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RED SONJA – Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The character Red Sonja was created for Marvel comics in 1973 by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith as a companion to their already-established Conan the Barbarian character, who was himself created by the groundbreaking writer Robert Howard in the 1930s. A flame-haired female warrior in a savage world, she used her sexuality as a weapon as much as her sword, and she accompanied Conan on many comic book adventures; when Conan got his own movie franchise starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1982, Sonja quickly followed suit in 1985, with Danish supermodel Brigitte Nielson in the title role. Now, almost 40 years later, a new version of Red Sonja has emerged, directed by M. J. Bassett, and starring Italian actress Matilda Lutz in the title role. The film follows the adventures of Sonja, who unites with a group of unlikely warriors to face off against the evil emperor Dragan and his cruel sorceress wife Annisia, who slaughtered her family when she was a child. Read more…
RED SONJA – Ennio Morricone
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Cashing in on the popular success of Conan the Barbarian and the various other sword-and-sorcery epics of the early 1980s was Red Sonja, the tale of a barbarian warrior princess, based on the original story by Robert Howard, the creator of Conan, and directed by Richard Fleischer. The film starred Brigitte Nielsen, the Danish supermodel and future wife of Sylvester Stallone in her first acting job, in the title role as a woman seeking vengeance upon those who murdered her parents, while simultaneously embarking on a quest to find a magical talisman whose power could destroy the world. Despite the presence of Arnold Schwarzenegger in a supporting role as the legendary swordsman Lord Kalidor, the film was critically decimated, receiving brickbats for its acting, writing, direction, and wooden action sequences. In fact, possibly the only member of the cast and crew of Red Sonja to escape unscathed was the legendary composer Ennio Morricone, who unexpectedly found himself scoring the movie. Read more…
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