[‘THE WOMAN KING’ Review] Viola Davis Reigns Supreme

Travis Leamons // Film Critic

Rated PG-13, 126 Minutes
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Starring: Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega, Jordan Bolger, Jimmy Odukoya, and Hero Fiennes Tiffin

The best historical epics aren’t always historically accurate. When done well, however, you can lose sight of authenticity and marvel at the spectacle. You can believe an Aussie like Mel Gibson turning Scottish in BRAVEHEART or Russell Crowe – huh, another Aussie – entertaining the Romans in GLADIATOR.

Now it is Viola’s turn.

As the titular hero, Viola Davis is a powerful force on screen in the long-standing immovable object that is Hollywood’s stereotyping of Africa as a bedrock for civil war or as the fertile land of human cargo to help colonize the new world for centuries. But with an opening crawl outlining the time and place our story is set (the 1820s, West African kingdom of Dahomey), the word Agojie wields the most power.

The Agojie is the all-female battalion of the Dahomey army. Their commanding general is Nanisca (Davis), while John Boyega mans the throne as King Ghezo. Dahomey is on the verge of change, having long supplied seafaring Portuguese with captured rebels who have themselves previously kidnapped Dahomey’s non-warrior elite for the purpose of slave trade. It’s a strange cycle: liberate your people only to imprison and sell the captors to accumulate wealth for your kingdom.

The cycle is about to be broken by moving away from capture and sell to producing and distributing palm oil. That is, if King Ghezo truly is a man for change. For this to occur, it means dealing with the Oyo, an empire whose army outnumbers Dahomey’s, and one evolved to use horses and muskets on the battlefield. They, too, are in the slave trade with the Portuguese, with whom Dahomey pays tribute. Their leader is Oba (Jimmy Odukoya), a villain so venomous and hated he makes LeBron James look like a boy scout.

The audience attending this preview showing of THE WOMAN KING was a raucous bunch. They didn’t like Oba one bit. This is a good sign in gauging response to the content and situations. The opening battle outlines who to root for; the rest is the audience reacting as expected.

This may explain why Gina Prince-Bythewood’s film is not very reflective of Dahomey’s participation in the slave trade. Basically, yeah, it’s happening, but we’re working to address the problem and moving forward. The issues are part of the subtext. What nuance the film lacks, the visuals more than makeup for it. This epic, full of form-fitted warrior garb and spectacular fight choreography from Daniel Hernandez (THE GREY MAN, CREED II), looks like it cost a king’s ransom. (In actuality, the price is about one-fourth of what it costs to make BLACK PANTHER.)

Using the historical backdrop of Dahomey and the warring Oyo takes us to fictional stories involving the Agojie women, like the teenage Nawi (Thuso Mbedu). Nawi is discarded by her overbearing father after she refuses to marry an abusive man twice her age. She is impetuous but adopts the ways of the Agojie while also forging a new path. Viola Davis may be scarred and battle-tested, but no matter the opponents she slays, Nanisca clings to an inescapable horror from her past. The sisterhood and warrior culture within the Agojie is magnificent. Though we never see them interact verbally with the male warriors – aside from grunts heard during a pain tolerance test between both sexes – you feel the mutual respect between both armies.

Diffusing the war between the two empires is a sub-plot involving Malik (Jordan Bolger), a mixed-race man – his mother was a slave from Dahomey and his father is Brazilian Portuguese – who is part of a slave trade contingent captained by his friend Ferreira (Hero Fiennes Tiffin). Malik has come to visit his mother’s birthplace and ends up becoming a love interest for Nawi. This auxiliary plot is minor, though it has well-meaning intentions.

No, the reason to watch THE WOMAN KING is for Davis. She reigns supreme. And up there with her is Lashana Lynch as Izogie, chief instructor to the young warrior hopefuls. Dwayne Johnson’s cocksure attitude and Herculean physique may make him the People’s Champion in terms of bankability but pray you don’t get Davis’s way. She can lay the smackdown and slit your throat and not blink twice.

I’d love to see Davis and Lynch do more projects together. They are a formidable duo. Until then, I’ll take them together in a popcorn epic that will tide audiences over until BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER is released.  

Grade: B