Damsel [2024]

April 10, 2024

It would appear that the superhero trend is slowly fading away and finally leaving room for other genres. Damsel is a visually alluring dark fantasy movie featuring lots of action and a generic story. We will be following Elodie, a young girl who instead of marrying a prince ends up in a dark place. She finds herself deep in an ancient mountain with a dragon looking for her. I don’t think I’ve spoiled anything for you with this short summary. After all, apart from a couple of nifty twists, the story here is very familiar. And extremely predictable. If it weren’t for a couple of mildly graphic scenes, you would think that Damsel is a movie for kids.

Then again, if I compare it to the fantasy movies we were watching in the eighties and nineties, it comes off as quite tame. However, there are also some deviations from the classic fantasy template here. Damsel is not an adventure where we will travel to many locations, meeting all sorts of creatures. Most of the story takes place in the menacing dark of the dragon’s lair. So, think The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what this movie is like. The special effects look awesome and the dragon is even better. The only problem is that it changes its size several times throughout the movie. If that’s a problem at all, who doesn’t like variable-size dragons?

To accompany these alluring visuals we have an eclectic score by Hans Zimmer. This is truly a movie that not only looks great but also sounds great. However, I also have to notice the lack of big sets and extras. So, forget about a grand wedding and stuff like that, this is more of a personal affair. The story is your classic fantasy tale with all the right ingredients. And while the initial twist was refreshing, the more time went on, the more the movie became illogical. I also didn’t like the script which was barely acceptable. Moreover, we will spend an ungodly amount of time listening to Elodie groaning and moaning as she looks for the way out of the dragon’s cave.

Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) sure has grown up into an excellent leading actress. She did the best she could with this material. Ray Winstone added gravitas to the whole deal along with Angela Bassett and Robin Wright. All of them were underused while playing generic characters without much wiggle room. I remember how Snow White and the Huntsman and even Maleficent managed to strike a balance between stunning visuals, well-developed characters, and an intriguing main story. All of this makes Damsel an eye candy that you’re going to forget about as soon as it’s finished.

And since this is a Netflix production, I’m sure you’re going to check it out if you already have a subscription. And while we’re talking about them, what’s up with Netflix and posters? It would appear that every Netflix movie has this basic poster that I could’ve made in less than 10 minutes. I do have to say that I’m happy we’re finally seeing big fantasy movies again. Remember, just a couple of months ago we had the pleasure of watching Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves. I’m a simple kind of a guy, give me a good dragon, and a couple of decent action scenes and I’m happy.

I know that a lot of people didn’t like this movie purely because they saw it as a “woke take on the fantasy subgenre”. However, I disagree with that assessment. Strong female characters are the staple of the fantasy genre. Just look at the Conan franchise and you’ll see what I mean. And the rest of the story follows the classic fantasy template to the fucking letter. And this includes one cringe finale. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo proved he can handle projects of this size which is quite important since he’s the guy behind the upcoming Disney live-action movie The Sword in the Stone.