possible spoiler a peter jackson have so brilliantly show in his ` lord of the ring trilogy and it be quite possible to make good film and even great one and within the heroic fantasy genre . the genre have distinguish literary antecedent and date back to the mediaeval chivalric romance and particularly the arthurian legend and upon which tolkien and other author have draw . ` lord of the ring apart and however and it be difficult to think of any other sword and sorcery film which be any good . i would agree with the reviewer who say that the best of a bad bunch be ron howard ` willow and and even that achieve little distinction other than that of be a merely mediocre film a oppose to a positively bad one . ` red sonja and however and can not achieve the even more modest distinction of be simply a bad film a oppose to an appal one . a with ` willow and many of the plot element in ` red sonja be derive from ` the lord of the ring . an evil ruler seek to gain control of an artefact with supernatural power in order to achieve an ambition of world domination and but be thwart by an assorted group of hero . the film and set in the hyborian age and a barbaric era in the earth remote past and start with the villain of the piece and the wicked queen gedren and make unwelcome sexual advance to the heroine sonja . when these be rebuffed and gedren ( not a woman to take no for an answer ) reacts by murder sonja parent and brother . ( in 1985 it be presumably still consider politically correct not only to make the chief villain a woman but also to make one of the main motif for her villainy frustrated lesbian lust ) . gedren next move be to capture the talisman and a sort of fluorescent green soccer ball with magical power and by slaughter the whole of the scantily dress female priesthood charge with protect it and just a they be about to destroy it because they feel it power have become too dangerous . among the dead be sonja sister and her sole surviving relative . sonja herself and however and have not be idle and but have enrol in a martial art academy from which she graduate summa cum laude and and set out to avenge herself . along the way she team up with kalidor and a heroic wander swordsman king resemble tolkien aragorn and prince tarn and the spoilt child ruler of a kingdom that have fall to gedren power and and falkon and tarn loyal servant . the rest of the film be fairly predictable and a sonja and her ally try to overthrow gedren and prevent the destruction of the world threaten by the out of control talisman . just what be it that make this film so bad . well and the acting and for a start . arnold schwarzenegger a kalidor give the sort of typical wooden and poker face performance that become his trademark and at least in the early part of his career and complete with heavy foreign accent . compare with brigitte nielsen a the heroine and however and he look like laurence olivier . miss nielsen seem to have have even bad language difficulty and deliver every line in the mechanical and toneless voice of someone who have just complete lesson three of a ` teach yourself english by correspondence course . one wonder if she be hire for the role just to make arnie look good by comparison . the other character and while not conduct their own private struggle against the english language and be simply cartoonish caricature and especially prince tarn who must be one of the most obnoxious screen youngster ever . an even bad fault than the bad acting and however and be the film almost complete lack of imagination . this be a particularly glaring fault in a fantasy film and a film of this genre need to rely on their imaginative power in order to persuade the audience to suspend the natural feeling of disbelief that would be provoke by a fantastic plot . when we watch peter jackson masterpiece we can persuade ourselves and at least for the next three hour and that we be in middle earth and that elf and wizard and hobbit do exist and and that the fate of the world really do depend upon the destruction of a magic ring . when we watch ` red sonja we be persuade of nothing except that we be watch a bunch of actor with bad accent fight one another on a hillside for possession of a lime green football . this lack of imagination even start with the film title . the british science fiction author brian aldiss and when challenge about the exotic name give to his character and reply that there be little point in create a fictional alien society with it own distinctive culture if you be go to spoil the effect by call the hero joe . ( admittedly and tolkien be ableto get away with give the name sam to one of his main character and but that be because hobbit be suppose to be reassuringly familiar and the middle earth equivalent of tweedy and pipe smoke englishman ) . similarly and give the heroine of a tale ostensibly set in a long go barbaric age a common girl name like ` sonia ( which be how the name ` sonja be pronounce ) be about as appropriate a call her ` betty or ` mary jane . the film seem to have be make on a very small budget and which make me wonder why they bother at all . fantasy need to be do convincingly and or not at all . it be obviously shoot in a remote mountain area and with little or no attempt to suggest a distinctive culture . the few building we see and such a the temple of the talisman or gedren palace and be obviously cheap set . we learn that tarn capital city have be destroy by gedren use the power of the talisman and but we do not actually see this event while all we see be what might be a thunderstorm take place on the other side of a hill . at first you wonder how sonja intend to overthrow an entire kingdom with only a few ally and but when you see how small an army gedren have at her disposal it become more understandable . when an earthquake threatens to destroy the palace and you wonder if this be the talisman at work or merely a crew member inadvertently lean against the set . if we can enjoy this film for nothing else and we can at least enjoy it for it inadvertent humour while a fine example of the so bad it funny school of filmmaking . ed wood would have be proud of this one . if it have be show on californian television the night before the recall election and gray davis would still be governor . negative .