Damsel, 2024.
Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.
Starring Millie Bobby Brown, Nick Robinson, Robin Wright, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Angela Bassett, Ray Winstone, Brooke Carter, Rui M Tomas, Ulli Ackermann, Erickson Dos Santos Gomes, Ricarda Clay, Esther Odumade, Sonya Nisa, Ricky Guillart, Nicole Joseph, Brogan McFarlane, Elmano Sancho, Sam Sharma, and Mens-Sana Tamakloe.
SYNOPSIS:
A dutiful damsel agrees to marry a handsome prince, only to find the royal family has recruited her as a sacrifice to repay an ancient debt.
The concept of Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s Damsel is simplistic, theoretically offering plenty of room for suspense as it flips an outdated trope upside down. Yes, the just-married Princess Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown, delivering a serviceable physical performance, asked to climb walls and swing swords in survival mode) is a damsel in distress, but for the most part, she is using her wits to escape. It is a slight bit of a cheat when one particular character does enter the dragon’s cave lair in an attempt to rescue her, but the film remains committed to letting Elodie survive or die on her terms.
However, Damsel walking back, its one-on-one, woman versus dragon matchup, is one of the least frustrating aspects here, as this film (written by Dan Mazeau) is filled with offputting creative choices that undermine the story and tension at every turn. And that is after the woefully belabored setup that culminates with unintentional laughter (as do a couple of other scenes.) With characters as basic as these, there truly is no point in spending nearly 40 minutes to get Elodie betrayed and fending for her life against a dragon.
The gist is that Lord and Lady Bayford (Ray Winstone and a waste of Angela Bassett), residing over some harsh terrain with brutally cold weather, are in financial trouble and have arranged a marriage for their oldest daughter, Elodie, in a faraway land. It turns out that the ruling king and queen (Milo Twomey and Robin Wright) are setting up these marriages for their son (Nick Robinson) as, in every generation, they have to appease the dragon with royal blood.
The dragon also happens to talk (menacingly voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo), which feels like a ridiculous creative choice meant to serve the story in a clunky way. There is more to the history between this royal family and the dragon, meaning that whenever Elodie is temporarily safe, and far away from blasts of fire, she is putting together knowledge found across cave markings and dead bodies to piece together some answers to mysterious questions. It’s also nothing that a semi-alert audience won’t be able to put together themselves while watching, so much of this isn’t very satisfying.
Damsel also utilizes an analogy that has become increasingly trendy in these recent progressively feminist action flicks showing princesses fighting back, with the wedding dress gradually torn apart, suggesting that she is more than a wife and that women in general, especially ones often depicted in the past or fantasy settings like this, are capable of more than being housewives and birthing babies.
Truthfully, the impact of the visual is yielding diminishing returns, but Elodie does find some clever uses for the remaining fabric and jewelry. Watching Elodie wrapping what’s left around icicles to climb walls makes for an admittedly imaginative and tense sequence, depicting that when the film is strictly about survival rather than everything else the story is doing, it is engaging.
The problem is that Damsel has far more terrible ideas than exciting ones, with other characters cheaply making shockingly dumb choices to manufacture more drama by putting Elodie’s younger sister (Brooke Carter) in danger. The action is passable, but the story and characters are so laughably absurd that there isn’t much reason to care about any of this. Perhaps most disappointingly, Damsel repeatedly betrays its tantalizing concept.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
