With the massive amount of Marvel and DC Comics movies released into cinemas over the last decade or so it has become easy to forget that there are other smaller comic book labels in existence as well.
One such company is Dynamite Entertainment who most notably in the cinematic landscape has given us the massively popular The Boys television series. Well now Dynamite are targeting cinemas worldwide with the release of the eagerly anticipated Red Sonja.
I say eagerly anticipated because this is a film that’s idea and screenplay has been sitting on shelves at various production companies for years. As a character Red Sonja appeared in comics for the first time in 1973 and of course had her own movie which premiered in 1985 and became a cult classic. Not surprisingly during the comic book resurgence in the 2010s the idea of a new Red Sonja film was floated but seemed to be destined for disaster as names of both cast and crew went pretty quickly.
At one point it was to be directed by Simon West (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) and was set to star Rose McGowan (Charmed) at another time Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) was to be in the director’s chair while Amber Heard (Aquaman) was to take the lead – both films never made it to production largely due to personal issues befalling those attached to it.
Now finally in 2025 we finally get our Red Sonja film – yes with a much smaller budget but with M.J. Bassett (Soloman Kane) directing and Matilda Lutz (Revenge) playing the red-haired warrior.
Plot-wise this is a genuine origins story. It begins when Sonja is a young girl and watches as her homeland of Hyrkania is destroyed by barbarians forcing her to flee into the nearby dangerous woods. Here she learns of her powers while worshipping the Goddess Ashera.
Years later as Sonja still roams the forest searching for her ancestors she is horrified to see a group of hunters attack and kill a creature in the forest. She then learns that the hunter works for Emperor Draygan (Robert Sheehan – The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones) and after attacking them she is soon taken prisoner by Draygan.
Soon Sonja finds herself in Draygan’s gladiatorial slave pit where she and the other slaves are kept to provide entertainment for Draygan and his lover Annisa (Wallis Day – Infinite). While Draygan continues on his own personal journey to find glory through his magical book Sonja realises the only way to free all of the slaves is if she convince the likes of Osin The Untouched (Luca Pasqualino – Snowpiercer) to join forces with her.
What separates Red Sonja from the other comic book movies that have been released recently is that in a way it has a simplicity to it. This isn’t a film that is trying to reinvent the genre or bring in political stories – no this is a simple action story that brings in enough sorcery and other-worldly creatures and hybrids to attract an audience of those that love things like on-table card games, The Witcher and Dungeons & Dragons.
To be blunt this is film that is for the more serious and educated comic book movie fan – the kind of person that got enjoyment out of watching John Carter or grew up with the cult classic Heavy Metal.
Despite perhaps not being the household name of some of those previous linked the role Matilda Lutz is perfectly cast as Sonja. She has the acting ability to pull off the heavily dialogued scenes while she also has the skills to more than deliver during the battle sequences as well. There is a softness to her acting which becomes important when the audience sees Sonja more spiritual side especially towards nature. There are not many actresses that could present the soft side but then still be believable later on when they have to behead the enemy.
Also well cast is Luca Pasqualino as Osin. He is a standout in a role where the audience is left at times wondering whether or not he is somebody who can be trusted. Given the way the film we can only hope that if there is a Red Sonja 2 that he will be a big part of it.
While the storyline of Red Sonja maybe a little simple in nature the film itself, led by an intriguing character, does more than enough to cement itself as one of the better comic book movies of this year. Let’s hope a sequel is not far off.
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