Red Sonja

Name: Red Sonja
Director: MJ Bassett
Genre: Action
Released: 2025-01-01
Duration: 1h 51m
Rating: 5.7
Cast: Matilda Lutz, Robert Sheehan, Wallis Day, Luke Pasqualino, Michael Bisping

R 2025 Action · Nearly two hours that feels longer due to pacing issues and limited budget constraints.

Poor critical reception

4.5/10

IMDb

41/100

Metacritic

★

2.42/5

Letterboxd

🎬

5.7/10

TMDB

Rewatch

one and done

Attention

half watch ok

Phone-check

medium

The brief

MJ Bassett's Red Sonja reboot feels like a mid-budget fantasy trying desperately to capture Game of Thrones energy but landing somewhere closer to generic TV movie territory. Matilda Lutz brings genuine physicality to the sword-swinging but can't overcome dialogue that sounds like it was written by someone who's only heard about medieval times secondhand. The action sequences have moments of brutal efficiency, though they're hampered by obviously limited resources and some questionable CGI work. This is for die-hard sword and sorcery fans who've already burned through everything else on their streaming queue and don't mind lowering their expectations considerably.

sword-and-sorcery warrior woman revenge brutal medieval combat low-budget fantasy generic action cheesy dialogue

The verdict

If you're a sword and sorcery completist who can appreciate genuine physical performances even when wrapped in bargain-bin production values, this delivers enough brutal action to scratch that fantasy itch. If you expect polished dialogue, convincing world-building, or anything approaching Game of Thrones quality, you'll find yourself watching a expensive-looking TV movie that wastes Matilda Lutz's commitment on generic medieval nonsense.