The Netflix fantasy adventure film Damsel puts a modern feminist spin on some of the most traditionally sexist tropes of the fairy tale genre. That really shouldn’t be too controversial a thing to do, but because our real world is such a dumpster fire right now, probably will be.
Some members of the viewing audience will embrace the movie as an inspiring story of female empowerment, while others will no doubt choose to throw toxic political buzzwords at it. The reality of what the movie is falls somewhere in between. In its zeal to be a revisionist take on an often regressive genre, Damsel ultimately winds up being too formulaic in other ways.
| Title: | Damsel |
| Year of Release: | 2024 |
| Director: | Juan Carlos Fresnadillo |
| Watched On: | Netflix |
In the type of medieval fantasy world depicted in a thousand fairy tales, as well as everything from Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones, the bleak and despairing kingdom to the north has suffered years of famine and hardship. Seemingly out of the blue, Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone) accepts an offer for an arranged marriage between his daughter Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown, star of Netflix’s Stranger Things) and the young prince of a more prosperous kingdom in the south.
Although the headstrong Elodie isn’t so keen on having her future decided for her, she reasons that living in wealth and luxury doesn’t sound like such a bad deal, especially if she gets to be a princess too. A quick yet resplendent wedding later, the new Princess Elodie sure feels like she’s gotten her happily ever after. Then, on her wedding night, in a somewhat odd and creepy ceremony, Elodie’s prince charming tosses her into a chasm to her presumed death.
As it turns out, this kingdom had been terrorized by a dragon centuries earlier. A former king struck a deal with the beast to sacrifice three of his daughters in exchange for sparing his life and his kingdom, and now every successive generation of royalty must do the same. Over time, they figured out that they could skirt this rule on a technicality and save their own bloodline by marrying random girls into the family and sacrificing these quickie princesses instead.
Surviving the fall, Elodie finds herself trapped in the dragon’s lair, hunted and taunted by the monster (which can speak, and is voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo). However, after shaking off her initial shock and fear, Elodie proves far stronger, more resilient and resourceful than anyone might have expected. While everyone else writes her off for dead and the dragon tries to make quick work of her, this damsel is having none of that shit. Fighting through her injuries, she’s determined to find a way out of the cave. And if all else fails, she’ll just have to Rambo up and slay the damn beast herself.
Having just written the last four paragraphs summarizing all that plot set-up, I feel like I could have just plugged in a link to the trailer instead. Every bit of what I wrote is just as evident in that three-minute clip. The biggest problem with Damsel is how predictable the movie is. Once you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve practically seen the whole thing and virtually nothing should surprise you. There’s hardly any reason to bother watching the rest of it play out, except to waste a hundred and some odd minutes of time.
Every element, from start to finish, feels utterly by-the-numbers and calculated for maximum audience pandering – from the pointed racial diversity of the kingdoms (I guess racism doesn’t exist in these Dark Ages) to the fan-service casting of former Princess Bride herself, Robin Wright, as the wicked queen.
Millie Bobby Brown makes an appealing heroine, and Shohreh Aghdashloo is suitably menacing as the dragon (though the logic of how a dragon could speak English is rather baffling; can it read and write as well?). On the other hand, Angela Bassett, who just received an Honorary Oscar this very week, is quite dreadful as Elodie’s stepmother, affecting an embarrassing attempt at what I presume is meant to be a vaguely British accent.
An obvious digital backlot production, the movie is heavy on CGI and green-screen and looks like hardly a frame of it was shot outside a soundstage. Once you accept that, it has acceptable enough visual effects and production values for a made-for-Netflix film that was never expected to last in the cultural consciousness for longer than a few weeks before it’s supplanted by a dozen newer and shinier things.
Damsel is entertaining enough in the moment you’re watching it to pass the time, but as hard as it tries, this particular fairy tale doesn’t seem destined to become a classic.
Video Streaming
Damsel streams on Netflix in 4K HDR at an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The 4K image is fairly sharp, though the movie is extremely CGI-heavy and most of the live-action photography has been softened a little to blend with the visual effects better. Much of the story takes place in a dark cave, but contrast and shadow detail are always sufficient enough to see everything. The dark setting allows highlights such as candles, flames, and glow worms to pop nicely in HDR.
Early scenes in the blight-stricken northern kingdom have a muted color palette by design, as do those in the cave. Daytime scenes in the wealthy southern kingdom have a much wider range of colors. However, even there, colors seem to lack richness or depth and seem slightly flat. I’m not sure if that was intentional or a digital color grading issue.
The Dolby Atmos soundtrack features aggressive use of the surround and overhead speakers as the dragon swoops all around the soundstage, terrorizing the heroine from every direction, including above. The mix also has a good number of bassy moments, but the low-end came across as a bit of a muddy rumble in my room and didn’t extend as deep as I might have liked.
The Video File Blog 