Damsel (2024) Review!!

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. Thrown into a cave with a fire-breathing dragon, she must rely on her wits and will to survive.

My Take – Like most, I too love a good fantasy story. Especially a one that offers a revisionist take on the age-old fairy tale formula. For example, The Princess (2022) which saw the titular young heroine finding herself in a The Raid: Redemption (2011) type situation and forced to battle enemies on each floor to get to the main antagonist.

Joining this sub-genre of empowering fantasies is this latest Netflix offering starring Millie Bobbie Brown, which offers a refreshing take on the damsel in distress trope and turns it darkly on its head by throwing a sacrifice duplicity into the mix.

With a devious kingdom, a nasty fire-breathing dragon, and a bold and empowered take on the stereotype, the film certainly has many of the ingredients for a bit of sword-swinging, corset-wearing fun. Resulting in a fantasy actioner that is both fresh and entertaining enough.

Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intruders, 28 Weeks Later) and written by Dan Mazeau (Wrath of the Titans, Fast X), this one is the typical guilty pleasure film to watch if you are looking for something visually appealing and can also keep one constantly engaged with its story about sheer bravery and heartfelt choices.

Sure, the film never delivers any truly shocking narrative twists as the complete arc of its story will be immediately clear to dedicated fantasy fans and casual viewers alike, but that doesn’t stop it from making the most out of many of its best moments.

Yes, the film‘s self-serious tone and vocalizations of its already clear feminist themes may make some fans long for a more lighthearted, joyous romp like last year’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, but casual audience will be able to appreciate its masterful use of visual effects and fascinating inclusion of classical fairy tale tropes with an entirely new structure to it.

The story follows Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown), a young princess living in an impoverished kingdom, who along with her younger sister, Floria (Brooke Carter), spends her days gathering firewood to help her father’s subjects get through another harsh winter, but the future does not look bright.

However, hope comes in the form of a traveling party from the prosperous Kingdom of Aurea, who presents her father, Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone), with a proposal to marry Elodie to their prince, Henry (Nick Robinson). An alliance which in turn will bring great wealth. After traveling to Aurea to meet her future husband with her family, including her caring stepmother (Angela Bassett), Elodie finds herself soon turn ecstatic about her seemingly idyllic future, despite meeting the seemingly icy mother, Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright).

But, things turn out not to be what they seem when Elodie is sacrificed and thrown into a pit shortly after her wedding as part of a dark, generations-spanning deal between the Aurea royal family and a hungry dragon (voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo) that has lived on their island longer than them.

Alone and tormented by her fire-breathing hunter, Elodie finds herself fighting for her very survival in a labyrinthine mountain that has long served not only as its dragon’s home but also as a graveyard for all the princesses who have been previously sacrificed.

The film touches upon many topics such as marriage, love, sacrifice, but doesn’t come off as preachy. There is an edge to it that fantasy adventures often lack. For one thing, it is a lot more violent than viewers might expect; when characters are injured or even killed, it is with the sort of violence that makes one flinch. The fight scenes and Elodie’s solo moments with the dragon are superb.

The script is at its weakest in the middle half where it gets overly expositionary. While it is filled with twists and turns every step of the way, the film lacks the character depth that could have made it great.

Visually, the film is very impressive as it creates a fascinating new world for the audience to explore, with all the nuances, wonder, and fear this entails. The film also handles its special effects well: any scene that features fire or the dragon is breathtaking and a joy to look at.

Also, I loved the design of the dragon as a true fable creature. With gold laminated into her skin, the dragon has the shape of a werewolf as the four legs are of a strangely human-looking nature. Oh, and wings as well as a lava-like fire threatening to demolish everything in her path.

Performance wise, Millie Bobby Brown shines the brightest in the film, in a lead role that was not easy to pull off: within a short time and only little dialogue, she immediately draws the audience on her side. The film ranks firmly as her most physically taxing project to date. She makes you feel every scrape and bruise that Elodie endures over the course of her sweaty, frequently terrifying journey.

Outside of Brown, Robin Wright and Angela Bassett manage to stand out. Shohreh Aghdashloo lends her distinctive voice to the film’s dragon, making the monster effectively scary. In supporting turns, Ray Winstone, Nick Robinson, and Brooke Carter are effective. On the whole, ‘Damsel’ is an earnestly made fantasy adventure that is fairly entertaining and enjoyable.