Damsel
Synopsis: A dutiful damsel agrees to marry a handsome prince, only to find the royal family has recruited her as a sacrifice to repay an ancient debt.
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Starring: Millie Bobbie Brown, Ray Winstone, Angela Bassett & Robin Wright
Runtime: 1 hour 48 mins
Genre: Fantasy adventure
IMDb : Click Here
Millie Bobbie Brown (engaged to Jake Bongiovi, son of rock legend Jon Bon Jovi) plays Elodie, a princess married off to save a kingdom but at the potential cost of her own life. She is the damsel, but it is we the audience that is very much in distress, this was a terrible movie.
Let's break it down
Story and Plot
This laughably predictable fantasy-adventure written by Dan Manzeau who brought us such classics as Fast X (2023) and Clash of the Titans (2012) is stuffed with "Yawn - we've seen it before" plot points that leads to the inevitable conclusion. The biggest complaint is it just didn't feel real at any stage. Talk about low stakes, this had no stakes, There is a complete lack of tension which put this movie firmly into Sand Timer territory (See 4 Types of Movies at top of homepage). Despite all of Elodie's hardships and obstacles which includes being chased around a series of caverns in scenes pretty much ripped from The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (2013), you just know she is never really in danger, and that everything will be just fine in the end.
Cast
Millie Bobbie Brown is a very good actress (She is fantastic in Stranger Things) as is Robin Wright and Angela Bassett is an acting legend but the clunky stilted dialogue stunts the casts performances. The great Ray Winstone is staggeringly miscast as Elodie's father and as a result along with the rest of his peers phones in his performance. What's more I just couldn't get over the fact that as everything looked so false, it felt like the actors were just playing dress-up, like I was just watching a very bad pantomime.
CGI and Look of the Movie
What made the story not feel real as well was the way the movie looked. Set in some indeterminant time around the 18th Century the look is way too clean, everything is over polished and the DP Larry Fong made the locales (Which are hindered by really bad and obvious CGI) look too gaudy.
There was clearly not enough of the $60-70 million dollar production budget to allow for anything to be shot on location. The movie takes the Jungle Cruise (2021) approach to "outdoor" shooting.
Action
You've seen it all before, heroine in danger, heroine escapes, she get's into more danger, and oh my god she escapes again...rinse wash repeat.
Music and Score
Music was by David Fleming. It's a nice enough score but pretty run of the mill. Surprised to learn it was produced by Hans Zimmer.
A paint-by-numbers misfire for both Netflix and Millie Bobby Brown. This desultory fantasy-adventure is more fatal than femme fatale.
Verdict - One to Miss
No comments:
Post a Comment