In recent decades, there has been the ongoing effort in storytelling to help elevate fantasy-genre Princesses tropes towards saving themselves, rather than relying on a wayward Prince Charming. The results have been very hit-and-miss. Sometimes they are written so unbelievably modern as to be a disservice to the story. Other times it feels like just lip service. And there’s also the challenge that the fantasy genre itself has often struggled to stick the landing. With Netflix’s latest film, “Damsel,” we finally have a fantasy that is a genuinely entertaining and empowering, while at the same time making sense.
Millie Bobby Brown (who also served as an Executive Producer on the film) leads the cast as Elodie, the eldest daughter of Lord Bayford (played by Ray Winstone), a landed noble whose lands are impoverished and who needs to seek external support to help prop up his holdings. After arranging a marriage with a distant, wealthy kingdom to deliver Elodie to be the bride of Prince Henry (Nick Robenson).
Everything rolls along nicely, albeit with some undertones of something else being afoot, up through the wedding itself. Then, as she and her new husband are escorted to participate in an ancient ceremony, she finds that centuries before, the King had made a pact to deliver a sacrifice for each generation to the beast that lives within a nearby mountain—a huge and ancient dragon.
Before she realizes it, she has been flung into a pit entrance into the depths of the mountain, and finds herself fleeing for her life from a dragon who is set upon its own vengeance. The action is well-shot, and even in the depths of the mountain lair, you can still see what is going on. While director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo does not have a long resume, he did write and direct “28-Weeks Later,” so you know tension he can do in droves.
The story evolves along at a good clip, the effects are solid, and the dragon is wonderfully rendered, and perfectly voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo (“The Expanse“). The dragon is a fierce menace, not one too glibly drawn, and with cunning. He has found himself probably in my top three cinematic fantasy dragons of all time (falling only behind Vermithrax and only slightly behind Draco). There isn’t any of the characters who are simply inept at being themselves, which is an all too common failing in the genre.
In modern strong-princess tellings, very often the Princess is so strong, it seems like their own societal ideas of duty, obligation, or tradition are done away with; in many cases “I don’t want to be married” or “I don’t care about noblesse oblige” – Eloise establishes that she is her own person and those around her acknowledge her strengths. But when the duty of her own people needs her, she does what is needed, but also doesn’t lose herself in doing so.
The film has some graphic deaths (actually a respectable number of them), so if you have younger children who want to watch it, just be aware that there are more than a few people that are disposed of in various ways by the dragon.
Fantasy films are always a particular challenge to find good ones, and when they’re bad, they’re so horrible they are simply ignored to have ever existed. “Damsel” is one however, that will likely be with us for a while.
Rating: 7 stars out of 10
“Damsel” hits Netflix March 8th, 2024. Check out the trailer now:
