3rd Movie: Damsel

 Greetings! Today, I decided to watch a movie and chose a fantasy film because it's Sunday. Although I read fantasy genres I thought I would the movie a try. It might surprise me. The film is named Damsel.

The film Damsel is a 2024 American dark fantasy film directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and written by Dan Mazeau. Millie Bobby Brown stars as Elodie, a young woman who accepts a marriage proposal only to realize that she is being used to repay a royal family's ancient debts and must now escape while surviving attacks from the dragon lurking in the chasm. The rest of the principal cast consists of Ray Winstone, Nick Robinson, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Angela Bassett, and Robin Wright.

 Damsel began streaming on Netflix to mixed reviews on March 8, 2024.

Running time  110 minutes

Country             United States

Language         English

Plot

The first king of Aurea leads a futile attack on a dragon residing in his realm. All the king's men are killed, leaving the king at the Dragon's mercy.

 

Centuries later, Elodie, the daughter of Lord Bayford, receives a proposal from Queen Isabelle of Aurea to marry her son, Prince Henry. On her father's urging, Elodie agrees to the marriage so her bride price can help their impoverished people. Upon arriving in Aurea, Elodie and Henry are initially uninterested in each other, but begin to bond as they share a desire to travel. Elodie's stepmother, Lady Bayford, becomes suspicious of the motives of Queen Isabelle, leading her to futilely implore Elodie to end the engagement.

 

After the wedding, Elodie and Henry take part in an ancient ritual in the mountains, supposedly to celebrate their union. Isabelle describes the pact between the first king and the Dragon, where he had to sacrifice his three daughters to ensure peace between his people and the dragon. Following a ceremony where their palms are cut and held together, Henry carries Elodie across the narrow path over the Dragon's lair, then at Isabelle's behest throws her down the chasm.

 

Recovering from the fall, Elodie realizes that she is an actual sacrifice. She escapes the Dragon after it burns her leg, and discovers an illuminated cave filled with glowing silk worms, which she collects as a light source. Elodie reaches a chamber with the note "Safe Here She Cannot Reach", the names of past victims, and a map carved into the wall. While Elodie sleeps, the worms heal the burn on her leg.

 

Elodie follows the map to a dead end at a high vertical drop on the mountainside. She discovers the remains of dead dragon hatchlings, explaining the reason for the royal sacrifices. A rescue party led by Lord Bayford arrives. The Dragon kills them, including Lord Bayford, but the distraction allows Elodie to escape the mountain. She takes one of the rescue party's horses and hides under a rock as the Dragon burns the surrounding area in an unsuccessful pursuit.

 

Alerted by the conflagration that Elodie's sacrifice has failed, Isabelle resorts to kidnapping Elodie's younger sister Floria as a replacement. After learning this from a desperate Lady Bayford, Elodie returns to the mountain to rescue Floria, who the dragon has left alive as bait.

 

Elodie creates a diversion to reach Floria. Telling her sister to hide, she confronts the Dragon and tries to convince her that they were deceived by the Aureans: by joining their cut hands at the wedding, the blood of the brides and the Aurean royals mingled, making the Dragon think that the princesses were of Aurean descent. Refusing to believe Elodie, the Dragon states that the first king's assault was unprovoked, and then attacks her. The two battle until Elodie tricks the Dragon into burning herself. With the Dragon at her mercy, she convinces the Dragon of the truth and heals both of them with the glowing worms.

 

Elodie then interrupts the wedding of another sacrifice at the palace, exposing the Aurean royal family's treachery. Elodie advises the new bride and her family to flee, and the Dragon burns the palace with all the Aurean royals and nobles inside. Henry, remorseful for his actions, is shown to accept his fate. Days later, Elodie, Floria, and Lady Bayford sail home, loaded with supplies and accompanied by the Dragon.

Novel

Author Evelyn Skye released a novelization of the film in advance. She stated: "The easiest way to think about it is this: Dan Mazeau wrote the original screenplay. I was able to read an early draft and was given free rein to write my own version of the story, which ultimately became the novel. Both the novel and the movie may stem from the same origin, but they are also each their own unique works of art"

 The novel was published by Penguin Random House on April 18, 2023.

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 57% of 125 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.5/10

Personal opinion

Ready, I ended up watching the movie, and I really liked it pretty much, the protagonist stayed in the beginning their story is not one of heroic chivalry save the damsel, and really that's happened, the damsel saved herself and her family. Also save the best, a dragon.  The film was consistently exciting, and I felt compelled to keep to see what would happen next. The suspense in this movie is remarkable. I would rate it 8.5 out of 10.