I am quite fond of this movie, because, like Conan The Barbarian and Conan The Destroyer, it was one of a handfull of Schwarzenegger movies i used to watch when i was was growing up. Like both the Conan Movies, and later films like Masters of the Universe [1987], it has just about the right blend of adventure and fantasy, not to mention the odd racy sword play action, but iam afraid that Red Sonja is a classic example of all style and no substance, and unfortunately, as i watch it now as an adult, iam forced to admit that it doesn't bear to well with repeated viewings, let alone close scruitiny. The main problem is the direction. Richard Fliescher's direction is usually reasonable, and at the very least watchable, but as the director of Red Sonja, he has on his hands one of the worst and most embarrising leading ladies ever in Brigitte Nielsen, who cant have been the easiest person to work with. You would think that with Fleischer's experience he would have at least have been able to get something good from Nielsen onto the screen, he fails. Wich raises the question, why was Nielsen chosen in the first place. Maybe Sylvester Stallone's star power led her to it, maybe she managed to get round the producers herself. Either way she is the major flaw, and the final nail in the coffin of a little, but well meaning Adventure fantasy movie. Richard Fleisher, who streched things a little in Conan The Destroyer, comes up with even worse scenarios here, such as Sonja's Sister dying, cue "She's dead" from Kalidor [Ah-Nold]. Some action set pieces, such as the young prince being roasted by thugs, or Sonja's and Kalidor's exhaustion after a fake duel, are plain embara ssing. Equally baffling is the casting choice of Sandhal Bergman, Conan's dommed lover in Conan The Barbarian, to play the villainess here. Bergman is a strong actor, and a beautiful prescence but can't come to grips with the demands of a screen heavy. Maybe it is that i cant see her as anything other than a hero, Bergman, though would have made a far stronger Red Sonja than Brigitte Nielsen did. You would be forgiven for expecting too much from the screenplay by future Poirot writer Clive Exton and Octopussy [1983] scribe George MacDonald Fraser. The sad thing about the script is that ther is actually a good story hidden away beneath the tragedy of Red Sonja, and you get the impression that it was written in either a rush or chopped and changed in pre-production. On a better note the costumes and sets by Donello Doneti, a Dino De Laurentiis regular, are beautiful, with the most impressive being the red gartments worn by Kalidor, Sonja's armour [well filled by Nielsen it has to be said] The Swords and Weapons, and on the set stakes the impressive torch lit palaces and watery grave of sankes at the movies climax. Ennio Morricone's score is quite impressive too. Perhaps not in the league of the mighty and thunderous Basil Poledouris Conan scores wich would have enhanced Red Sonja immensly, but quite good in their own right. In the end though, there is only one thing that makes Red Sonja work and his name is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold manages to bring a light of touch and humour to the role of Kalidor,in what little material he is given, an obvious Conan clone, and is once again impressive in the action scenes and sword play, and does well to carry Nielsen through the movie. It is a pitty that De Laurentiis didn't just comision another Conan movie instead, the legacy of wich is that John Milius is returning to direct King Conan : Crown of Iron, with Scwarzenegger and The Matrix Maestro's Andy and Larry Wachowski. Red Sonja though is in another world and rating that both old and new Conan movies and can only be seen as a fairly enjoyable and at times exciting waste of time.
