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Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Brigitte Nielsen, Sandahl Bergman, Paul Smith, Ernie Reyes, Jr., and Ronald
Lacey
Writers: Clive Exton and George
Macdonald Fraser
Based On The Character Created By:
Robert E. Howard
Director: Richard Fleischer
Feature length:
89 minutes
Extras: Trailer
Languages: English and French
Monaural Sound
Subtitles: English Captions and
Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging: Keep Case
Chapter Stops: 23
Sound: Monaural Sound
Year of Theatrical Release: 1985/DVD
Release: 2004
Theatrical Distributor:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Home Video Distributor: Warner
Home Video
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
I think Arnold Schwarzenegger
fulfilled his contractual obligations to Dino De Laurentis honorably by
appearing for the third time in a sword and sorcery picture based on a character
created by Author Robert E. Howard. I have never read any of Howard’s books,
but I have a friend who read all of his Conan novels so I asked him if Conan
ever traveled under an assumed name because I was curious to find out if
Schwarzenegger’s character of Kalidor was by any chance Conan traveling under
an alias. If I remember correctly he told me that Conan did at times use a
different name in his adventures if it suited him, but he was not aware if
Kalidor was one of them. Well Schwarzenegger plays the character very much like
Conan, except not quite as brooding and although he gets the star billing in the
film, this is actually the tale of “Red Sonja” as portrayed by Brigitte
Nielson in her first big screen role. The film also features Sandahl Bergman,
who appeared in “Conan The Barbarian” as Conan’s love interest, playing an
evil Queen responsible for the death of Sonja’s family. She has now taken
possession of an ancient stone that has the power to destroy the world. In her
madness she attempts to conquer all around her while ignoring the fact that if
this stone is not destroyed, it’s power will consume the Earth. Richard
Fleischer, who also directed “Conan The Destroyer,” does a better job in
this film, which is less campy than “Conan The Destroyer” and features some
nice production design as well as some beautiful matte paintings. The costume
design is in keeping with the Mongolian/Eastern European style of the first
Conan feature too.
There are a few fantasy elements
thrown in like a mechanized sea serpent, a spider the size of a cat that purrs,
and a bridge made from the bones of some dinosaur like creature. Ennio
Morricone’s score serves the film well by giving it a sense of broader scope
than the budget for the film probably could sustain. While not nearly as
exciting as “Conan The Barbarian,” “Red Sonja” is a definitely better
film than “Conan The Destroyer” with just enough humor to balance the action
without sacrificing it. Warner Home Video has finally released “Red Sonja”
to DVD as a standard DVD release with only the film’s theatrical trailer
(2:05) presented as a bonus element. The film is presented in the original
anamorphic (2.35:1) aspect ratio preserving the manner in which the film was
exhibited theatrically as close as possible for home video users. The colors are
pretty sharp and there is some nice detail, but the image does suffer from a bit
of video noise from time to time. A clear English Monaural Soundtrack is
provided along with a French Language Monaural Soundtrack and English Captions
and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired as well as French and Spanish
Language Subtitles encoded as options.
The menus are standard interactive
still frames that are easy to navigate. I am very glad that Warner Home Video
chose to release “Red Sonja” in a keep case instead of the old snap case. It
not only enables one to match it up well with their Conan flicks on DVD in
one’s home video library, but I know a lot of people that have told me that
they have turned down buying some Warner Brothers titles because they just hate
those snap cases. Heck my own brother has at times waited until a video rental
store began to sell off used copies of a big title from Warner Home Video just
because it was more likely that the rental version would be displayed using a
keep case. So thank you Warner Home Video for releasing more titles in this sort
of packaging. I really think packaging is important and if the fans prefer a
keep case than I say go for it because it can only increase sales. “Red
Sonja” is available at retailers on and offline now from Warner Home Video.
© Copyright 2004 By Mark A.
Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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