Damsel. Millie Bobby Brown as Elodie in Damsel. Cr. Netflix ©2023
Courtney Howard // Film Critic
DAMSEL
Rated PG-13, 1 hour and 48 minutes
Directed by: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Ray Winstone, Angela Bassett, Brooke Carter, Nick Robinson, Robin Wright, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Milo Twomey
If your bar is set low enough, like extremely low, DAMSEL will probably serve to please. Still, a betrayed bride fending off a fire-breathing dragon during medieval times should be a whole heck of a lot more entertaining than it actually is in execution. Littered with every obvious cliché in the proverbial book, including male movie executives’ pandering iteration of a “Strong Female Character” in the lead, this action-adventure falls far short of the heights THE PRINCESS surmounted on a different streaming service (Hulu, which incidentally took it off their servers like a bunch of dopes). Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s film vibes on the same exact key as MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL and SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, all of which share Joe Roth as a producer, and delivers a similar modicum of satisfaction.
Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown) is someone who would sacrifice her well-being for the betterment of her brethren – in fact, that’s exactly what she does when her calculating father Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone) and social climbing stepmother Lady Bayford (Angela Bassett) arrange for her hand in marriage. This transactional opportunity – marrying off his eldest daughter to the Island Kingdom of Oria’s charming Prince Henry (Nick Robinson) – comes with a dowry, providing their village with an abundance of wealth, food and care they so desperately need for survival. And though Elodie is reluctant, she accepts this proposal to help her community.
Ignoring her initial intuition, Elodie, along with her little sister Floria (Brooke Carter), arrive in Oria, marveling at the sprawling vineyards, massive mountain range and the palace’s warm, golden opulence. Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright) and her husband King Roderick (Milo Twomey) have maintained harmony and peace for many years and anticipate Elodie’s inclusion will continue their graceful reign. However, despite encountering a few warning signs, Elodie is a smitten kitten over her handsome beau – right up until he yeets her off a bridge during an ancient ceremony and into the lair of a talking, stalking, princess-eating dragon (voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo, whose sonic snarls sound more akin to Ana Faris’ demonic voice from THE HOUSE BUNNY than Benedict Cumberbatch’s Smaug from THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG).
The stakes – both internal and external – impacting Elodie’s journey towards freedom are only as good as the cave’s natural obstacles and escape rooms. It’s there where Fresnadillo and screenwriter Dan Mazeau coax out some tension and imaginative thrills. Sadly, they don’t find a good pace at which Elodie’s challenges, limitations and revelations present themselves for our beguiling wonderment. We’re typically ahead of the action. These segments are either too slow (like her discovery that she’s not the first bride this has happened to) or quickly rushed through (like the crystal rock climb). Metaphors, allusions and symbolism are as subtle as an anvil drop. David Fleming’s score, utilizing a choir of intensifying female voices, cleverly manifests as Elodie’s inner voice, but does too much of the heavy lifting emphasizing what we should be feeling at any given moment.
The beastly behemoth’s first appearance is reductive of so many monster movies before it, like that of the big bad in ALIEN and JAWS – obscured until it’s finally shown in full glory in the 3rd act (Patrick Tatopoulos’ creature design is pretty darn cool). While Elodie’s wardrobe is insightfully designed to shed and shred the more confident and self-sufficient she becomes, using the many layers of her gown to defend herself against threats, it falls into the trope of “PG-13 action heroine in a tank top” by act 2. The big action set pieces also underwhelm as it never escapes looking like it was shot against a substandard Volume background. The lone authentic spectacle that’s genuinely earned is gifted to us by Amanda Monk’s lavishly textured, dazzlingly intricate costume designs.
As another action vehicle for Brown (this time without the 4th-wall-breaking charm and mystery of the ENOLA HOLMES series) and another period film where Wright plays royalty and dons a red gown, this film doesn’t do much in the way of innovating, subverting, or advancing the genre. It would rather stay in its comfort zone as rote, stagnant commentary on feminine subjugation by way of girlboss slaying.
Grade: C-
DAMSEL streams exclusively on Netflix on March 8.
