Originally posted March 23rd 2024 | 5 mins | Minor Spoilers!

I’ll be honest, I was terrified to watch this film. After taking a glance at the synopsis and seeing it was a Netflix original, I had already painted a picture of the two-dimensional, “strong female badass” slog it was going to be. I could already hear the cringey dialogue and feel the surface level fantasy-feminism in my soul. Yet I kept seeing it pop up here and there – and it wasn’t being slated like my inner pretentious film critic was reflexively doing – so I decided to undertake it as a test. After all, how could I honestly visualise a career in film criticism ahead of me if I shied away from watching things I wouldn’t like? If I never even gave them a chance? So I pulled up my laptop, made a mug cake and settled down one evening to watch Damsel, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Days later (2007), Intacto (2001)) and written by Dan Mazeau (Fast X (2023), Wrath of the Titans (2012)). For many people – including myself – these names probably won’t ring a bell and the main attraction will of course be Millie Bobbie Brown who takes the titular role of the ‘damsel’ in question, Elodie, a young maiden who marries into a royal family only to become part of a sacrifice to a dragon in order to repay old debts.

I went into this film begging for some nuance, hoping Netflix would at least make a sensible attempt into evaluating what a fearless fairy tale princess would look like while not making a mockery of the cultural significance and general appeal fairytales have always had. Too often a fairytale adaption won’t look too far inwards and instead of artfully defying stereotype will read more like a malicious self-hatred for its own tradition. Damsel almost falls into that trap with its opening narration that feels like something out of a TikTok book pitch and by selecting the current popular actress who seems to be making a career out of not-like-other-girls characters (at least from what I’ve seen).  

Thankfully, I’m happy to report that this film surprised me a little.  

It’s not a ground-breaking revision of fairy tale and female power and it definitely falls into some cliché that stinks of Netflix-isms. The nuance I was hoping for isn’t rife: for example, surrounding political royal marriages which is a large focus of the first act, where Elodie utters one throwaway line echoing the “love is the only good reason for a marriage” notion, and thus isn’t delveled into. But once the action sets in it is clear that commentary on monarchical society is not the main focus, so I loosened up a bit. We take a sharp turn  instead into the survival genre, fairytale through-and-through but handled with such seriousness that you really do get a sense of danger and tension. I saw someone on Letterboxd describe it as delving into Predator territory, and I fully agree with this. Damsel feels like a female-revision of Predator – although I would never have considered I’d one day be comparing MBB to Schwarzenegger, but here we are. The survival action feels very carefully thought out in relation to the films fairytale approach – caves and crystals, ropes and discarded weaponry from past martyrs, even the deus ex-mahcina magic glow worms can at least be gotten away with if we choose to completely submit to this fantasy world.

However, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that my praises for this film are condensed tightly into one act. Act one did surprisingly charm me to Millie Bobbie Brown in a way I didn’t expect; there’s no overuse of her scripted spunk like I was expecting and I find she makes a very charming fairytale princess, her soft features and classy voice melting perfectly into her magical surroundings. There are a few moments of stilted writing and performance, mostly in the form of her sister Flo who presents almost as a caricature of the pure-hearted little sister who is eventually going to be used as leverage against the protagonist. Act one also spends time subtly interweaving its underlying sense of unease surrounding the approaching wedding, gearing up for the trajectory shift, which is well-done but ultimately made slightly redundant if you’ve even so much as glanced at the one-line Netflix description before you clicked ‘play’.

Act two is where this film – and Bobbie Brown – shines, coaxing me to overlook my act one qualms and made me reconsider my harsh assumptions of it to begin with. No one can deny that Brown shoulders the solitary on-screen action boldly and enthrals the viewer through a realistic balance of her vulnerability with her resilience to survive. The use of interlinking femininity and resourcefulness through the gradual repurposing of the intricate royal wedding dress was both impressive and fascinating, adapting that feminine Predator energy that I keep being captivated by. I found myself genuinely mourning its lack of theatre release, as I could imagine this being a stellar cinematic experience. I can also respect any film that makes dragons terrifying again, even if the final act softens on this substantially, even going as far to write in one fatal design flaw that would make any fantasy or monster enthusiast want to rage quit.

Speaking of the final act, it unfortunately does decide to fade out the survival action to make room for Netflix cheese and tropey visuals of “badass warrior women”. It’s not utterly insufferable, but the disappointment comes when you consider that in the hands of a different creative vision that may have trimmed the fat and reworked some of the words to sound less like they were written by 16-year-old just starting out on her fantasy epic kick (been there babe, truly), it would have instantly boosted my rating to a four stars. The climax scene strays back into surface level captivation with things happening just to look or sound cool and feel badass which makes it ultimately fall flat for me. But I’m pleasantly surprised to find that, despite all this, the brilliant second act still haunts my imagination, making me anticipate an enthusiastic re-watch one day.

Damsel is currently available to watch on Netflix only.

Side note section:

If anyone has some recs for films or media that experiment similarly with a blend of fairytale & fantasy with survival action, I would be very interested in hearing them! This film may have opened up a niche – or maybe not so niche? – genre to me that I have never considered before, so do leave a comment below with your recs! Likewise, I’m always curious to hear what other people thought of this film – did you find it not as cringey as I make it out to be, or was the cheese just too much? Am I overselling the second act or just woefully unexperienced in survival films? Like most written reviews, there are petty thoughts I had that I didn’t feel the need to include, but for you guys there is no praise or problem too petty to mention. For example, did anyone else think her cutting her hair at the climax was completely unnecessary? Elodie wishes she was Mulan (and even then, as Xiran Jay Zhao taught us, cutting the hair was unnecessary!).

I had not seen the trailer before watching the film, and I do think it is guilty of the sin of showing too much. I can imagine not being as impressed by the this film had you already seen the trailer more than once, as YouTube music keeps trying to make me do recently.

All images taken from the above trailer or Google Images | Word count: 1036

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