Damsel (2024)

Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Ray Winstone, Angela Bassett

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.

Bringing a fantasy tale to life is easy nowadays thanks to CGI. Sadly, the more I see how movies are made these days, the less I enjoy watching latest releases. Everything is fake, added with CGI in post-production, and hardly ever still ‘shot on location’. To the seasoned eye it is easy to spot what is real and what is not.

A film like ‘Damsel’ requires a lot of CGI due to its fantastical subject matter. Although it was easy to see the added post-production imagery, the film does look good on screen, and I admire actors nowadays for their ability to interact with ‘nothing’, using only their imagination to guide them.

But lets get back to ‘Damsel’. Elodie is chosen to marry Prince Henry. Although reluctant at first, her father tells her it would be best for their people for her to marry the wealthy prince. And so the family sails to Aurea. Arriving there, everything seems too good to be true: the magnificent castle, the beautiful scenery, the hospitality… And then, after a beautiful fairytale wedding, the Royal Family’s true intentions become clear – but this time they underestimated the new bride!

Story goes the royal family’s ancestors killed three baby dragons. In order for them to continue living on the lands, the dragon demands three sacrifices in return – and this is where the bride comes in. (I enjoyed the bond between Elodie and her younger sister Floria, who plays a big part in the movie later).

The costumes are stunning and I enjoyed the score, and the cinematography. I could see Millie Bobby Brown gave it her best as Elodie, the damsel in distress. I just didn’t think she was strong enough for the demanding role (possibly because I found her too young for the part). Think Betty Gilpin in ‘The Hunt’, Samara Weaving in ‘Ready or Not’, or Shauna Macdonald in ‘The Descent’. They were very strong actresses who did their characters justice.

The film’s biggest flaw (for me) was when Elodie found a map carved in rock showing her a way out of the cave. Who carved it? Whoever was trapped before her could not possibly have known the way out. And if the previous bride indeed made it out, did she go back to the chamber to draw the map??

Apart from this obvious flaw, the film was indeed entertaining and I really enjoyed it. This is a survival story, and we all enjoy survival stories, don’t we? The film felt like a cross between ‘Ready or Not’, ‘The Descent Part 1 AND 2’ (if you’ve seen both movies, you’ll understand why I reference both), and even the Russian film ‘I am Dragon’, or ‘On-Drakon’ to credit its original title.

Would I watch it again? I enjoyed it, so yes, I would.