What Is the Story About?
Netflix’s Damsel follows a dutiful, sheltered and kind noblewoman ‘Elodie’ who agrees to marry a handsome and rich prince from an unknown kingdom in exchange of the betterment of her own people. Reluctant to get married, Elodie eventually agrees considering the amount of wealth her father could gather in exchange to save her people. However, Elodie realises that the Prince’s family has sacrificed her to a beasty dragon to pay off an ancient debt. Elodie needs to gather her senses and fight with all might to survive and get back home.
Performances?
Quite expectedly Millie Bobby Brown is the MVP of the movie. She transitions from an obedient and helpless woman to quite an action heroine with skills to tame a dragon like a champ. The actress is also a real star as she commands the screen fruitfully, even when the writing fiddles and drags.
Angela Bassett however is criminally wasted in the film. Despite not giving her anything meaty to make a mark, she asserts her aura in every scene. This is the same reason why it’s not believable when she plays the helpless mother.
Robin Wright‘s wicked and evil queen deserved more screen-time. She merely exists in the movie to add to its predictability. Evil would’ve been even more delicious had she been utilised well by the makers.
Analysis
Netflix’s fantasy film ‘Damsel’ directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and written by Dan Mazeau is the story of a damsel who needs no prince charming to save her, she is an embodiment of the sacrifices of women who came before her, and a testament of their centuries old resilience.
Damsel starts off like a historical meet-cute romance we’ve grown up loving, where a young and beautiful woman is pursued for marriage by a prince-charming in exchange of wealth and prosperity. However, Damsel is more like a Bridgerton gone wrong. The woman in the story is deceived and has to save herself now from the clutches of a cruel Kingdom’s wrong-doings. More precisely – undo the clutches of sacrifice and lies, they tied her up with.
The story of Damsel is straight-forward and predictable, like most fantasy stories with a tinge of feminism. However, here the feminist undertones don’t really come together cohesively even when the writing throws metaphors at the pitfalls of arranged marriages. The writing gets inconsistent and less engaging once Elodie is thrown into the cave depths. She explores the cave for more than half of the duration with stakes that don’t rise high enough.
Elodie’s character development is rushed and unconvincing. One would ponder how a woman who doesn’t even question her father’s intentions, suddenly evolve in to the most clever survivor defeating and taming a fearsome vengeful dragon? It wouldn’t be a reach to claim that the dragon has a better character arc than Elodie. Well, a crisp writing could have given her an arc worth rooting for.
Besides a not so polished CGI work, Damsel also does grave injustice to some really talented actors like Angela Bassett and Robin Wright. The writing drags a story whose culmination can be seen from the moons and reduces the Elodie-dragon duo’s revenge pay-off to bare oblivion.
That being said, Damsel does have some moments that stand out. One such instance is the dream sequence of sister-solidarity where Elodie dreams of the (now dead) women who came before her. As they show her the path to survive, we can’t help but tear up at the countless number of women who perished to let the future generation of women thrive.
Although the film doesn’t work as a survival thriller or fantasy adventure fully, it works in parts as both. Millie Bobby Brown commands every scene like a star and hold your attention throughout. In short, Damsel needs no saving, but better writing.
Music and Other Departments?
One of the strongest assets of an already underwhelming film is its score and music. David Fleming’s score is chilling and aids the jumpscare moments in this monster horror cum survival thriller with ease. Larry Fong’s cinematography is decent enough, but quite not memorable.
Highlights?
Millie Bobby Brown
Background score
Metaphors of arranged marriage and politics
Drawbacks?
Outdated CGI
Dragged screenplay
Poorly developed characters
Under-used actors
Did I Enjoy It?
Selectively in parts.
Will You Recommend It?
Not Really. If you would love to watch anything fantasy, may be give it a try.
Damsel Movie Review by Binged Bureau
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