Machete - Lindsay Lohan may be in it?

Who would have seen this one coming for the cool looking Machete.

"I can't say too much about it except we start shooting in a couple weeks," Rodriguez told MTV News. "These things come together very quickly and we're casting right now. The script just came out great."

Along with addressing the uncommon need for the film to live up to its trailer, the director said the only official casting thus far has been Trejo and Michelle Rodriguez. While he wouldn't confirm rumors that Robert DeNiro might have a role in the film, he did say that Lindsay Lohan has a part waiting for... if she wants it.

"Lindsay's cool," said Rodriguez. "There's actually cool part in the movie for her if she takes it."

So she is not signed up but has a possible cool role in the movie. Do you think Lohan should be in it? What role do you think she would be playing?

HOME

UPDATED: De Niro & Seagal may be fighting Machete!

We are all looking forward to the feature length version of Robert Rodriguez's Machete.

Danny Trejo is back in the title role and he's out for revenge.

Now Bloody Disgusting have some interesting rumours on other cast members:

• Michelle Rodriguez will play a character named Luz.
• Jonah Hill will play Julio.
• Robert De Niro will play Senator McLaughlin.

That's right. De Niro! If he is on a good day when he films this then it should be amazing. Plus he will have to have a big smackdown with Trejo.

Still just a rumour, but a very good one.

UPDATE: The Playlist have the news that Steven Seagal will almost definitely be starring in the film. Sounding like another Expendables!

HOME

The Predators have a leader

Robert Rodriguez is producing the new Predators sequel/reboot. News was he had seven directors in mind including Neil Marshall (Doomsday, Dog Soldiers, Descent), but most recently we had the news that Nimród Antal was the favourite for the job.

Turns out that the favourite is the winner. Rodriguez spoke to AICN and confirmed that Antal will be directing Predators. This is what Rodriguez had to say about him.

First of all, on a personal level I found him to be an outstanding presence, a great communicator full of ideas, and upon meeting him you can immediately understand how he is able to wrangle cast and crew and get the best out of everyone. I always loved Kontroll, where he proved himself to be a very resourceful and original filmmaker. When I saw Armored, I could tell he's also great with action and has a keen eye for casting. He reminded me of Quentin with how he was able to work with a group of very strong, singular actor talents and make it look effortless. I know he'll be able to get the most out of what we want to be an outstanding cast. We really want to go with a character driven action movie, because that's what we all remember about the original Predator, and we want to take it even further with this.

He also gave us an idea as to what we can expect to see in the film.

I can't go too much into the story right now, because we're still writing. But it still involves a very intense group of people stranded on a Predator planet discovering unspeakable horrors (that are not always from outside their group). So like the original movie, the title does have a double meaning.

Aliens was a different take on the Alien idea, and an original movie in it's own right, and that's what we want to do with this.

As to how this movie will be viewed, one of the guys at Fox told me "No one is ever going to talk about AVP again after this film, I will stake my life on it."

And he's a really nice guy, so I don't want to see him dead. Now that lives are at stake, it's no longer a job it's a mission.

Failure is not an option.

HOME

Is Nimród going to direct Predators? - No not the Mutant hunting robot from the X-Men comics.

There have been lots of rumours floating around regarding Robert Rodriguez's Predators reboot / sequel. First Arnie was going to cameo in it, then he wasn't. Derek Mears (Jason in the Friday the 13th reboot) was also rumoured to be in it, but he hadn't heard anything.

The most recent news was that Rodriguez, who is producing the film, had seven directors in mind. Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, Descent, Doomsday and Centurion) was one of the seven. Michael Bassett (Solomon Kane) was possibly one of the others.

LatinoReview has exclusively learned that director Nimród Antal is one of the other directors and is also the one most likely to get the job.

If you are not too sure as to who Antal is, well he's the director behind Vacancy and Armored.

I've not seen Vacancy so I don't know how good a choice he will be. Although Armored looks like it could be good in an old school heist gone wrong way.

LatinoReview are usually spot on with their news, as they say "keep in mind when I said the same thing about Jackie Earle Haley being Freddy, the producer denied my story until it ultimately ended up true."

Still early days and I'm sure we will hear confirmation or denial from Rodriguez over the next day or two.

Is Michael Bassett in the running to direct Predators?

Last week I mentioned the fact that Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, Descent) was one of several directors in the running to direct the Robert Rodriguez produced Predators.

Now it looks as if we may have one of the other directors in the running. Michael Bassett (Solomon Kane) talks about his recent trip to LA to discuss one thing. Reading between the lines I am pretty sure he is talking about Predators.

I had a specific reason for going so it was all pretty focused on that one thing. There are several directors being met and considered so I can’t/won’t be specific about what this is. I’m also pretty sure I’m not at the top of anyone’s list for this gig, though god knows I pitched my little heart out for it. I met with the producer (even though arranging the meeting was like trying to juggle mercury) at the very swanky Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills and spent a pleasurable few hours chatting about his work and achievements as well as this project. He’s a director as well and it was really interesting listening to some of his war-stories. He’s not much older than I am but has been far more productive in his time and I was pretty blown away by that sheer heads-down determination and work ethic he’s got. Makes me feel like a lazy underachiever in comparison. Though he’d seen Solomon Kane and really liked it, the film of mine that he dug most was WILDERNESS. He responded to the strong performances of the young cast and sheer ferocity of the kills which I think plays to elements of this project.

Then I met with the executives at the studio that’s financing. Once again, a great meeting with a huge amount of positive energy and enthusiasm from me and them. I came away thinking that – whoever gets the gig – they’re going to have a really passionate team behind them.

Anyway, back home now and awaiting feedback from this trip. It’s a long shot but the game’s not over just yet. I think I know who’s most likely to get the job out of the other names I’ve heard and if I’m right, then we’ll all get a great movie and if it’s me, we’ll then, we’ll get an even better one

Maybe he is talking about Neil Marshall in that last paragraph or mayber somebody else.

In a previous post on his excellent blog he talks about dream projects (Half-Life, Outland and more) and mentions the Alien films.

Alien is the reason I became a film maker. I don’t care about Ripley (edit – just to qualify this comment; Fincher finished her story in Alien3 and bringing her back felt like a diservice to her character in Alien4.) I want to know about the Aliens; their world, the ecosystem or intelligence that created them. Imagine if the Alien in its home world was nothing more than a wasp or ant? What kind of planet would that be? I’d rather Ridley Scott or James Cameron did it but if they won’t I’ll happily take a swing. Anything has to be better than the Alien movies we’ve been served up so far. (And this is coming from a guy who went to New York to see the opening of Alien3 in Times Square. I’ve long since forgiven Fincher who is clearly a genius but boy, it stung at the time. In fact you can kinda see what he was trying to do if you look at the extended cut. Still bad but now at least a really noble failure.) I hear now that the Ridley is producing a prequel with his favourite new Wunderkind director protege. Maybe we’ll finally find out what the hell the ’space jockey’ was all about. Wish it was me doing it though…

He definitley has the right mindset and geek credentials to make a new Predator film that we all want to see. Right, I'm off to see if I can get an interview with him.

Do you think Bassett is talking about the Predators film? Out of him and Marshall who do you think would deliver the better film?

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

HOME

Machete - The Lego version

Yesterday I posted the news that Machete by Robert Rodriguez was starting shooting. In the comments for that Pat mentioned there was a Lego version of the trailer. I had a quick look, found it, watched it, loved it and thought I would share it with you.

Here is the original trailer it is based on.

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

HOME

Danny Trejo says Machete is about to be unleashed

We all knew Machete was one of the few trailers from the Tarantino / Rodriguez Grindhouse projects that was going to eventually see the light of day as a full length feature.

Well it looks like it may be with us a lot sooner than we thought.

Gordon & The Whale spoke with Machete himself, Danny Trejo, and he told them he had spoken to Rodriguez yesterday and was told they would begin shooting in 5 weeks.

This is excellent news as the trailer was brilliant and we should get some old school action.

Trejo also said he was not going to be in Stallone's The Expendables as a few rumours had previously mentioned.

Trejo is a great actor and it will be good to finally see him in a proper leading role.

Below is the Machete trailer from Grindhouse that started it all.

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

HOME

Neil Marshall is one of seven directors in the running for Predators

The news yesterday was that Neil Marshall was in talks to direct Predators produced by Robert Rodriguez. Today AICN have found out that Neil Marshall is one of about 7 names that Robert is looking at and meeting with right now.

They contacted Robert about this story and his update was that he's looking at various works by the guys in the running, and he'll be seeing Neil's Centurion very soon, but at this point, Neil and the other candidates are collectively holding their breaths to see who comes out the other end.

Robert doesn't want the list of names out there at this point, but like so many rumors hitting the net at this juncture - it seems a lot of folks that hear something and leap to report before there is really anything solid.

Neil's talks are the same as all the others. He has met with Robert. Robert did like him. Robert is looking forward to seeing Centurion. But he has similar feelings about the other candidates.

Who could the other 6 directors be?

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

HOME

Neil Marshall may direct Predators

It looks as if Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, Descent, Doomsday and the forthcoming Centurion) may possibly be directing Robert Rodriguez's Predators according to Bloody Disgusting.

This could be a good choice for the franchise as he has dealt with people in prosthetics, big battle scenes and scary situations. Hell, if you replaced the Werewolves in Dog Soldiers with Predators then you would have a pretty effective film.

Mind you this puts paid to my whole "Neil Marshall is working backwards through the alphabet making films starting with the letter D" theory or NMIWBTTAMFSWTLD.

Do you think Marshall is a good fit for the Predators film? If not him who would be a better choice?

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

HOME

Predators - Arnie has not been approached

Ah the wonders of on-line news. You never know if it is really true until you see it on the big screen. It doesn't help that people like Michael Bay like to tell the odd little fib about Megatron being dead, then alive, then dead again to keep things muddied up.

The latest piece of setting the record straight is all to do the news from a few days ago that Arnold Schwarzenegger had been approached by people representing Robert Rodriguez to star in Predators.

Harry Knowles over at AICN knows how to reach various people in the film biz. One such person is Robert Rodriguez. Harry asked him straight out about the Arnie rumour and this is what Bobby had to say.

Online news is amazing, much more exciting than real life!

There are so many sites saying that I'm actively pursuing Arnold!

Feels like all i have to do is sit here, and let the websites do the work!

Actually, what probably happened is someone conjured that up because of my 1994 draft, that had Dutch as a main character. And then it probably just built from there.

But no, we're still writing a new script, and although I know Arnold personally and he's the coolest person on the planet, I have not contacted him about this at all at this time.

As promised, I'll keep you posted on such developments since Predator is such a fan favorite.

But then again, he could very well have told someone he'd be into it. Who knows?
Personally, I haven't heard anything. But it's still early in the day.

-R

There you have it. At the moment Arnold is not going to be in the Predators film and has never been approached, but still, wouldn't it be cool if he was. Mind you I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple of days time there is another story about Arnie starring in the film. We shall just have to wait and see.

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

HOME

Arnie may be in Predators

I'm a big fan of the Predator and Predator 2. I love the whole concept and they are just great action movies. The news that Robert Rodriguez was going to reboot the franchise with Predators made me a little excited.

Now, this news from Moviehole makes me even more interested in the proceedings. Their source is anonymous but it does sound feasible.

“Robert’s camp has just reached out to Arnie’s [camp]”, we were informed. “But they haven’t had a response yet”.

“They’ve written a role for him” a second source later told us via email. ‘’Rodriguez is as against the idea of a straight-up remake as much as anyone – which is why they’re considering this an official sequel to John McTiernan’s film. Like Terminator, they know Schwarzenegger’s a vital ingredient of the franchise. Ideally, Arnold will see it that way too. Ball is in his court now”.

Schwarzenegger would reprise his role as Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer, the canon-armed Special Forces leader who took on the Predator in the first film

Dutch won’t be the main character in the film, but he will play a part (again, if Schwarzenegger agrees) in the film.

“The script is terrific... I hear. It’s partly the old Predators script Rodriguez did, but mostly new stuff by [Alex] Litvak. And it’s violent – like the original. Everybody here at [name removed] has pointed out how much better it is than [Paul W.S] Anderson’s abomination. Doesn't sound like there's any reason to worry”.

Sounds good doesn't it and having Dutch cameo in the new film will tie it in to the Predator Mythos set up by the first two films. I just hope Arnold takes them up on the offer. The fact they are not doing a straight remake is also brilliant news.

Predators, produced by Rodriguez, will hit theatres July 2010.

How do you feel about Arnie reprising his original role in the new film?

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

HOME

Ridley Scott is toying with an Alien prequel

IESB recently spoke to Fox Co-Chairman, Tom Rothman about a whole host of things.

Regarding a possible Alien prequel, "There's been some talk. Ridley Scott, Ridley is right now working on Robin Hood, but I think he's toying with the idea and that would be great for us. I mean, it's always been a matter of, really, if you can get the originator to do it that would be the greatest thing, so I've got my fingers crossed, all of them."

Interesting indeed. How cool would that be to have Scott back on the Alien universe. Would we finally get to find out some more about the Space Jockey and how his ship crashed.

He also talked about Robert Rodriguez' Predators (and the fact that he has been given total control of the franchise), Daredevil, Avatar at Comic Con, Fan Four and the new Wolverine film.

Check out the full interview over on IESB.

Do you want another Ridley Scott Alien film? What would you like to see in a prequel? Should there be a definitive origin to the Alien?

Leave a comment on this post below.

HOME

Machete - Trailer for Robert Rodriguez non-film that is now becoming a film!

Here is the trailer for Machete that proceeded Planet Terror on the Grindhouse double bill.

Rodriguez is eyeing a June start date in Austin for Machete, a film that is financed and produced by Overnight Productions, with Danny Trejo reprising his big knife kick-ass role.

Rodriguez wrote the script and will direct the film with Ethan Maniquis, his longtime editor.

If they manage to keep the energy and vibe that was shown in the trailer then it should be one hell of a ride.

Machete is about a Mexican ex-Federale (Trejo) with a gift for wielding dual blades, who hides out as a day laborer, but is double-crossed by a corrupt state senator and goes to get his vengeance.

The slogan that Rodriguez used in the trailer was: "This time, they fucked with the wrong Mexican"

I think that tells you all you need to know.

Leave a comment on this post below.

HOME

Robert Rodriguez is Rebooting Predator

In a recent news conference at Troublemaker Studios, several Texas state politicians were in attendance to sign HB 873, the long-awaited reform of the Texas film incentive program. All well and good, but IESB had this cool piece of news.

Rodriguez talked to the audience of press members and revealed his upcoming film slate.

"I'm going to be able to shoot my upcoming Machete here, a sci-fi action film called Nervewrackers, a re-boot of the Predator series called Predators, and a couple of smaller movies called Sin City 2 and The Jetsons."

There is lots of news in that one statement. Machete is a full film from the trailer that featured in Grind House, Sin City 2 will be cool and I just don't know about The Jetsons.

The big news to me is the reboot of Predator. I love the first two films and the whole concept of the Predator is just great. I even liked the Mr Wolf style Predator in the recent AvP2 so to see more of the dreadlocked hunter will be fantastic.

However, I am a little concerned about Rodriguez directing it. Don't get me wrong I loved Sin City, Desperado etc, but he just seems to have become obsessed with the whole green screen thing. Hopefully, he'll lay off that a little for the new Predator as he can do some brilliant action scenes.

What are your views on Rodriguez directing the new Predator film? Where should it be set? What do you want to see in it?


Leave a comment on this post below.

HOME

Predator Reboot - Robert Rodriguez says so

A reliable source got in touch with Bloody Disgusting to tell them that Robert Rodriquez and his Troublemaker Studios will be producing the Predator reboot for 20th Century Fox.

The pitch being sent around town implies that the reboot will have more than one predator. "In the reboot a team of commandoes face down a mysterious race of vicious monsters." No writer has been attached yet - and there is no script. No word on whether or not Rodriquez will direct, but it seems highly unlikely considering how many projects he has in development.

I hope it's better than the two Alien vs Predator films. I love me some Predator.

Discuss in the Forum

Sin City 2 News - The script is finished and filming to begin this year...maybe

MTV have more news on the fate of Sin City 2

Jamie King appears to have confirmed last year’s reports that Frank Miller has turned in his script for “Sin City 2” and the film may even begin shooting in 2009. The “Fanboys” and “The Spirit” actress hopes for a start date soon and said that she doesn’t have any nude scenes in Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s sequel, according to George “El Guapo” Rousch at Latino Review..

The report stokes a prolonged trickle of “Sin City 2” rumors from the past year, as good a sign as any that Miller’s classic Dark Horse Comics series is inching closer to becoming a reality behind the scenes.

King played the role of Marv’s murdered gal pal Goldie, as well as her twin sister Wendy, in the first “Sin City” film and is slated to return for the new follow-up. The Golden Globe winning star of the “The Wrestler,” Mickey Rourke, may or may not return as Marv when filming begins. Miller says Marv has a big role to play in the film and wants Rourke back if he’s willing.

There are many possible reasons for the film’s delay, not the least of which is Rourke’s reluctance. The star has experienced rejuvenated stardom since the first “Sin City” hit it big. Now, with a Golden Globe under his belt and a potential Oscar on the horizon, it’s entirely possible he wants more for his labor.

Meanwhile, Robert Rodriguez’s controversial break from the Directors Guild to give Miller directing credit in their first outing together proved to be a hurdle before. If they’re looking to return to “Sin City 2” in that unsanctioned dual-directing capacity, there is likely to be red tape to cut once again.

Home / Forum / Guestbook

Aronofsky want's to recut The Fountain and Rourke says Sin City 2 is good to go

MTV were speaking to Darren Aronofsky, whose new movie, “The Wrestler,” won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival two months ago, and has just been nominated for Independent Spirit Awards for Best Feature, Best Cinematography and Best Male Lead ( Mickey Rourke).

Interestingly Aronofsky said he would like to do a sort of recut on his film, “The Fountain,” (check out the review for The Fountain here).

“It wouldn’t be a ‘director’s cut, more like an alternate story told with the addition of unused footage from the first go-round. This would be a complicated project on a couple of levels, though, and it’s at least a few years away."

They then spoke to Mickey Rourke about the status of “Sin City 2,” in which he will again place the excellent Marv. The project appears to have been held up by Robert Rodriguez’s dispute with the Directors Guild of America. Rodriguez quit the group when it refused to allow him to credit Frank Miller as the co-director of the 2005 “Sin City.” Once that mess has all been sorted out the sequel should be put on the fast track.

“Frank’s ready,” said Rourke. “And I’m ready, too."

How do you feel about The Fountain being recut to be a different story? Would you see it? What did you think of it? Sin City 2 should hopefully be cool...think it will all depend on how The Spirit does at the box office.

Home / Forum / Guestbook

New Red Sonja Poster and another peak at the plot

Movieset had this poster which includes a look at the films premise. I posted a script review a while back which has some more details of the plot.HOME / FORUM.

Red Sonja Script Review

Latino review have got hold of the script for the Robert Rodriguez / Rose McGowan sword and sorcery movie. Sounds decidedly average at the moment.

Here's what they have to say:

Things start off in pretty standard fashion for this sort of movie – and by that I mean sword and sorcery, medieval, barbarian, and even western and samurai movies – a surly, tough, clearly evil WARRIOR is passing through town and stops in at the seedy local tavern. Everyone there is scared of him, but nobody has the guts to face him except our intrepid but at this point mysterious hero, who emerges from the shadows and dispatches the scumbag in a violent, badass fashion. In this case that hero is, of course, SONJA, disguised as a prostitute selected by the unsuspecting bad guy for a night of pleasure that quickly goes south for him. It’s fairly clear right off the bat that Sonja isn’t just cavorting around killing random sleaze-bag warriors; she has a connection to this particular sleaze-bag and her murderous actions are driven by revenge.

Sure enough, we’re promptly transported back a few years to a younger, more innocent, black-haired time in Sonja’s life so that we may learn the origins of her later, vengeful ambitions. In “Hyrkania,” Sonja’s idyllic hometown (or rather, homevillage) we meet Sonja’s MOTHER, FATHER, and brothers DARAN and GREGOR as they prepare for an annual festival held in their happy little shire. Amidst all the hustle and bustle Sonja sneaks off to the bank of the nearby river for some contemplative alone time – our younger, more innocent Sonja seems to be a bit of a dreamer - where she meets her friend hypothetical love interest CYRUS. The two teens flirt and tease each other playfully, and even share an awkward moment of intimacy in the woods on the way back to town.

Things seem downright wonderful, so I’m sure most of you reading this can see where things are headed. Before you can say “Conan The Destroyer” the peaceful village is overrun by violent marauders, riding through the town killing and burning everyone and everything in sight. Cyrus is (seemingly) dispatched in the blink of an eye, and the attackers quickly turn their attention to Sonja’s family as they try to escape. In what feels vaguely like a medieval version of The Professional, all four of them are brutally slaughtered before Sonja’s eyes. Things promptly go from extremely bad to extremely worse when five of the higher ranking members of the invading group show up. We can tell they’re important somehow, because they all wear distinctive matching amulets, which will no doubt have some significance later. This cabal includes their leader, ORNOK, as well as the man Sonja impales in the opening scene. The five of them take turns raping the poor girl and then conclude the highlight reel of brutality and horror by literally kicking Sonja while she’s down - they stomp on her head and leave her for dead.

Some indefinite amount of time later a barely living Sonja wakes up and begins dragging herself around the burnt-out, blood-soaked, corpse-ridden hellscape that was once her beloved village. Wandering around the wasteland in a daze, she eventually finds herself on the edge of a massive precipice and (actually, quite understandably) decides to end it all by jumping. Now, by this point in the script there have already been plenty of swords, but no sorcery, so the time has come to introduce some of that element. Sonja takes the plunge, but a giant funnel of mist rises up to meet her in mid fall and gently, miraculously guides her slowly and safely to the water below, where a magical, glowing figure called THE RED GODDESS appears before our heroine. The Goddess spouts some stuff about it not yet being Sonja’s time, and that she has chosen her for a special purpose, and that to that end the Goddess will imbue her with a special quality or power that will make her some sort of ultimate badass warrior of virtue and justice. Those may not be her exact words, but that’s the basic gist. She also makes a somewhat odd remark about potential future mates having to best Sonja in combat to prove themselves worthy of her love. Understandably overwhelmed by all the death, destruction, and mystical visions, Sonja passes out again.

She awakens to find herself at a campsite in the company of a man named OZZYUS, who is actually described in the script as “A rogue thief and warrior of dubious loyalties but unquestionable heart.” It seems that Ozzyus and his merry band of warrior thieves, among them the hulking BROGGER and the playfully insubordinate RONNEL, found the now mysteriously red-haired Sonja by the side of the river, and being of unquestionable heart, decided to nurse her back to health. Sonja initially plans to high-tail it out of camp ASAP, but is attracted to the whole warrior thief lifestyle and doggedly convinces Ozzyus and his men to let her stay and learn their ways. Time passes and Sonja, seeming to have a preternatural aptitude for said ways, blossoms into a formidable warrior thief.

...She demonstrates the scope of her abilities in a daring raid on the castle of KING GHANNIF, the objective of which is the theft of an extremely rare and precious jewel called the Tundas Ruby. Sonja gets sidetracked in a swordfight with the king, which ends in a draw. At this point the script somewhat awkwardly makes a big deal of Sonja realizing she can use her feminine wiles as an additional weapon, as she returns to the castle for a rematch wearing a chain-mail bikini and offs the distracted king. Now wanted for regicide, she must go off on her own, but not before Ozzyus can impart some words of advice and a wicked new sword on her. Sonja’s transformation is complete: red hair, skimpy outfit, forbidable combat and thieving skills, and mighty blade; this is the Red Sonja everyone in the theater paid money to see, the “warrior-woman of Hyrkania,” ready to set out on her mission of vengeance.

And that’s what we get, as we are finally caught up to the present as seen in the opening scene. Sonja is working through a list of her enemies, Kill Bill style, and is now three deep, as evidenced by the ever growing collection of their amulets around her neck. She’s still a wanted woman and must therefore contend with the seemingly constant threat of bounty hunters and mercenaries (i.e. an excuse for more badass sword fights). She is also being followed by a mysterious cloaked figure who is quickly revealed to be (surprise, surprise!) a still living Cyrus. Old Cyrus has helped to organize a rebel army intent on overthrowing an evil wizard/warlord called KULAN GATH, a character heretofore completely unknown to the audience, who is apparently ravaging the countryside and enslaving the people so that they can build him a temple that will supposedly imbue him with godlike powers. Naturally, Cyrus and his army want to recruit Sonja as their new leader. Single-minded Sonja refuses, determined to stay finish her personal quest for vengeance, which she does, but… I’m sure you can see where this is headed. Not only does she join the rebel cause (“reluctantly,” Han Solo style) but she is reunited with Ozzyus and his men, who have also been recruited by Cyrus. All this happens just in time for the cursory (and surprisingly anti-climactic) final battle.

And that’s the main problem with the script. You’ve no doubt noticed how many times I’ve said something like “You know what’s happening next” or “I’m sure you see where this is going,” and that’s because everything here is so familiar. Virtually every character, every plot point, every action beat – you’ve seen it all before in countless other sword and sorcery, fantasy, and “historical” epics. Yes, that’s just the source material, and in a sense that’s probably why a lot of people go to movies like this. It offers pretty much everything one could want out of the genre. But it makes little to no effort to dress it up as something fresh, to hide how generic it is. It’s fantasy 101, which is extremely well-tread not just for genre fans, but even for mainstream audiences at this point.

Not only does this leave the film feeling stale and bland, it also spreads the focus too thin. The script is so busy moving from one generic sword and sorcery cliché to the next it never takes the time to establish a truly epic or compelling story, or, perhaps worst of all, a distinct villain. Is it Ornok and his men? Sure, they serve as the catalyst for a lot of the action, but as villains they’re weak – not much screen time, no overarching plot, little to no menace, too easily dispatched by the heroine. Then is it Kulan Gath? No, not him either. His entire subplot shows up far too late in the script and is far too vague, and he barely makes an appearance in the flesh. They’re saving him for the sequel (and the filmmakers certainly seem confident that there will be a sequel, as this ends with a frustratingly massive cliff-hanger).

It’s reminiscent of a lot of the superhero movies that focus on the character’s origins; it all feels like one big prologue by way of commercial for the sequel, which will inevitably be better without having to worry about establishing the characters and their backstory. An epic quest to defeat the evil wizard Kulan Gath would make for a far more interesting (albeit still quite familiar) movie, but what we actually have here is clichéd, bogged down, and disappointingly small in scale. It can’t be a good sign if you’re more interested in the eventual follow-up than the first movie that hasn’t even started shooting yet, but never the less… wake me when Red Sonja II is hitting theaters.

What do you think? Are you still excited about seeing this?
HOME / FORUM.

Red Sonja - Poster

Here's a look at Rose McGowan as Red Sonja. It's from the folks at MTV so may well be taken down from here before the day is out. It's certainly a striking image.

Some more news on ths Red Sonja movie from the 2008 Comic Con. Robert Rodriguez won't be directing it due to contract problems with the Weinsteins. However, he'll probably have quite a bit of say in the matter as the director is going to be Douglas Aarnioko who was first assistant Director on a load of Rodriguez movies. The film will be shot on location but also with green screen work as they did on Sin City and 300. The mix of the two is in order to give the whole thing a different feel to the other fantasy type movies.

As for the action in the movie, Rose McGowan went on to say that it would be similar to the opening chase scene in Casino Royale with lots of free running type stunts but with swords and barbarians. This last bit interests me as it would be a marked difference to the previous Red Sonja and Conan movies.

This project originally sounded a bit naff to me, but I'm starting to get a tingly good feeling about it. How about you?

Discuss in the forum.