Red Sonja 2025 movie review

Myth has it that a movie would be made, one that would rival any other female lead comic book movie and also smash the quality of the top DC and Marvel movie released in the same year. That movie is Red Sonja. It’s available on YouTube movies right now.

It’s been long overdue and to be honest there have been several attempts over the years to maker a new Red Sonja movie, the closest was probably the 2009 version from director Robert Rodriguez starring Rose McGowan but for numerous reasons it never made it past a movie poster.

This time it’s come as a bit of a surprise and a fairly small global release but this Red Sonja is one not to be missed, it’s pretty epic overall and one of those movies that will be a bit of a cult classic in the future. In short its just a really good movie full of good character development and motivation and really plays into the fantasy of the comic material.

The movie is directed by MJ Bassett who has done a great job of bringing this fantasy movie to life with credits that include TV series like Altered Carbon, Quantum Leap and Reacher. She’s got no shortage of talent when it comes to envisioning fast paced action and complex story telling on a short space of time.

Our new Red Sonja is played by Matilda Lutz who recently starred in another amazing movie called Revenge in 2017 which almost went under the radar too. I think she’s got a really big future ahead in acting and is one of those talents that could help inject some fresh energy into other comic book movies too. She’d be my number one choice for the new Wonder Woman especially after seeing her in this modern day classic.

The film starts off with a village being raided  and most of the inhabitants being killed or sold into slavery, Sonja as this point is only a child and manages to escape but grows up on her own in a very dangerous forest full of mythical looking creatures and the threat of death around every corner.

Fast forward and she’s captured and thrown into slavery in a very similar way to the gladiator movie, she makes some friends and without giving away too much at this point escapes and brings back a pretty epic revenge.

The movie is best described as Gladiator, Xena Warrior Princess and John Wick all rolled into one Lord of the Rings type fantasy world. It really brings the best of it’s source material to life.

One thing I love about this movie is all the little details that get explained, you’re left with few questions by the end of it, everyones motivation is there and we even get a good explanation to why Sonja fights in that metal bikini which makes sense and adds a bit of humour to the movie. The whole thing from start to finish is a fun watch and a great way to just focus on good story telling without having to have watched 20 movies before it to understand who someone is or what’s going on.

It feels like one of those 80’s fantasy movies but made in HD with modern make up and special effects and more well rounded story. It’s just self contained fun that’s going to keep entertained start to finish.

The biggest question I had when it finished was when we’d see a sequel, they tease the idea a bit at the end but we’ll have to see what happens next.

There is a lot of talk and has been for years about the state of the movie industry and why people don’t want to go to the cinema anymore, I think we need to look at why this film hasn’t been released on a big general cinema showing. Personally I think it’s way better than Fantastic Four, way better than any of the Marvel movies in general since End Game.

Saying that Superman was great for a lot of reasons but this is possibly on par with it. I’d have loved to see this on this big screen but it’s had a very limited cinematic release but is thankfully available on digital download at the moment. Maybe we will see a different type of release in the future, digital first and if it’s a success we might get a big cinema release.

I’m not sure what the hurdles are with a cinematic release but so many epic movies at the moment are going straight to digital and this shouldn’t put you off seeing it. On the plus side it is one of those movies with the rewatch factor so buying it on digital lets you binge wants it a few times over the weekend. Also if we get a Blu-ray release or even directors cut I’d buy it in a flash.

Posted by Adi Mursec on August 31, 2025