Movie · 2025 · Adventure, Action, Fantasy, Drama · 1h 51m · R · English
Curator score: 0.6/10 (16.1K ratings)
A hero will rise... An empire will fall.
Overview
A young girl rises from the ashes of tragedy to become the most feared warrior woman of all time: the She-Devil with a Sword.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.6/10
IMDb: 4.6/10
Letterboxd: 2.43/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 56%
Metacritic: 41
TMDB: 5.7/10
Director
MJ Bassett
Production
Millennium Media, Mark Canton Productions, Courtney Solomon Productions, Campbell Grobman Films
Cast
Matilda Lutz, Robert Sheehan, Wallis Day, Luke Pasqualino, Michael Bisping, Martyn Ford, Eliza Matengu, Danica Davis, Joana Nwamerue, Manal El-Feitury, Rhona Mitra, Veronica Ferres, Trevor Eve, Renée Willett, Oliver Trevena, Katrina Durden, Kate Nichols, Trevor Van Uden, Max Kraus, Nathan Cooper
Curator Review
Verdict
A scrappy, sincerity-first sword-and-sorcery throwback that clearly wants to be mythic and muscular, but the limited budget and uneven execution keep it from fully landing. If you’re here for earnest fantasy world-building, a fierce lead performance, and old-school pulp energy, it has enough to enjoy; if you need polished spectacle or airtight storytelling, it’s likely to frustrate.
Best for
fans of sword-and-sorcery pulp
viewers who like earnest B-movie fantasy
people seeking a female-led revenge adventure
audiences forgiving of rough edges if the vibe is right
Skip if
you want top-tier CGI and production polish
you need tightly paced, character-rich fantasy
you dislike camp-adjacent genre filmmaking
you’re allergic to low-budget spectacle and inconsistent world-building
Overview
Red Sonja plays like a sincere attempt to revive the bruised, bloodied pleasures of old-school fantasy adventure. The appeal is immediate: a warrior heroine forged by trauma, gladiatorial combat, barbarian menace, and a world that wants to feel ancient and dangerous. Matilda Lutz gives the film its center of gravity, and the movie seems most alive when it leans into her physicality and the pulpy myth of the character.
Worth noting
The problem is that ambition keeps outrunning execution. The reviews point to a film that reaches for grandeur but can’t always afford it, leaving some of the world-building, pacing, and atmosphere feeling thin or uneven. It’s often more effective as a mood piece than as a fully satisfying epic, and the CGI-heavy trappings can undercut the handmade charm the material needs.
Bottom line
Still, there’s a real audience for this kind of thing: viewers who miss straightforward sword-and-sorcery, who don’t mind a rough cut of fantasy sincerity, and who are happy to meet a movie halfway. It may not be the definitive revival of the genre, but it’s not cynical either, and that counts for a lot.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Keenan Wells (3★) · 258 likes
This movie will probably not be considered that good by most but I have to be honest I enjoyed it and had a lot of fun watching. The budget on this film was around 17 million dollars with the ambitions of a film with a 70 million dollar budget but even with these restraints it still feels like everyone involved tried they’re best with what they were given and I can respect and I also loved Matilda Lutz as Red… more This movie will probably not be considered that good by most but I have to be honest I enjoyed it and had a lot of fun watching. The budget on this film was around 17 million dollars with the ambitions of a film with a 70 million dollar budget but even with these restraints it still feels like everyone involved tried they’re best with what they were given and I can respect and I also loved Matilda Lutz as Red… more
Horror Syndrome (3★) · 218 likes
Basically Gladiator for girls and twinks.
Kit Lazer (3★) · 214 likes
You’re not gonna like this movie but you didn’t grow up watching Xena: Warrior Princess while your parents screamed at each other and that’s why you’re soft.
pirateneckbeard (1.5★) · 204 likes
So I like that this is done from a female directors viewpoint however it is keenly aware of what it is in dressing our female protagonist in a metal bikini with a story of surviving in the wilderness unsuccessful at a young age to keep the fledglings alive after barbarians destroyed there humble community.
This thing tries to pull so many humanistic stories and tries to pull knowledge understood to early is a tool to control the masses and maybe… more So I like that this is done from a female directors viewpoint however it is keenly aware of what it is in dressing our female protagonist in a metal bikini with a story of surviving in the wilderness unsuccessful at a young age to keep the fledglings alive after barbarians destroyed there humble community.
This thing tries to pull so many humanistic stories and tries to pull knowledge understood to early is a tool to control the masses and maybe… more
comrade_yui (5★) · 177 likes
MJ bassett is one of two directors i trust these days to understand what real sword & sorcery is: none of this ironic 'we're too good for this' attitude, with actual care and sincerity for the material: once again she has done incredible justice to robert e. howard's world! i couldn't ask for a better film to watch on my birthday -- red sonja is everything that i was hoping for, the ideas and the fights, badass women and a sense… more MJ bassett is one of two directors i trust these days to understand what real sword & sorcery is: none of this ironic 'we're too good for this' attitude, with actual care and sincerity for the material: once again she has done incredible justice to robert e. howard's world! i couldn't ask for a better film to watch on my birthday -- red sonja is everything that i was hoping for, the ideas and the fights, badass women and a sense… more