward with another projected new film, to be directed by Simon West. Producer Avi Lerner has said he would like to see Amber Heard take the role of Sonja, after having worked with her on Drive Angry. Lerner says the film will shoot before the sequel to Conan the Barbarian.

See also

• Heavy Metal (film)

References

• New York Times review by Janet Maslin

External links

• Red Sonja at the Internet Movie Database
• Red Sonja at AllRovi
• Red Sonja at Rotten Tomatoes
• Red Sonja at Box Office Mojo