It took a couple of years after we saw the first trailer, but finally Red Sonja returns to theaters! Fans had hoped it would happen in time for her 50th anniversary, but as a lot of entertainment projects have been slowed in the past few years, 52 is good enough. The real question is if the She-Devil with a Sword can cut a swath through a summer of superheroes.
Directed by MJ Bassett from a script by Tasha Huo, the film looks like it’s merging an origin story of sorts with the classic sword and sorcery battle of good and evil against a king corrupted by dark magic and… an opposite number? Perhaps intriguing, perhaps fun as heck. As I lament too often, this would have killed at the old Meridian Quad where I ate up so many of these movies in the 1980s. But I’m going to give it extra points for at least one CGI creature that looks like what I want in a fantasy movie like this. Make it obvious you’re inspired by the world of Ray Harryhausen!
Stars Matilda Lutz, Robert Sheehan, and Martyn Ford will be in attendance at San Diego Comic-Con, with a RED SONJA panel taking place 5:30 pm PT on Thursday, July 24th at SD Convention Center in Ballroom 20, where the cast will discuss bringing the comic book icon to life in the new reboot.
The breathless log-line reads thus:
Captured. Chained. Forced to fight for survival. Red Sonja must battle her way through the blood-soaked pits of a tyrant’s empire and rally an army of outcasts to reclaim her freedom and take down Dragan and his ruthless bride, Dark Annisia.
Red Sonja opens in theaters August 15th, and releases on digital August 29th.
