Have You Been Watching...? Damsel (2024)

 

Mille Bobby Brown (aka Elle “Eleven” from Stranger Things) is a great actor. I loved her in Stranger Things, I love the Enola Holmes movies and she is a great role model for young women. She is in control of her career and executive produces movies she appears in, including this one, Damsel.

The movie is a Netflix production and is a subversive retelling of the traditional damsel in distress trope. In this case, our Damsel, Elodie, is the daughter of the lord of the unnamed country they reside in. The weather is cold, the population are freezing, food is scarce and they must do something to help their people. The answer?: marry Elodie off to the handsome prince of another, richer, country. Elodie reluctantly agrees, and the family head off to meet her would-be suitor with younger sister and step-mother in tow.

Unbeknownst to Elodie and her family, the Royal Family of Well-To-Do-Land “Aurea” have a secret, and it means danger for Elodie. Owing to pact made with a dragon generations before, Elodie finds herself fighting for her life in a labyrinthine network of caves, stalked at every turn by a molten lava-breathing dragon.

Being a Millie Bobby Brown movie, our heroine is a fierce, strong and independent woman who doesn’t need to rely on any man to keep her safe. This is a quality Prince Rich-Boy and his folks hadn’t counted on. There are some nice twists on the usual fairy-tale/fantasy tropes as the story progresses. Elodie, it transpires, is not the only one being lied to, and the step-mother plays against type by being not only genuinely lovely, but kind and caring.

The special effects are great, the Dragon is beautifully realised with a design that makes it really stand out. There are a number of well realised set-pieces utilising CGI, but it becomes wearisome the more we see it. The music for the movie is from renowned composer Hans Zimmer, and his style is ever present, which is a good thing. Casting is also great. Brown is her usual self in Elodie, Ray Winstone plays against type as a weak Lord, Angela Bassett is just lovely as the Step-mother (although the constant referring to her as “Step-mother” diminishes her role). Our dragon is voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo, and American-Iranian actress, known widely as Chrisjen Avasarala on The Expanse TV series. She imbues the character with a creepiness and compassion which adds so much to what could have been a by-the-numbers role. Love, Simon actor Nick Robinson plays Prince Henry of Aurea and is woefully underused, but this isn’t his story so its understandable. House of Cards star Robin Wright plays Henry’s mother Queen Isabelle, and if this movie was a panto, you’d “boo” every time she appears. She’s definitely the dominant character in that Royal Family as her husband the king (Milo Twomey) barely has a word in the whole film.

The script is where the movie falls down. Characterisation beyond Elodie is next-to-non-existant. The plot barely makes any sense. Who made the pact between the dragon and Royals? Why is it even there? The Dragon has no issue leaving the cave so why doesn’t it just pop out one day and blast the city away? The whole "getting girls into the cave for the Dragon" just seems an elaborate plan for no real pay-off. Surely word would have gotten around from other countries that women keep marrying the Prince and disappearing! Something happens in the film between Isabelle and Elodie’s sister Floria (Brooke Carter) that makes the whole scheme pointless. Why didn’t they just do that from the outset?

Overall, the movie isn’t terrible and is a decent enough fantasy flick, if you're not expecting anything too much. It’s probably a bit too scary for young viewers, though

Year: 2024

Rating: 6/10

Availability: at the time of writing, streaming on Netflix