“Damsel” follows a lot of what we’ve seen from Netflix before. Lavish with a big star in the lead role who is also an executive producer on the project. But the story and characters rarely engage. This is matinee adventure at its most mediocre.
You can clearly see the three different acts the film has. The first 35 minutes are just set-up for the dragon and Millie Bobby Brown. Here we get to see the kingdom where Millie Bobby Brown is getting married, we establish her family, we establish the background to everything. It’s just quite a long time for something that isn’t all that exciting if I’m being completely honest.
But I understand that if you really like this film, or want to understand the world more, this is something that is needed.
The only thing I don’t understand is how often this royal family has sacrificed people to the dragon over the years without anyone in the rest of the world raising an eyebrow regarding where these women have gone.
The second act is when Millie Bobby Brown is down in the cave by the dragon and it’s just her and the dragon for at least half an hour. This for me was the highlight because it became a survival film and a bit like a game of chess.
However, I always knew where the movie was going and it never surprises me with what happened towards the third act. If you watch the trailer, you can also figure out pretty well what will happen.
The effects on the dragon look quite okay actually. After watching “Spaceman” a day apart, I feel like they put more effort into the dragon here than the spider in “Spaceman”.
There are also a few cool camera angles or scenes that still make the film never really boring, but it’s rarely good.
I think for some who want moderate entertainment the movie will do the job. But I’ve been here with previous Netflix movies and it feels like I’m just repeating myself at this point. Mediocre matinee adventure from Netflix, I can’t sum it up better than that.
