As noted in the reviews, Rosalba is horribly wasted here and is given nothing interesting to do. That right there tells you everything you need to know about this misfire. Certainly the cast was well chosen here, so I guess the blame has to fall on the screenwriter for the dull, cliched mess that ended up on screen. A real disappointment!
Rosalba rating: 2 out of 10
Yeah, Rosalba Neri is one of my top fave Eurobabes, and should have been given a much meatier role here. Plus, she's about the only female in the movie who remains fully clothed throughout. What a wasted opportunity. I fell in love with her after seeing her recently in Lady Frankenstein and Franco's 99 Women. What a stunning beauty, clothed or (especially) not.
I didn't find the movie particulary dull, though most of the combat scenes were not exactly exciting either. For the most part, they looked very staged, and rarely did anybody look like they were fighting for their life, more just going through the (choreographed) motions. But what sank this movie for me were the numerous highly implausible plot turns, particularly in the second half of the movie. The battle royal with the Roman soldiers and the emperor (or whoever he was exactly) was just ludicrous (although it was staged better than most of the other fight scenes). I'm pretty sure that in ancient Rome any gladiator who dared to openly defy the emperor as Mamawi and Bodicia did would have been cut down in an instant. Any history buffs who know otherwise, feel free to correct me on this.
All in all, not a terrible film, but not as good as I was expecting, and I'm a big exploitation/bad movie fan. There is some nice cinematography, the costumes look good, the partial and full frontal nudity by most of the female cast is welcome, and the use of actual Roman locations (e.g. the catacombs in the finale) gives it an air of authenticity, but the muddled script and tentative action scenes drag it down considerably. I wish someone would put out a clean, widescreen editon of War Goddess, a more interesting movie on several levels.