One of several films Dino de Laurentiis forced Arnie to do after the first Conan - Conan the Destroyer, this, Raw Deal. Brigitte Nielsen looks terrific in the title role - a believable athlete, she can move and fight. Her acting is limited so they should have teamed her with a top class actor for most of the running time - instead they give her Arnie, who comes and goes but who wasn't very good at this stage, and a kid.
The script was (re)written by George MacDonald Fraser and is full of action familiar to those who have read his novels - evil priests, ceremonies, swordfights, comic sidekicks, etc. But it lacks the key aspect of the best Fraser novels - memorable lead characters. They are just stoic. The movie needed a Flashman or a Thomas Blood from The Pyrates.
Key mistakes are made - either by him or in the cut. The murder of Sonja's family, which sets up the whole film, is skipped over (compare to Conan which gave it the time it deserved), Arnold popping in and out is weird, the film seems reluctant to focus too much on Sonja.
Nicely shot and costumed. It's not very good but impossible to dislike.
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