Captured. Chained. Forced to fight for survival. The warrior must battle her way through the blood-soaked pits of a tyrant’s empire and rally an army of outcasts to reclaim her freedom and take down the warlord and his ruthless bride. A film by MJ Bassett, starring Matilda Lutz, Robert Sheehan, Wallis Day, Michael Bisping, Phillip Winchester, Luca Pasqualino, Rhona Mitra, Martyn Ford, Ben Radcliffe, Urs Rechn, Tony Way, Sema-Tawi Smart, Eliza Matengu, Veronica Ferres, Katrina Durden, and Trevor Eve.
Red Sonja
MJ Bassett
(2025)
In a time before history, there existed the land of Hyrkania. It was a place of breathtaking beauty and pristine nature, where people lived as one with the Goddess of the Earth.
It was a time of peace and harmony, until the rise of the barbarian King Anzus (Tihomir Vinchev), who swept across the land, bringing terror and destruction wherever he went.
Sonja dreams of the day Hyrkania was invaded. As a child, young Sonja (Sofia Weldon) witnessed her mother’s brutal murder along with the slaughter of other Hyrkanians. The survivors fled deep into the vast Hyrkanian Forest. Separated from her tribe, young Sonja has learned to survive alone, wandering through the forest in search of her people, hoping to reunite with them.
While bathing in a pond sacred to the forest goddess Asherah, Sonja spots a group of hunters on horseback pursuing a family of rhinoceros-like creatures. She follows them and discovers the animals lying wounded and dying, their horns brutally severed. Sonja kneels and prays to Goddess Asherah, asking for the power to find those responsible.
Sonja tracks the hunters to their fortress. She waits until nightfall, then slips inside undetected. There, she discovers several exotic animals trapped in steel cages. But before Sonja can act, she freezes as Emperor Draygan’s entourage enters the compound.
When things quiet down, Sonja seizes her opportunity and kill the hunters. However, while attempting to break the locks and free the animals, she is discovered by Annisia (Wallis Day). Their fierce battle draws the attention of Emperor Draygan (Robert Sheehan) and his soldiers. General Karlak (Martyn Ford) strikes Sonja down, knocking her unconscious, and she is taken prisoner.
Sonja is transported to the Damnati pits beneath the gladiatorial arena in Emperor Draygan’s capital, where she and other prisoners are forced to fight as slaves for the entertainment of Draygan and the city’s citizens. In this underground prison, she encounters other captive fighters: Hawk (Michael Bisping), Amarak (Eliza Matengu), Petra (Rhona Mitra), Daix (Ben Radcliffe), and Osin (Luca Pasqualino).
In the arena, Draygan commands Sonja and Petra to fight each other. When Sonja refuses to fight Petra, Petra desperately explains that they have no choice, either one of them dies, or the emperor will have them both executed. Sonja boldly declares she will never fight for Draygan’s amusement and instead challenges the emperor himself to single combat, calling him a coward if he refuses.
Draygan signals his archers to execute Petra and dispatches three soldiers into the arena to finish off Sonja. However, Sonja swiftly defeats and slaughters them all, stunning Draygan while the crowd erupts in wild cheers. Following her victory, Sonja is sent back to the Damnati pits.
The film reveals that Draygan was once a slave who escaped his chains and became emperor by wielding a book of ancient scientific knowledge. However, his book is merely half of a complete codex. He has spent years ruthlessly hunting for the missing half, believing it will grant him absolute power to reshape the world according to his will. When he discovers Sonja’s map of the Hyrkanian Forest, he realizes she could lead him to the Hyrkanian survivors, and to the other half of the manuscript.
Directed by British filmmaker MJ Bassett from a screenplay by Tasha Huo, Red Sonja is an action-adventure film that follows a fierce female warrior who must unite with a band of unlikely allies to defeat a ruthless emperor and his lethal bride.
Red Sonja is a sword-and-sorcery comic book character created in 1973 by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics. She was partially inspired by Robert E. Howard’s 1934 character Red Sonya of Rogatino from the story “The Shadow of the Vulture.” Unlike Howard’s original Red Sonya, who was a 16th-century gun-wielding warrior in historical fiction, Red Sonja was adapted into a heroic warrior living in the fictional Hyborian Age, often associated with Conan the Barbarian. Red Sonja’s first comic appearance was in Conan the Barbarian #23 in 1973.
I didn’t expect much from this movie, but it turned out to be quite entertaining. Despite some unconvincing CGI shots, particularly the mythical creatures and the capital that look more like TV movie effects than cinematic quality, I found the narrative engaging enough that it doesn’t need to ground itself in realism.
The script isn’t bad, but I wish it had been fleshed out more and leaned into comedy rather than taking itself so seriously, which would have required much more work to pull off convincingly.
Matilda Lutz delivers a great performance. Even though she doesn’t have the muscular, tough look of the comic book character, her charisma more than makes up for it. The supporting cast also gives solid performances despite their limited screen time.
I liked that they set up the ending to hint at a sequel, but I doubt that will happen now since the film flopped at the box office and most critics seemed to dislike it. Sometimes I think Red Sonja might have worked better as a limited TV series, since there would be more time to explore her backstory and various quests.
Red Sonja premiered in Russia on 31 July 2025. The film had a limited theatrical release in the United States on 13 August.
