The Netflix original film attracts viewers with a damsel in distress who can save herself.
The Netflix Original “Damsel” starring Millie Bobby Brown was released on Friday, Mar. 8 giving viewers a new look at a damsel in distress with no man to save her. The movie takes place in a fantasy world with royal families, an enchanting castle and a dragon made out to be the enemy.
Millie Bobby Brown is most known for her role as Eleven in the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things,” where she plays a young girl with supernatural powers she uses to defend herself and her friends from anyone and anything out to get them. Like her successful role in the supernatural show, Brown plays a strong lead role as a high-status damsel from a northern village struggling to survive the harsh environment.
Her father Lord Bayford, played by Ray Winstone, and her stepmother Lady Bayford, played by Angela Bassett, receive an invitation in the form of a marriage proposal for Elodie to marry the prince of Aurea. Elodie accepts the offer as it will save her village from starvation and death. Unfortunately, after the marriage ceremony, Elodie finds herself to be the sacrifice to an old ritual. The royal family has been performing the ritual for generations where three women are sacrificed to a dragon as part of a deal made during the birth of Aurea.
Elodie is thrown down into a pit and into the caves of the mountain range near the castle by her new husband. She is forced to survive the fire-breathing dragon and use her own skills to make it out alive. While trying to escape, she learns about all the princesses who came before her and died in the cave. Elodie learns the secrets of the royal family and the lies behind the ritual.
The movie felt very fast-paced, the opening of the movie giving the background of Elodie’s home was less than four minutes. The next scene viewers see is the family stepping off the ship and arriving at Aurea. Although the simple opening gave viewers an understandable backstory, it would have been nice to see more of Elodie’s home before immediately rushing toward her being thrown into a cave to be eaten by a dragon.
Throughout Elodie’s journey through the caves trying to run from the dragon, she learns about the royal family’s story with the fire-breathing beast. Elodie figures out the trick the family has been playing on the dragon and she has plenty of chances to explain to the dragon instead of running every time the beast taunts her.
Brown is a strong actress as viewers have seen in her previous work “Stranger Things,” as well as her lead role as Enola, in the “Enola Holmes” movies. Her role as Elodie only added to the proof of her dedication to the job. Going as far as facing her fear of claustrophobia for scenes to the point where all the cries of terror are real.
This movie was released during National Women’s month, which added to the movie since both main characters Elodie and the dragon were female. It is rare to see a movie where there is no main male character. This movie did a great job of keeping women in the spotlight while still including side male characters in the storyline.
Overall the movie was entertaining and was built on a solid idea, but there were too many points in the storyline where everything could have been resolved much earlier. For example, when Elodie figured out why the dragon thinks she is a daughter of the royal family early in the movie, she waited until she came face to face with the beast at the end of the movie to explain.
This movie is a great way of stepping away from the idea of a man always saving a woman and hopefully setting the foundation for more movies surrounding a strong independent woman.