After her family is murdered, a young woman becomes a master of the sword and seeks revenge on the evil queen responsible for the mayhem that has befallen her.

Brigitte Nielsen, as Conan creator Robert E. Howard's female warrior Red Sonja, gets an assist from Arnold Schwarzenegger in this enjoyably campy, Italian-lensed sword & sorcery adventure. Nielsen's thespian skills may be a bit stiff, but she certainly fills out the physical demands of the role, which asks her to look impressive with a sword as she avenges the death of her priestess sister and the theft of a sacred orb by an evil queen (Sandahl Bergman, also from the '82 theatrical Conan and a match for Nielsen's acting ability). Schwarzenegger (not playing Howard's barbarian king) lends some star power in a supporting role as a warrior assisting Sonja, and if the film stumbles in the acting, scripting, and special-effects departments, Richard Fleischer's direction and cinematography Giuseppe Rotunno are appropriately action-heavy and comic-book colorful (Fleischer also directed Conan the Destroyer and The Vikings); Ennio Morricone's bombastic score is another plus. --Paul Gaita