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Red Sonja chronicles the lusty adventures of the title heroine (Brigitte Nielsen), who leads a peaceful life on a farm before the army of the evil Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman), accompanied by her cruel henchmen, Ikol (Ronald Lacey), murders her family and rapes her. Red Sonja - named for the color of her hair - vows vengeance and is granted extraordinary powers by a mysterious vision on the condition that she not give herself to a man until he defeats her in a fair fight.
Sonja sets off on her solitary quest in a land of strange beasts and cruel people, learning that Gedren has stolen a sacred talisman that may impart total power. Sonja decides to destroy both the talisman and its new owner, the scar-faced queen, to save the planet from destruction. To do so, she reluctantly joins forces with the arrogant Prince Tarn (Ernie Reyes, Jr.) and his bumbling protector, Falkon (Paul Smith), yet refuses the help of Kalidor (Arnold), a mysterious stranger with a unique mastery of the sword. But Sonja reconsiders her position when Kalidor proves to be more than a match for her.
Red Sonja reunited Arnold with the source material of pulp writer Robert E. Howard, director Richard Fleischer, and Conan the Barbarian co-star Sandahl Bergman. Unfortunately, the result was decidedly lackluster; USA Today critic Mike Clark called Red Sonja "a strong sleeping pill." Perhaps because of responses like that one, this sword and sorcery epic was to be Arnold's last foray into the genre. Although it was a resounding box office flop (a special disappointment after the success of The Terminator), Red Sonja didn't prove a setback to Schwarzenegger's career. Instead, it inspired him to be more selective in his choice of vehicles.
Red Sonja which was filmed in Italy, hasn't conceived as an Arnold vehicle at all. "[Producer] Dino De Laurentiis said he wanted me to do a cameo," recalled the star, "and have me work for three weeks - and then he went and sold the picture with my name above the title - and that's bad news. I told him it was a big mistake. It didn't work you can't fool people."
Although Arnold does have some spectacular action scenes - notably his wrestling match with the Killing Machine, a mechanical creature resembling a crocodile - the film as a whole is disappointingly flat. Essentially, the movie tells the heroine's story. Newcomer Brigitte Nielsen (who later did a brief stint as Mrs. Sylvester Stallone) lacked the acting skills to impress audiences. Worse, the paying customers felt cheated because the person they had paid to see in the first place was Arnold. The star learned quickly that to play second banana was simply not his forte.
"I'm not interested in violence, but I'm not against macho, either." A.S.
