Prince Charming has been cancelled. No longer must a fairytale princess be a passive participant in her own story, waiting for a dashing suitor to identify her shoe size using a misplaced glass slipper, break an evil enchantment by puckering up for true love’s kiss, or rouse her from an unfortunate 100-year slumber induced by the prick of a finger on a cursed spinning wheel.
Some girls have all the bad luck.
Damsels are now content without the distress. They are empowered to mould their own destinies and casually contemplate romance providing that it doesn’t negatively impact sisterly solidarity or their mental wellbeing. Happy ever afters don’t begin with a ring on the wedding finger.
Action-packed fun isn’t just for boys in Damsel, led by Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown. She plays young noblewoman Elodie, who trades the Upside Down for the lair of a fire-breathing dragon.
Flung into the flaming abyss by her intended (Nick Robinson) to repay an ancient debt, the plucky heroine surmises that no knight in shining armour is coming to rescue her and she must engineer her own escape.
Damsel is an entertaining watch with immersive special effects. Fantasy drips in darkness under the direction of
28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who infuses horror and thriller elements in a fast-paced drama with some rather harrowing moments.
Brown’s portrayal of courageous and determined sacrifice remains convincing, if a little melodramatic, and holds up in close-quarters scenes with the dragon, which is rendered convincingly through impressive digital wizardry.
Dialogue is a little stilted, but co-stars Ray Winstone, Angela Bassett and Robin Wright carve emotion from the wooden script.
Fresnadillo’s film truly comes into its own as the pace quickens and the temperature spikes in the beast’s hunting ground.
The heat is on.
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