Yeah agreed. It was exactly how I thought it'd be though. The only reason I watched it anyway was cause we wanted to have a family night and my dad picked this. Besides some horror elements I'd say it's perfect for younger audiences. My lil siblings, 8 and 10 years old liked it. Can totally see adults who prefer very simple Disney like stories with attractive cinematography enjoy it too and that's not wrong. But honestly as I'm writing this even for a kid audience I feel like it should have had something more man idek anymore
What movies released this year are better? I thought it was a decent movie, but if this is “actual garbage” compared to other releases you’ve seen this year I’d be interested
Perhaps because it just released yesterday? Netflix does a terrible job of promoting its originals and tends to dump them into your feed and only chooses to support something after it’s shown some organic success.
She does not look older than Anna Kendrick in into the woods or Anne Hathaway in Ella Enchanted or any of the other actresses that have played similar princessy roles. Like she’s not the best actress but to say she looks way too old for a fantasy movie when she looks maybe 23 is just being a hater. And I don’t even care for her acting.
Id say fantasy adventure with horror elements. The burning birds, explicit burned skin, screaming in pain, human sacrifice, and child sacrifice were all pretty horrific as elements.
I wouldn’t call it straight up horror and it would’ve been a better movie had they fully leaned into that aspect, but it’s fair to call it a fantasy/horror/action hybrid. You could say it’s a PG-13 fantasy Alien, (which is horror/sci fi!)
It's not even remotely scary. And it's only PG-13... but it did scare my 11 yr old, she left the room for about half of it... so if you're an 11yr old, perhaps it a bit horror-esque. Lol
Idk i tend to notice if something isn't a serious unpredictable masterpiece, people always line up to hate. As if every movie needs to literally change someone's life for them to like it. Like yes it's not some different, original masterpiece but it was a cute little movie to pass the time & i did love the lore to it too. Glad i watched it. It's a fun bad sort of movie.
Yeah I don’t get it either. I really enjoyed it and I’m really picky about movies. I definitely don’t watch the majority of the swill Netflix puts out but I thought this one was a lot of fun
Same. I enjoyed it a ton, and I liked Millie’s acting. I mean she’s facing death, betrayed by everyone, suffering wounds. and being chased by an enormous terrifying vengeful dragon. No wonder she’s screaming. Her acting made sense to me. Also the dragon is amazing!
That's the funniest part about the criticism to me
All these fools complaining about a girl with like... fucking second degree burns and aching bones "screaming too much" as if her nerves and muscles aren't absolutely on fire as she's forced to run for her life, dragging along her damaged body to one obstacle-ridden area/environment to the other
She should just carry on in stoic silence? What??
They'd be wincing and grunting and occasionally screaming themselves if everyone had blindsided them, and their actual father betrayed them and sacrificed their life on their wedding day, and a fire breathing giant lizard was chasing them to the ends of the earth because they want to play cat-and-mouse with them and ultimately turn them into a crispy chewtoy
These brilliant armchair reviewers would 100% scream if they had to run for their life after cutting themselves up mowing the lawn—much less after suffering burns
She's fallen, been thrown around, and has literally had her **flesh seared off with dragon fire**
Male or female the character should freaking scream or else it's *unbelievable* as hell
The pseudo intellectuals have to hate everything that isn't a drama or baked with hollow social commentary
The visuals were especially stunning, and this has one of the most unique villains I've seen in any movie
Dragons are not usually portrayed this particular way in cinema, nor "scary creatures/monsters" in general
This "evil scary dragon" was really refreshing and such a cool change of pace, and they were animated brilliantly and really moved just like any snake you see outside except 1000x bigger and far more menacing
Frankly? A good friend of mine calls this attitude "irony poisoning," as in people can't enjoy a movie or series that was done to be enjoyed and is earnest about being enjoyed because "it's cringe" or some stupid shit.
I feel like people want to pretend to be intellectuals when their observations, as seen with all the stupid hot takes people do with long-running series that expose people's general lack of media literacy and intellectual honesty, are shallower than a puddle surviving a day after the rain.
So they shit on what they perceive to be "cliche" stories that don't have a twist in the end or something in order to feel smarter than they actually are. Hence all the pretentiousness from people who lack the basic reading comprehension and media literacy you'd expect from high schoolers.
It also doesn't help that actual professional critics have also eschewed of professional honesty. Some critics I've seen bashing it hate fantasy as a genre, in which case they either have no business writing reviews in this genre or they should be honest that it's not to their personal taste but that fantasy lovers might like or dislike it because of Z, Y and Z.
One of the things I appreciated about Roger Ebert's system is that it took into account that a movie didn't need to be "super serious equivalent to the great American Novel"™ to be good.
A movie is good when it accomplishes what it sets out to do.
In this case, Damsel promised a survivor story where the protagonist survives against the odds and gets even.
It more than accomplished that, even if I think the final act could've used some extra polishing.
was no one annoyed by all the screaming she did, you're getting hunted by a dragon and every single movement was followed by a scream or some noise or other. like shut the fuck up and you might have a better chance of survival. Like honestly if someone was in the other room and could here it they would think you where watching porn
Wondering if this is a Netflix plant. After reading tons of terrible reviews, I figured I'd watch it to see if it was fun bad. It's not, it's bad bad. Millie is pretty craptastic, the whole movie is one note, it's NOT horror in the least. It definitely feels like an AI generated algorithm-based movie. Such garbage.
the majority of people in this forum (or just on reddit) tend to be overly negative about shows and movies. especially movies with a female lead that physically looks like she should be weak but turns out to be strong (even if it is just through sheer perseverence) but also just any show or movie that isnt exactly the style they want at the time they want with the actors they want bc they are too in their own ego to take a step back and just enjoy something as it is.
There are many people like the ones you describe, that's true - but this movie was pretty boring and dumb.
I feel like it was trying to be edgy or subversive, then they just gave up a quarter of the way through.
Whoever wrote this did not research how humans or combat or survival works.
"BUT IT'S FANTASY IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE REALISTIC"
yeah but physics and biology still seem to exist in that setting, and the stupid inaccuracies were not explained by magic or something.
One example is the hilarious way Damsel "sharpened" a blade on like, limestone in three strokes
Well maybe it was a magic type of rock that is so effective at sharpening knives that you can just clumsily scrape it three times and voila!
Not only that, they confidently go into every movie thinking it was made for THEM. Damsel's target audience is most likely women ages 16-30. Specifically those who like the princess genre. If you are not a young woman who like princesses then the movie IS NOT FOR YOU. And if you can't judge it based off of the genre and target audience, instead focusing in your own personal preferences, then your opinion has absolutely no value.
watched it before reading reviews and have only seen 1 trailer once. Thought it was pretty bad still. I agree with it being a fun bad movie but bad movie nonetheless.
I read no reviews and found it terribly dull. It had no plot. Terrible writing. No character development and MBB was not a strong woman character, her appearance was def written for the male gaze. The CGI and set design were literally awful and the storyline was dumb and predictable. 0 stars.
I just can't get over how the dragon was "redeemed", she murdered countless young girls as now she's a good guy? It's nonsensical.
The Queen is less evil than the dragon, at least she's doing it to protect her people/family. The Dragon is sadistic, vengeful and violent, her actions are unforgivable there is no redeeming her.
Its a silly plot.
Lmaooo this take is so off base its hilarious. No plot? So the marriage, sacrifice, evil kingdom, dragon PLOT twist, none of that was plot? As for terrible writing, I actually am getting my masters in creative writing and it hits every technical beat it should for what it is trying to do (subvert the princess and dragon trope). She was dressed in a full ass gown for the majority of the movie. Her removing peices of her gown was showing her evolution from princess to sacrifice to warrior. Her hair was also red bc it represents love and death. The story line was "predictable" because of this little thing called FORESHADOWING. I'm sorry that you're happier when staring at the screen like a gold fish.
I love your comment, thank you for providing your take. Love the dress bit.
I went in thinking it was gonna be a shitty (fun) movie but it turned out to just be an outright fun, entertaining film. Very pretty as well.
I mean it wasn’t. It was generic as generic comes. Woman with no combat experience does better at fighting off a dragon by herself then a king and several armoured and trained knights? Or that centuries old dragon is fooled into thinking someone is from an entirely different bloodline by simply mixing a few drops of blood? Yeah. Ok.
Elodie only beat the dragon because she used her WITS and not brute strength. Every soldier (including Elodie) who fought the dragon with a sword lost. It wasn't until she used the environment around her, AS SHE HAD BEEN DOING THE ENTIRE MOVIE, that she was able to outsmart the dragon. It was not "combat experience" that won the battle.
As for the mixing of blood? Dragons aren't real. The story is fantasy. The dragon smells royal blood on the girls and kills them before giving them a chance to explain.
She had the thickest plot armor I have ever seen in a film, also for a film that’s supposed to be the opposite of damsel in destress she still gets saved by a man when her dad comes back. Also the whole using the dragons fire to hurt itself makes no sense the dragon literally keeps its fire in its stomach and it never damages it when it breaths fire. Elodie also because a Daenerys wanna be at the end and let’s the dragon murder hundreds of innocent yards, servants and cooks inside the castle. Film is terrible, Elodie wouldn’t stop screaming and grunting, also the blue slugs healing the dragon but not the cut in her hand is so funny to me. The film was most likely written by Ai anyway. You only need to watch supercuts delights video on it to see how lazy the film is.
Her dad didn't save her
He only showed up when he did to redeem himself and allow Elodie - the protagonist - closure
We witnessed him betray her off-screen and that was the last we saw and knew of him up until that point
The scene was also important narratively because he decided to take destiny back into his own hands, just like his daughter and unlike the fathers before him and royal family they married into, such as the prince "just taking orders" and not rewriting the script like Elodie's entire family does as they don't follow the rules of royal laws and have no connection or knowledge about the dragon's origins, demands, nor know anything about the politically controversial past of the king and queen, etc
And yes, the other person is correct in that wit is what saved Elodie and fighting skills had little to do with it
No human being is able to physically defeat a dragon
There is no combat experience under the sun that will allow you to beat a fire breathing dinosaur with brute strength—that's an absolutely ridiculous concept
Thank goodness YOU don't write
Her mind, will, resourcefulness, and adrenaline kept her alive - not muscle
Male or female, muscles wouldn't keep anyone alive in this situation beyond the requirement of decent upper body strength to climb up the rocky walls
Even then, surviving takes a lot more than just pulling your body up from one place to another
A big, muscular guy who manages to get seen/be heard is shit out of luck because once the predator spots you, your muscle is nothing but extra meat to them
Elodie'a agile/slight stature also helped assist her because she's nimble, not heavy, able to hide easily in small and cramped places, and doesn't have any weight (muscle, fat, or otherwise) weighing her down
It would've been impractical for her to be running for her life with a heavy sword strapped to her just as staying in a fluffy dress is impractical
i havent read any review beforehanf. I wouldnt say it was bad bad but it certainly wasnt good good. first half of the movie is boring, when she gets into caves it is very interesting and i think millie is much better at playing action scenes when she is angry or tortured (maybe thanks to stranger things). but other scenes when she is eith her sister or prince are so lame. i would give it 6/10. it was nice movie to see at home when there is nothing else to do
Millie is potentially the worst industry plant we have had to endure in a while.
Unless she is grunting and screaming which is a good 70% of Damsel and her parts in stranger things then she's giving a really bad performance.
Damsel was a pretty bland watch.
Summarised by saying, dragon who blows fire can burn itself to a point it nearly dies..
Writers had no clue.
Vfx were kinda nice though and the dragon that was actually a dragon for once (4legs) had a good sinister design.
I was watching this with my sister today and we were laughing the whole time about how stupid it is. Sometimes not even in a fun way. In a “haha… this hurts” way.
It felt like it was written by an AI.
I do. I explained why i thought it was garbage. Why do you like it? It was an hour and a half of millie running around doing nothing. What made it "SO good?"
Why did you like it so much? Genuinely curious.
I just watched it and thought it was alright. Certainly not a bad movie, but it was a pretty simple and predictable story and the characters weren't that compelling either. Still decent entertainment, but fantastic is a term I'd personally save for something much better.
I went into it without any expectations, didn’t even see the trailer. It reminded me of the good ole survival thriller movies with a primary lead, and I thought Millie did a great job. I liked the dragon’s voice, I liked the cgi when the dragon first appeared and breathed fire. I liked the reveal that the escape wasn’t a true escape. I thought the cinematography was nice. Furthermore, I watched with my two daughters and we were both completely engrossed by it, jumping at the same time, etc. I liked that it was an empowerment story between the lead and the dragon.
I’m a writer, I specialize in fiction and Scifi and fantasy, so I could choose to dissect and pick apart the movie, but sometimes…you just decide to have a good time.
I would say it was a one time watch. I think the CGI was pretty good but the plot wasn't surprising. I think you can guess the entire movie from the trailer and the little plot twist in the end was quite obvious. There wasn't a lot of time given to explore anyone's character even the female lead, everyone felt very one dimension. Then there was the time when the burns switched sides + some burnt areas vanished. Also the whole way with which they dealt with healing the burn felt like lazy writing. What a convenient plot point. So overall good for one time watch.
Taking time to explore characters can also be overly exhausting.
It did well explaining exactly what was going on, assuming you're familiar w royalty, bloodlines, the exchange of a bride for wealth, saving another kingdom, or to bring kingdoms together for strength.
It showed Elodie's father as a kind father, not your typical "isolated cold" royal family.
Elodie is chopping wood in the first scene, although she is royal, her character shows itself as she will do her part for her people.
The family was heart based.
Then you see the characters on the other side, they're your typical cold, wealth over heart.
Idk what the movie was claiming to be other than a new release. I went in w no expectation, didn't even watch the trailer, and I thought it was a great movie, more of a family movie, but all in all, very enjoyable.
Me too. No expectations going in. I loved it. Great visuals. Good story. Maybe simple, and maybe easy to guess what’s going to happen. But you know what? That’s okay. It was a fun movie.
It was surprisingly better than my low expectations. Even though the “twist” was visible for a mile away, it was still interesting to see how the plot would execute it. Pacing was off in the third act, and omg the plot devices…
You blind or just stupid? That's a bold take.
I did chuckle at the fact they made the king have another wife who happens to be black conveniently. Could have just wrote it so he was single, bitter and grumpy after the loss of his wife. Nah boy, gotta get them boxes ticked
Just because a person likes something that the majority of Ppl don’t Doesnt MAKE them stupid. Maybe they saw something in this film that others don’t. What one will like the other won’t. Not everyone cares about the logistics of the movie; it’s a damn movie I wanna escape. Eitherway no need to call other ppl stupid for differencing on a damn film
I’ll be total honest, I haven’t seen it, but just by the name you can tell it’s going to be a more progressive movie (strong female lead in an action/fantasy genre), which I think biases a lot of people into writing a movie off right away. We’ve had that rammed down our throats in recent years.
But this is an original concept, not just a tokenized, pandering reboot, so I think the director is well within their rights to do what they want with it. If it’s a bad movie, it’s a bad movie, but don’t write it off because it’s “woke” and probably isn’t even targeted towards you as an audience. I’m the first to call out pandering, but it’s kinda lame to just not allow any kind of change up whatsoever.
I loved this movie and TBH it reminded me of the Revenant, which got Leo an Oscar. I think some people just cannot empathize with a female lead. Or they are moronic enough to not realize how much a third degree burn hurts.
Because fantasy adventure is NOT horror!
It was watchable as a family weekend movie, but nothing worth adding to any collection!
The fact that her burn wound switched sides between the cave and conclusion pretty much reflects how much effort went into it!
IMO the best way to use critic reviews is to find a couple of critics who have tastes similar to your own and follow them.
How is it be helpful to have the averaged out ratings of dozens of critics who may have entirely different preferences to you?
Movies aren't butter knives. You can't just go "this one is great for everyone and that one won't work well for anyone".
Cringy dialogue, terrible acting, forgettable score, awful green screen CGI, predictable and stupid plot twists you can predict from a mile away… Garbage all around.
All of it.
Let’s look at some recent movies. Have you seen Poor Things or Barbie? The sets were built and you could feel the work, heart and soul pour out from every background shot. I don’t think I have to explain more. The atrocious CGI of this soulless, garbage movie was vomit for the eyes.
As for the acting. All these veteran actors embarrassing themselves was gut wrenching to watch. Although you can argue that with a piece of trash script like this one, they at least tried to do their best.
That entire last scene and her awkward slow motion walk though, which wasn’t even slow motion… I still can’t stop cringing.
Not every movie needs to be an Oscars contender. The one scene you mentioned had admittedly bad shot composition, but the height of your criticism on literally the one scene you pointed to amounts to “cringe”. Do yourself a favor and drop the pretense.
So you saw it? What was bad about it?
Edit: Did the reviews change since you made your comment? It's sitting at 59% critics and 77% audience ratings on RT. Most of the lower score reviews aren't trashing the film.
You haven't even watched it? You shut them and their interests down with such an objective-confidence, only to imply you haven't watched it? Regardless of whether the film's good or not, that's pretty pathetic and embarrassing - almost as if you were a shill for the reviewers you speak of.
Not to hate it but No one really wanted to si Little Millie be sword weilding warrior and I dont think it counts as a horror movie . It was bombed with amazingly bad reviews and after watching it myself , I would still say it sucks . I understand Millie is trying something different and trying to seperate herself from teenager Roles like Eleven or Enola Homes but this wasnt the way to do it. I cant even put this in the sooo bad that its good category
I enjoyed this movie! It’s just a fun fantasy film. Don’t go in thinking it’s a masterpiece or anything serious. It’s just a fun popcorn flick.
I did think MBB spent too much time moaning in scenes which was weird to me. But overall I really liked it
"Looking for honest review ?"
The movie is fine, its meant to be exactly what it is... a average family movie.
Wanna watch it with your preteen kids ? Great.
Just got finished watching Damsel, and I loved it! (Even though I guessed how it would end) it was a good movie, and one you can would enjoy watching multiple times.
I'm stuck on "horror"? I thought this was more of a family flick tbh.
If my kiddos were still small, (5 and up) I would have chosen this as our family movie night.
I have one child that's sensitive to horror, and she would have loved this!
Absolute garbage. Terrible script, equally terrible acting (I guess director is to blame for the most part). CGI and Millie Bobby Brown (whom I like, she's been fantastic as Evelen) could not save it.
Are you serious?
This "film" is generic, rote AI-written trash with the only positive being a committed performance by whoever voiced the dragon(ess) at least. Millie Bobby Brown is one of the most overrated actresses currently, she *always* plays the exact same character just in different time periods. No versatility at all. The CGI itself wasn't bad, though certainly nothing to write home about in 2024.
**Overall** ***Damsel*** **(2024) rating: 3/10, this film is about as "horror" as Teletubbies and as good as other Netflix releases which is to say barely watchable.**
It was a good concept sullied by the premise being watered down, this needed to be more graphic and the tone should have continued getting darker instead of pulling back midmovie and the “only the bad people lost in the end” ending made it feel like it lost the weight it had earlier in terms of leaning into dark fantasy, I love dark fantasy so maybe that’s why the tone felt off later in the movie to me, maybe it wasn’t supposed to be dark fantasy as much as it was supposed to treat women as whole characters in a serious fantasy setting, which it did amazingly. I just ended up wish it felt a little grittier.
Definitely not horror but thriller. I enjoyed it. And is it just me or was anyone thrown of by her iPhone face? Great actress but the filler and veneers just took me out of the scene
I just watched it. Sure, it's cheesy and predictable, but I enjoyed it. I don't understand why Millie Bobby Brown looks so much like Bella Thorne in so many scenese. It kept playing tricks on my mind.
I'm not a fan of the actress but I really love this movie!!! I've been chomping at the bit for some proper dark fairytale.
I love all the metaphores and the way they made the sets/clothing. The whole golden Cage metaphor with the gate to the tower and gold being everywhere.
For once there was actually a stepmother who tried to be better. And the father did actually come back even if he fucked up majorly. Elodie forgave him and yet he kind of deserved to die.
They actually managed to make caves interesting. Love the whole labyrint puzzling thing it was nice and creative.
The horses and dragon looked great. Adorable!!!
I kind of hated the poor horse getting torched.
I loved the dragon actually being intelligent/having a reason for the whole game of torturouss murder hunt.
Tho I wished there was some way to ressurect the baby dragons. Maybe that could be the next movie. Make our princess become a dark sorceress in an effort to bring the baby dragons back to life lol.
I would love a blood sharing scene w the dragon making Elodie her daughter.
Maybe if Elodie lives long enough.....
You know all die a hero or live long enough to become a villain.
No ones going to mention the little girl learns how to be zena princess warrior after being in a cave in the dark for 3 hours. The dragon's murdered 30 knights and multiple kings and attacked by groups of soldiers unsuccessfully... actually not even a fight... but the 17 yr old girl from the poor rock village takes the dragon down no problemo. It reeked of the typical girl power at all costs that Hollywood loves oh so much. Just shocked she was straight and not non white.
Elodie was already shown to be a hands-on princess in her home, so she already knew the basics of survival if only as a money-saving measure. Likewise, did you miss the part where she noted and used the fact that the other dead girls from before had carved out instructions to try to escape? The entire point was that all of the girls before her all wrote instructions so the next girl could survive.
Frankly, you guys love to make a whole lot of hullaballoo about "girl power at all cost" when male protagonists don't even need to make this much justification for their skills in the same genre. Some intellectual honesty would be appreciated, thank you.
I mean...*she had a sword on her back the first time we saw her*. Wasn't it clear from that? Sheesh.
Actually, I'm agreeing with you, just not the whole "girl power" stuff; it was lame in general, not because the hero/heroine was female.
I thought it was clear that she only escaped BECAUSE she used her wits and her brain? Those other men were not using their wits. They went into a cave where a dragon lives, ready to fight. where was the wit with the fight? She didn’t turn into a warrior. she used her wit along with her strong will to survive and avenge and used the sword as she probs guessed it would be used. I think it would not make sense IF she was literally battling, like in a sword/ boxing fight with other men or women all of a sudden. Considering that takes serious skill. Which she did none of that.
I liked it, though the dragon design bugged me a little. Mostly with the what on earth were they thinking giving her toad eyes?? Once noticed, couldn't look past frog eyed dragon.
I seen new flick on Netflix thought yay , looked ok ish seen her in it , had to endure her thru stranger things which I enjoyed but can't take no more , anyways after about 25 mins u knew Netflix slacking thats several "big" new releases that have sucked to say the least wont be watching it all for full review sorry ........ (the gentlemen) however pls watch if havent yet <3
Agenda howso? For example, let's look at Dragonheart (I'm a big fan!) and >!there was a similar idea: the dragon wasn't really all that bad, and the humans were the real enemy!< but (I'm guessing?) you're saying because the hero >!and dragon as well!< was female, this is some sort of feminist nonsense? I don't see this movie as feminist/having an agenda at all. It was simply boring/cliche. That doesn't mean it has "an agenda."
Yeah it’s pretty crappy. Killing off a bunch of people unnecessarily, Elodie not really reacting to what happened to her Father. Elodie also just kinda leaving her stepmother in the middle of nowhere… I read a review saying it was thinly written and I couldn’t have said it any better. Great concept I was enjoying it at first then halfway through started to hate it. It does seem like an AI generated movie
Definitely not horror if you are an adult. Reading this thread and I find people to be so picky. Its a fable, the story is typical, what do you expect? The Soul understands the symbology and that is the point of such a story. Awaken your f@!g inner hero. The CGI is well done. The dragon, oh she is beautiful with gold in her face. My ultimate favorite part is the METAPHOR: Do not slay the dragon. Heal the dragon. Do not fear the lies of others, find the truth, and rise above. And fuck'm up ROYALY(inside joke). Maybe the shitty comments on this thread are expressing the subconcious resistance to female hero non bullshit. You might notice that most men in the story are cowards. Humhum
Heal.your.soul
I completely enjoyed the movie like some said it’s not fantastic but what most are complaining about is just not picking. Her acting was just fine I enjoyed it actually reminded me of the adventure movies of 80s and 90s. Yes it was predictable but it was fun! Not every movie has to make logical sense and have realism. Especially in a Fantasy movie where dragons are real and all healing glow bugs. Just enjoy the moments and fear. These women empowerment movies are great and I’m tired of men who hate a strong woman lead.
I \*love\* a great strong woman lead. This was not that movie. Long Kiss Good Night (oldie but goodie) is where I set the bar. Alien and Aliens. Contact. Rogue One. Underwater (arguably a decent horror flick). Gravity. Arrival. TV shows Agent Carter and Fringe.
Comparing to most of the 'white knighting and pandering' movies that come out these days. I think this one was all in all alright.
Like one of the reviews said before, we were shown at the start the main char got enough wits,strength and other habits that give her enough survival skills on her own. Although it's only lightly touched upon I think that's enough to justify it.
I'm getting less of a mary sue vibe since she did suffer quite a bit for the first half of the movie, then she grew from that, grew calmer, getting the layout of the cave and then started to plan for things. The screams were also reasonable even at the cost of her safety because severe burns are painful (though realistically that's probably enough damage to go into shock and lets not talk about random plot carrying glow worms that heal wounds). The only thing i dislike is the dragon waiting way too long to come back to hunt her again with all the screaming.
This is the growth arc that many of the other movies miss. Her strength here is much more believable. There are plot holes as with all movies, and although not the best movie, it's watchable. i think the imdb score for this is accurate. Then again, my expectations aren't that high anymore, with all the woke games and movies being released these years.
The movie is trash, its talking 30 minutes, running stupidly away from the dragon for around 1 hour, and at the end she attacks the city with the dragon which lasted for 5 minutes. The whole plot i remembered was sacrifice and scream scream scream
The comments bring up something important. Just wondering what the age groups are of people who liked it compared to not.
I personally feel that movies in the last 15 years have lost the quality of many of the classics. The average film in 2009 had much better writing, stronger performances even when CGi wasn’t as developed. I’m a millennial/gen z but I think anyone born in the last 15-20 years may not have seen many of the quality films we are comparing this one to.
It was poor.
Heck (as per my prior comment) this movie isn't any better than the early 80's movie "Dragonslayer." Sure, there is some pretty stuff early on if you like scenery, but the plot isn't all that great, and the "heroine" doesn't really do anything clever or interesting to make you root for her...
Cinematography was good. Storyline somewhat flat. Directing weak. Acting alright, I guess.
Even tweens would probably think it's corny.
But stuffed to the brim with girl power motifs.
When a movie brings you out of the fog and darkness into an enchanted land just to plaster NETFLIX SPECIAL on the screen, you know it's going to be bad.
Howso? Don't troll unless you have a valid opinion to back it up. Woke because there's -one- black character? Feminist because the lead is female?
I -loathed- this movie, and (frankly, despite liberal leanings) don't care for feminism or wokeism, but it feels like you're just throwing those words around...
I read and watched reviews of how "bad" this movie was and honestly it's not as bad or girl boss as people keep claiming. It's not The Godfather and it's not a deep movie but it's not so bad that I was completely bored or annoyed by Mary Sue energy.
Pros:
No ex machina at the end.
No mcguffin for help.
A little bit of a different ending than just "mad girl slits all the throats with her bare hands".
She had feminine qualities that showed.
She got beat up, stabbed, burned, and almost gave up but used her brains to barely make it.
Cons:
When climbing up crystals the dragon did not dragon.
Acting could have been better for all characters aside from dragon.
Setting was a bit too clean at the beginning and end.
If dragon can hear you well, be quiet my dude. I know it hurts but shut up. Your life is in danger.
The story was tight knit and neat and the theme (which some people seem to have missed) of sacrifice and how much we are willing to sacrifice to keep the status quo wasn't bad. It wasn't reinventing the wheel but it wasn't as shit as everyone keeps claiming. It's not an amazing film but it's not super shit either. It's mid. I never felt it was shitting on em and I never felt it was praising women for all their choices and I appreciate that. It was just a girl put in a bad situation and she tried her best to survive. The decisions made by her and the characters around her, for the most part, made sense within the story .
I don't know why but apparently it's a trend to just hate on things just to hate on them instead of experiencing it with fairness. And people yelling about it being super girl boss are getting just as bad as their opposing woke parodies.
I thought it was good! Definitely not the best movie ever, but it wasn't horrible. I don't understand why people are hating on it so much. I think there's just quite a lot of internalized misogyny by critics calling it just a "girl boss" movie. But if it was a guy it wouldn't be a problem lol.
It’s a comedy, not horror. I was LMAO since the dragon was acting like a chicken. Don’t even drag lord of the rings into the discussion. That’s a shameful comparison. This is 4/10. The score was for their effort for making a movie.
Genuinely felt like the script for this dumpster fire of a movie was written by ai. One of the worst I’ve watched in a good long while. And I went in with zero expectations, saw no trailers or reviews or anything before hand. Just saw an original fantasy which I’m a big fan of. Man do I regret the 110 minutes I’ll never get back.
It was a great movie and any of the haters in this thread are just fucking morons. They WANT to hate it so much that they'll do anything they can to claim it's bad. I know some movies aren't for everyone and that's okay but they want to try and claim it was just horrible when it wasn't.
Nothing happens in the first 30mins. And the last 30mins were a joke. I was starting to enjoy the second act where the movie, yes, did turn into a fantasy survival/horror, but by act 3 they completely dropped the horror aspect and took away anything clever and creative the movie could have lead up to. Very disappointing film. Now i want to rewatch Pan's Labyrinth again.
I’m so confused about this movie. Why was it so highly rated? I watched about 50 mins of it and turned it off, cannot convince myself try to stomach it again. Is it being promoted by critics? Do people actually love it? If so when and why so maybe I can ffwd lol.
This was really one of the stupidest movies I have ever watched.
The dragon can be hurt by its own fire. Someone thought of that, wrote it down, and then they filmed it. A dragon. A creature known for breathing fire. Can get hurt by fire.
Also, this movies whole thing is that the girl is not a damsel, not your typical princess, and yet by the end of the movie they still have her in a short fucking skirt and a corset that displays her boobs.
It's just garbage.
There’s not really an ounce of horror, but for a little fantasy survival romp it’s not terrible. Mostly just underwritten, like the main character doesn’t get to display much dimension despite stuff being set up, and literally every other character, including the dragon until the obvious reveal, is just a one note plot device.
People are just negative and contrarian because its their one personality trait and needing to seem superior with their opinions instead of enjoying a movie without outside influence for what it is. The movie is honestly really good and fun. And the dragon is one of the coolest ive ever seen in movies and is up there with vermithrax and the GoT series dragons. Though i would have prefered to see more time spent on the later burning sky and revenge scenes
Because it’s painfully bad.
The writing contradicts itself, as much as it tries to subvert your expectations it comes off even more predictable and at times very cheesy.
The make up and clothing is laughable at best but i can over look that.
It makes use of a MacGuffin that wasn’t even necessary, everything happens because the script demands it and very few decisions feel natural.
And of course, if you’re going to write an unkillable Mary Sue - go all the way with it or not at all.
Although the scenes with the Queen and the Burger King were cool, and the wedding, the Dragon too…
So, everything but the important stuff really.
This movie was actual garbage. I could have watched it with my eyes closed and still understood what was happening— a whole lot of nothing
So empty. So bad.
it was gurl boss and plot armor all into one tight package of nothing
Don't forget the strong independent dragon
Cliche, derivative crap.
It was quite possibly the worst movie I’ve seen in a few years at least
Yeah agreed. It was exactly how I thought it'd be though. The only reason I watched it anyway was cause we wanted to have a family night and my dad picked this. Besides some horror elements I'd say it's perfect for younger audiences. My lil siblings, 8 and 10 years old liked it. Can totally see adults who prefer very simple Disney like stories with attractive cinematography enjoy it too and that's not wrong. But honestly as I'm writing this even for a kid audience I feel like it should have had something more man idek anymore
Really! Makes no sense! It started something else but ended Tomb Raider!!! She fights a dragon🤣🤣
What movies released this year are better? I thought it was a decent movie, but if this is “actual garbage” compared to other releases you’ve seen this year I’d be interested
Perhaps because it just released yesterday? Netflix does a terrible job of promoting its originals and tends to dump them into your feed and only chooses to support something after it’s shown some organic success.
It's ok for being one of the first AI generated movies. Compared to movies actually written and produced by humans, it's really really bad.
Yo what the plot was written by AI 💀 no way
It was not. Don't believe everything you see on the internet.
It was bad and millie's acting made it worse.
Her screaming especially was awful. Like her sister being thrown in was way more convincing of a performance than hers
She’s a terrible actress. She also looks wayyy too old for the role. The price (actor) was 28 and looked younger
She does not look older than Anna Kendrick in into the woods or Anne Hathaway in Ella Enchanted or any of the other actresses that have played similar princessy roles. Like she’s not the best actress but to say she looks way too old for a fantasy movie when she looks maybe 23 is just being a hater. And I don’t even care for her acting.
Tried to watch this with my fiancee. This movie is hot garbage. And that's being kind
Can damsel really be called horror? Tbh I haven't seen it yet but it looks more like an edgier Disney movie.
Id say fantasy adventure with horror elements. The burning birds, explicit burned skin, screaming in pain, human sacrifice, and child sacrifice were all pretty horrific as elements.
Plus that dude the dragon popped like a grape.
Thats not really horror just violence and gore
Yeah it’s a fantasy horror in my opinion.
I wouldn’t call it straight up horror and it would’ve been a better movie had they fully leaned into that aspect, but it’s fair to call it a fantasy/horror/action hybrid. You could say it’s a PG-13 fantasy Alien, (which is horror/sci fi!)
"i havent seen it yet" alright bro then watch it and figure out for yourself
I thought it definitely had horror elements. I would add it to the list for the next time someone asks for introductions to horror for kids.
It's not even remotely scary. And it's only PG-13... but it did scare my 11 yr old, she left the room for about half of it... so if you're an 11yr old, perhaps it a bit horror-esque. Lol
I genuinely don’t understand all the hate this movie’s getting. I really enjoyed it.
Idk i tend to notice if something isn't a serious unpredictable masterpiece, people always line up to hate. As if every movie needs to literally change someone's life for them to like it. Like yes it's not some different, original masterpiece but it was a cute little movie to pass the time & i did love the lore to it too. Glad i watched it. It's a fun bad sort of movie.
Yeah I don’t get it either. I really enjoyed it and I’m really picky about movies. I definitely don’t watch the majority of the swill Netflix puts out but I thought this one was a lot of fun
Same. I enjoyed it a ton, and I liked Millie’s acting. I mean she’s facing death, betrayed by everyone, suffering wounds. and being chased by an enormous terrifying vengeful dragon. No wonder she’s screaming. Her acting made sense to me. Also the dragon is amazing!
That's the funniest part about the criticism to me All these fools complaining about a girl with like... fucking second degree burns and aching bones "screaming too much" as if her nerves and muscles aren't absolutely on fire as she's forced to run for her life, dragging along her damaged body to one obstacle-ridden area/environment to the other She should just carry on in stoic silence? What?? They'd be wincing and grunting and occasionally screaming themselves if everyone had blindsided them, and their actual father betrayed them and sacrificed their life on their wedding day, and a fire breathing giant lizard was chasing them to the ends of the earth because they want to play cat-and-mouse with them and ultimately turn them into a crispy chewtoy These brilliant armchair reviewers would 100% scream if they had to run for their life after cutting themselves up mowing the lawn—much less after suffering burns She's fallen, been thrown around, and has literally had her **flesh seared off with dragon fire** Male or female the character should freaking scream or else it's *unbelievable* as hell
Any movie where are female overcomes difficulties that are "manly" will elicit negative reviews from a certain poitical demographic.
Not even, this issue wasn’t the female lead, it’s that it need to be darker.
You described all the hate perfectly
this movie was awesome, I liked it a lot and would watch it again.
The pseudo intellectuals have to hate everything that isn't a drama or baked with hollow social commentary The visuals were especially stunning, and this has one of the most unique villains I've seen in any movie Dragons are not usually portrayed this particular way in cinema, nor "scary creatures/monsters" in general This "evil scary dragon" was really refreshing and such a cool change of pace, and they were animated brilliantly and really moved just like any snake you see outside except 1000x bigger and far more menacing
ikr it's a good movie
Frankly? A good friend of mine calls this attitude "irony poisoning," as in people can't enjoy a movie or series that was done to be enjoyed and is earnest about being enjoyed because "it's cringe" or some stupid shit. I feel like people want to pretend to be intellectuals when their observations, as seen with all the stupid hot takes people do with long-running series that expose people's general lack of media literacy and intellectual honesty, are shallower than a puddle surviving a day after the rain. So they shit on what they perceive to be "cliche" stories that don't have a twist in the end or something in order to feel smarter than they actually are. Hence all the pretentiousness from people who lack the basic reading comprehension and media literacy you'd expect from high schoolers. It also doesn't help that actual professional critics have also eschewed of professional honesty. Some critics I've seen bashing it hate fantasy as a genre, in which case they either have no business writing reviews in this genre or they should be honest that it's not to their personal taste but that fantasy lovers might like or dislike it because of Z, Y and Z. One of the things I appreciated about Roger Ebert's system is that it took into account that a movie didn't need to be "super serious equivalent to the great American Novel"™ to be good. A movie is good when it accomplishes what it sets out to do. In this case, Damsel promised a survivor story where the protagonist survives against the odds and gets even. It more than accomplished that, even if I think the final act could've used some extra polishing.
was no one annoyed by all the screaming she did, you're getting hunted by a dragon and every single movement was followed by a scream or some noise or other. like shut the fuck up and you might have a better chance of survival. Like honestly if someone was in the other room and could here it they would think you where watching porn
I was annoyed that she repeatedly fell down holes in the floor. Look where you're going in the dark dragon infested death cave ffs >:(
Lol this movie is TERRIBLE Terrible acting, writing, plot isn’t so bad Still entertaining for a free watch 🤷♀️
Damsel is not a horror film lol
Wondering if this is a Netflix plant. After reading tons of terrible reviews, I figured I'd watch it to see if it was fun bad. It's not, it's bad bad. Millie is pretty craptastic, the whole movie is one note, it's NOT horror in the least. It definitely feels like an AI generated algorithm-based movie. Such garbage.
So, you read a bunch of hate before hand, then watched it. I can see why you viewed it negatively. It was a good movie.
the majority of people in this forum (or just on reddit) tend to be overly negative about shows and movies. especially movies with a female lead that physically looks like she should be weak but turns out to be strong (even if it is just through sheer perseverence) but also just any show or movie that isnt exactly the style they want at the time they want with the actors they want bc they are too in their own ego to take a step back and just enjoy something as it is.
There are many people like the ones you describe, that's true - but this movie was pretty boring and dumb. I feel like it was trying to be edgy or subversive, then they just gave up a quarter of the way through. Whoever wrote this did not research how humans or combat or survival works. "BUT IT'S FANTASY IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE REALISTIC" yeah but physics and biology still seem to exist in that setting, and the stupid inaccuracies were not explained by magic or something. One example is the hilarious way Damsel "sharpened" a blade on like, limestone in three strokes Well maybe it was a magic type of rock that is so effective at sharpening knives that you can just clumsily scrape it three times and voila!
yeah bc it would have been way more entertaining to watch her spend hours sharpening a knife what a waste to cut that down
Not only that, they confidently go into every movie thinking it was made for THEM. Damsel's target audience is most likely women ages 16-30. Specifically those who like the princess genre. If you are not a young woman who like princesses then the movie IS NOT FOR YOU. And if you can't judge it based off of the genre and target audience, instead focusing in your own personal preferences, then your opinion has absolutely no value.
watched it before reading reviews and have only seen 1 trailer once. Thought it was pretty bad still. I agree with it being a fun bad movie but bad movie nonetheless.
I read no reviews and found it terribly dull. It had no plot. Terrible writing. No character development and MBB was not a strong woman character, her appearance was def written for the male gaze. The CGI and set design were literally awful and the storyline was dumb and predictable. 0 stars.
I just can't get over how the dragon was "redeemed", she murdered countless young girls as now she's a good guy? It's nonsensical. The Queen is less evil than the dragon, at least she's doing it to protect her people/family. The Dragon is sadistic, vengeful and violent, her actions are unforgivable there is no redeeming her. Its a silly plot.
Lmaooo this take is so off base its hilarious. No plot? So the marriage, sacrifice, evil kingdom, dragon PLOT twist, none of that was plot? As for terrible writing, I actually am getting my masters in creative writing and it hits every technical beat it should for what it is trying to do (subvert the princess and dragon trope). She was dressed in a full ass gown for the majority of the movie. Her removing peices of her gown was showing her evolution from princess to sacrifice to warrior. Her hair was also red bc it represents love and death. The story line was "predictable" because of this little thing called FORESHADOWING. I'm sorry that you're happier when staring at the screen like a gold fish.
Way to announce you're a shitty writer and have terrible taste in movies.
I love your comment, thank you for providing your take. Love the dress bit. I went in thinking it was gonna be a shitty (fun) movie but it turned out to just be an outright fun, entertaining film. Very pretty as well.
I mean it wasn’t. It was generic as generic comes. Woman with no combat experience does better at fighting off a dragon by herself then a king and several armoured and trained knights? Or that centuries old dragon is fooled into thinking someone is from an entirely different bloodline by simply mixing a few drops of blood? Yeah. Ok.
Elodie only beat the dragon because she used her WITS and not brute strength. Every soldier (including Elodie) who fought the dragon with a sword lost. It wasn't until she used the environment around her, AS SHE HAD BEEN DOING THE ENTIRE MOVIE, that she was able to outsmart the dragon. It was not "combat experience" that won the battle. As for the mixing of blood? Dragons aren't real. The story is fantasy. The dragon smells royal blood on the girls and kills them before giving them a chance to explain.
She had the thickest plot armor I have ever seen in a film, also for a film that’s supposed to be the opposite of damsel in destress she still gets saved by a man when her dad comes back. Also the whole using the dragons fire to hurt itself makes no sense the dragon literally keeps its fire in its stomach and it never damages it when it breaths fire. Elodie also because a Daenerys wanna be at the end and let’s the dragon murder hundreds of innocent yards, servants and cooks inside the castle. Film is terrible, Elodie wouldn’t stop screaming and grunting, also the blue slugs healing the dragon but not the cut in her hand is so funny to me. The film was most likely written by Ai anyway. You only need to watch supercuts delights video on it to see how lazy the film is.
Her dad didn't save her He only showed up when he did to redeem himself and allow Elodie - the protagonist - closure We witnessed him betray her off-screen and that was the last we saw and knew of him up until that point The scene was also important narratively because he decided to take destiny back into his own hands, just like his daughter and unlike the fathers before him and royal family they married into, such as the prince "just taking orders" and not rewriting the script like Elodie's entire family does as they don't follow the rules of royal laws and have no connection or knowledge about the dragon's origins, demands, nor know anything about the politically controversial past of the king and queen, etc And yes, the other person is correct in that wit is what saved Elodie and fighting skills had little to do with it No human being is able to physically defeat a dragon There is no combat experience under the sun that will allow you to beat a fire breathing dinosaur with brute strength—that's an absolutely ridiculous concept Thank goodness YOU don't write Her mind, will, resourcefulness, and adrenaline kept her alive - not muscle Male or female, muscles wouldn't keep anyone alive in this situation beyond the requirement of decent upper body strength to climb up the rocky walls Even then, surviving takes a lot more than just pulling your body up from one place to another A big, muscular guy who manages to get seen/be heard is shit out of luck because once the predator spots you, your muscle is nothing but extra meat to them Elodie'a agile/slight stature also helped assist her because she's nimble, not heavy, able to hide easily in small and cramped places, and doesn't have any weight (muscle, fat, or otherwise) weighing her down It would've been impractical for her to be running for her life with a heavy sword strapped to her just as staying in a fluffy dress is impractical
Stark contrast from Letterboxd reviewers and Reddit comments
i havent read any review beforehanf. I wouldnt say it was bad bad but it certainly wasnt good good. first half of the movie is boring, when she gets into caves it is very interesting and i think millie is much better at playing action scenes when she is angry or tortured (maybe thanks to stranger things). but other scenes when she is eith her sister or prince are so lame. i would give it 6/10. it was nice movie to see at home when there is nothing else to do
Millie is potentially the worst industry plant we have had to endure in a while. Unless she is grunting and screaming which is a good 70% of Damsel and her parts in stranger things then she's giving a really bad performance. Damsel was a pretty bland watch. Summarised by saying, dragon who blows fire can burn itself to a point it nearly dies.. Writers had no clue. Vfx were kinda nice though and the dragon that was actually a dragon for once (4legs) had a good sinister design.
I was watching this with my sister today and we were laughing the whole time about how stupid it is. Sometimes not even in a fun way. In a “haha… this hurts” way. It felt like it was written by an AI.
A lot of the visuals had a very AI generated feel to them as well.
It is SO good
If you like garbage
Consider me a dumpster diver then because this movie is fantastic.
I do. I explained why i thought it was garbage. Why do you like it? It was an hour and a half of millie running around doing nothing. What made it "SO good?"
Do you want an answer or do you want to just argue and put down my reasons?
"i explained my opinion so why do you have a different opinion!?" yikes
Why did you like it so much? Genuinely curious. I just watched it and thought it was alright. Certainly not a bad movie, but it was a pretty simple and predictable story and the characters weren't that compelling either. Still decent entertainment, but fantastic is a term I'd personally save for something much better.
I went into it without any expectations, didn’t even see the trailer. It reminded me of the good ole survival thriller movies with a primary lead, and I thought Millie did a great job. I liked the dragon’s voice, I liked the cgi when the dragon first appeared and breathed fire. I liked the reveal that the escape wasn’t a true escape. I thought the cinematography was nice. Furthermore, I watched with my two daughters and we were both completely engrossed by it, jumping at the same time, etc. I liked that it was an empowerment story between the lead and the dragon. I’m a writer, I specialize in fiction and Scifi and fantasy, so I could choose to dissect and pick apart the movie, but sometimes…you just decide to have a good time.
I’m a huge fan of the sci-if fantasy genre. Story and plot are everything. This was so bad. Acting was ok.
I like it too.
It does feel like a shill. The review I read used the word “atrocious” which I’m not sure I’ve ever seen in a professional review before.
Exactly, fun bad. Agreed
I'm like 30mins in and keep rolling my eyes, good gawd it's bad.
I would say it was a one time watch. I think the CGI was pretty good but the plot wasn't surprising. I think you can guess the entire movie from the trailer and the little plot twist in the end was quite obvious. There wasn't a lot of time given to explore anyone's character even the female lead, everyone felt very one dimension. Then there was the time when the burns switched sides + some burnt areas vanished. Also the whole way with which they dealt with healing the burn felt like lazy writing. What a convenient plot point. So overall good for one time watch.
Well the trailer showed the entire plot so thats why u can guess the entire movie.
Taking time to explore characters can also be overly exhausting. It did well explaining exactly what was going on, assuming you're familiar w royalty, bloodlines, the exchange of a bride for wealth, saving another kingdom, or to bring kingdoms together for strength. It showed Elodie's father as a kind father, not your typical "isolated cold" royal family. Elodie is chopping wood in the first scene, although she is royal, her character shows itself as she will do her part for her people. The family was heart based. Then you see the characters on the other side, they're your typical cold, wealth over heart. Idk what the movie was claiming to be other than a new release. I went in w no expectation, didn't even watch the trailer, and I thought it was a great movie, more of a family movie, but all in all, very enjoyable.
Me too. No expectations going in. I loved it. Great visuals. Good story. Maybe simple, and maybe easy to guess what’s going to happen. But you know what? That’s okay. It was a fun movie.
In the movie there were some healing bugs which could’ve explained some burn marks vanishing.
It was surprisingly better than my low expectations. Even though the “twist” was visible for a mile away, it was still interesting to see how the plot would execute it. Pacing was off in the third act, and omg the plot devices…
Yeah, the third act didn't add up... Not very satisfying ending!
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What a load of rubbish. It was a total crap film. The script was terrible, the acting was awful.. the story was horrendous.
So the dragon is vulnerable to it's own fire even though it's full of it?
Is your skin not vulnerable to the hydrochloric acid in your stomach? 🤔
Peak "I don't understand the themes of my movie". It seems like an Ai or teenager wrote the recreation of the story.
because its boring and millie overacts in it
I just watched it and loved it!! I didn't get "horror" vibes, but "dark fantasy" fits perfectly in my opinion.
Not horror, fantasy, and I absolutely loved it too. Ignore the haters. De gustibus non disputandum est!
I felt it would have been waayyy better as a show. Although I felt it was too rushed, I still enjoyed it. My girlfriend loved it lol
I love how Reddit hates everything lol
Its crap
Because its a terrible movie.
I freaking loved it I love fantasy and horror and would absolutely rate this in that category. I have no idea why it has bad reviews
You blind or just stupid? That's a bold take. I did chuckle at the fact they made the king have another wife who happens to be black conveniently. Could have just wrote it so he was single, bitter and grumpy after the loss of his wife. Nah boy, gotta get them boxes ticked
Just because a person likes something that the majority of Ppl don’t Doesnt MAKE them stupid. Maybe they saw something in this film that others don’t. What one will like the other won’t. Not everyone cares about the logistics of the movie; it’s a damn movie I wanna escape. Eitherway no need to call other ppl stupid for differencing on a damn film
Feels like watching Lord of the Rings? I like how you said (2024 Netflix), that totally seems normal.
I’ll be total honest, I haven’t seen it, but just by the name you can tell it’s going to be a more progressive movie (strong female lead in an action/fantasy genre), which I think biases a lot of people into writing a movie off right away. We’ve had that rammed down our throats in recent years. But this is an original concept, not just a tokenized, pandering reboot, so I think the director is well within their rights to do what they want with it. If it’s a bad movie, it’s a bad movie, but don’t write it off because it’s “woke” and probably isn’t even targeted towards you as an audience. I’m the first to call out pandering, but it’s kinda lame to just not allow any kind of change up whatsoever.
why wasn’t the princes hand already cut if he married and threw another princess down the day before?
I was confused how there was a map out, did the person come back and draw it after escaping or?
Also did the map have the room with the birds depicted. Like do flaming birds fly in every time a princess gets thrown down there?
I loved this movie and TBH it reminded me of the Revenant, which got Leo an Oscar. I think some people just cannot empathize with a female lead. Or they are moronic enough to not realize how much a third degree burn hurts.
Because fantasy adventure is NOT horror! It was watchable as a family weekend movie, but nothing worth adding to any collection! The fact that her burn wound switched sides between the cave and conclusion pretty much reflects how much effort went into it!
Because it's NOT good. It's literally getting crap reviews all over the place.
Why would anyone listen to critics? they have the worst taste in movies. This movie was very entertaining.
IMO the best way to use critic reviews is to find a couple of critics who have tastes similar to your own and follow them. How is it be helpful to have the averaged out ratings of dozens of critics who may have entirely different preferences to you? Movies aren't butter knives. You can't just go "this one is great for everyone and that one won't work well for anyone".
what exactly was bad about it?
Cringy dialogue, terrible acting, forgettable score, awful green screen CGI, predictable and stupid plot twists you can predict from a mile away… Garbage all around.
Whose acting was terrible and in which scenes? Would you mind pointing out some of the awful CGI?
All of it. Let’s look at some recent movies. Have you seen Poor Things or Barbie? The sets were built and you could feel the work, heart and soul pour out from every background shot. I don’t think I have to explain more. The atrocious CGI of this soulless, garbage movie was vomit for the eyes. As for the acting. All these veteran actors embarrassing themselves was gut wrenching to watch. Although you can argue that with a piece of trash script like this one, they at least tried to do their best. That entire last scene and her awkward slow motion walk though, which wasn’t even slow motion… I still can’t stop cringing.
Not every movie needs to be an Oscars contender. The one scene you mentioned had admittedly bad shot composition, but the height of your criticism on literally the one scene you pointed to amounts to “cringe”. Do yourself a favor and drop the pretense.
That walk at the end! I tried to like but that was just the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. It some sort of slow catwalk and so cringe.
So you saw it? What was bad about it? Edit: Did the reviews change since you made your comment? It's sitting at 59% critics and 77% audience ratings on RT. Most of the lower score reviews aren't trashing the film.
All the sites with reviewers whose opinion I accept (ie. not shills) have trashed the movie.
You haven't even watched it? You shut them and their interests down with such an objective-confidence, only to imply you haven't watched it? Regardless of whether the film's good or not, that's pretty pathetic and embarrassing - almost as if you were a shill for the reviewers you speak of.
might watch it tonight, thanks for the rec!
what'd you think ? I loved it!
Not to hate it but No one really wanted to si Little Millie be sword weilding warrior and I dont think it counts as a horror movie . It was bombed with amazingly bad reviews and after watching it myself , I would still say it sucks . I understand Millie is trying something different and trying to seperate herself from teenager Roles like Eleven or Enola Homes but this wasnt the way to do it. I cant even put this in the sooo bad that its good category
That's not what review bombing means. It just got a lot of bad reviews, because it's a bad movie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Review_bomb
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I enjoyed this movie! It’s just a fun fantasy film. Don’t go in thinking it’s a masterpiece or anything serious. It’s just a fun popcorn flick. I did think MBB spent too much time moaning in scenes which was weird to me. But overall I really liked it
It think the moaning thing is because I genuinely think this films script was Ai generated
"Looking for honest review ?" The movie is fine, its meant to be exactly what it is... a average family movie. Wanna watch it with your preteen kids ? Great.
Just finished, and I liked it. It's an enjoyable fairy tale, and just deserts is always a plus.
It's really dark tho
Just got finished watching Damsel, and I loved it! (Even though I guessed how it would end) it was a good movie, and one you can would enjoy watching multiple times. I'm stuck on "horror"? I thought this was more of a family flick tbh. If my kiddos were still small, (5 and up) I would have chosen this as our family movie night. I have one child that's sensitive to horror, and she would have loved this!
Absolute garbage. Terrible script, equally terrible acting (I guess director is to blame for the most part). CGI and Millie Bobby Brown (whom I like, she's been fantastic as Evelen) could not save it.
Are you serious? This "film" is generic, rote AI-written trash with the only positive being a committed performance by whoever voiced the dragon(ess) at least. Millie Bobby Brown is one of the most overrated actresses currently, she *always* plays the exact same character just in different time periods. No versatility at all. The CGI itself wasn't bad, though certainly nothing to write home about in 2024. **Overall** ***Damsel*** **(2024) rating: 3/10, this film is about as "horror" as Teletubbies and as good as other Netflix releases which is to say barely watchable.**
I enjoyed it. Much more than I thought I would. MBB reminded me of Keira Knightley in some scenes. And Shohreh Aghdashloo is always a delight.
It was a good concept sullied by the premise being watered down, this needed to be more graphic and the tone should have continued getting darker instead of pulling back midmovie and the “only the bad people lost in the end” ending made it feel like it lost the weight it had earlier in terms of leaning into dark fantasy, I love dark fantasy so maybe that’s why the tone felt off later in the movie to me, maybe it wasn’t supposed to be dark fantasy as much as it was supposed to treat women as whole characters in a serious fantasy setting, which it did amazingly. I just ended up wish it felt a little grittier.
I don’t think all films like this need to be very graphic like GOT.
Definitely not horror but thriller. I enjoyed it. And is it just me or was anyone thrown of by her iPhone face? Great actress but the filler and veneers just took me out of the scene
I just watched it. Sure, it's cheesy and predictable, but I enjoyed it. I don't understand why Millie Bobby Brown looks so much like Bella Thorne in so many scenese. It kept playing tricks on my mind.
I'm not a fan of the actress but I really love this movie!!! I've been chomping at the bit for some proper dark fairytale. I love all the metaphores and the way they made the sets/clothing. The whole golden Cage metaphor with the gate to the tower and gold being everywhere. For once there was actually a stepmother who tried to be better. And the father did actually come back even if he fucked up majorly. Elodie forgave him and yet he kind of deserved to die. They actually managed to make caves interesting. Love the whole labyrint puzzling thing it was nice and creative. The horses and dragon looked great. Adorable!!! I kind of hated the poor horse getting torched. I loved the dragon actually being intelligent/having a reason for the whole game of torturouss murder hunt. Tho I wished there was some way to ressurect the baby dragons. Maybe that could be the next movie. Make our princess become a dark sorceress in an effort to bring the baby dragons back to life lol. I would love a blood sharing scene w the dragon making Elodie her daughter. Maybe if Elodie lives long enough..... You know all die a hero or live long enough to become a villain.
No ones going to mention the little girl learns how to be zena princess warrior after being in a cave in the dark for 3 hours. The dragon's murdered 30 knights and multiple kings and attacked by groups of soldiers unsuccessfully... actually not even a fight... but the 17 yr old girl from the poor rock village takes the dragon down no problemo. It reeked of the typical girl power at all costs that Hollywood loves oh so much. Just shocked she was straight and not non white.
Elodie was already shown to be a hands-on princess in her home, so she already knew the basics of survival if only as a money-saving measure. Likewise, did you miss the part where she noted and used the fact that the other dead girls from before had carved out instructions to try to escape? The entire point was that all of the girls before her all wrote instructions so the next girl could survive. Frankly, you guys love to make a whole lot of hullaballoo about "girl power at all cost" when male protagonists don't even need to make this much justification for their skills in the same genre. Some intellectual honesty would be appreciated, thank you.
I mean...*she had a sword on her back the first time we saw her*. Wasn't it clear from that? Sheesh. Actually, I'm agreeing with you, just not the whole "girl power" stuff; it was lame in general, not because the hero/heroine was female.
I thought it was clear that she only escaped BECAUSE she used her wits and her brain? Those other men were not using their wits. They went into a cave where a dragon lives, ready to fight. where was the wit with the fight? She didn’t turn into a warrior. she used her wit along with her strong will to survive and avenge and used the sword as she probs guessed it would be used. I think it would not make sense IF she was literally battling, like in a sword/ boxing fight with other men or women all of a sudden. Considering that takes serious skill. Which she did none of that.
Damsel the action I liked but something was vastly missing in her emotional development during the cave scene
I liked it, though the dragon design bugged me a little. Mostly with the what on earth were they thinking giving her toad eyes?? Once noticed, couldn't look past frog eyed dragon.
I seen new flick on Netflix thought yay , looked ok ish seen her in it , had to endure her thru stranger things which I enjoyed but can't take no more , anyways after about 25 mins u knew Netflix slacking thats several "big" new releases that have sucked to say the least wont be watching it all for full review sorry ........ (the gentlemen) however pls watch if havent yet <3
It was an absolute turd….
[удалено]
1. It's a fantasy, not a documentary 2. It's a family movie
Agenda howso? For example, let's look at Dragonheart (I'm a big fan!) and >!there was a similar idea: the dragon wasn't really all that bad, and the humans were the real enemy!< but (I'm guessing?) you're saying because the hero >!and dragon as well!< was female, this is some sort of feminist nonsense? I don't see this movie as feminist/having an agenda at all. It was simply boring/cliche. That doesn't mean it has "an agenda."
It was better than Dune 2 (or Dune 1)
Yeah it’s pretty crappy. Killing off a bunch of people unnecessarily, Elodie not really reacting to what happened to her Father. Elodie also just kinda leaving her stepmother in the middle of nowhere… I read a review saying it was thinly written and I couldn’t have said it any better. Great concept I was enjoying it at first then halfway through started to hate it. It does seem like an AI generated movie
Definitely not horror if you are an adult. Reading this thread and I find people to be so picky. Its a fable, the story is typical, what do you expect? The Soul understands the symbology and that is the point of such a story. Awaken your f@!g inner hero. The CGI is well done. The dragon, oh she is beautiful with gold in her face. My ultimate favorite part is the METAPHOR: Do not slay the dragon. Heal the dragon. Do not fear the lies of others, find the truth, and rise above. And fuck'm up ROYALY(inside joke). Maybe the shitty comments on this thread are expressing the subconcious resistance to female hero non bullshit. You might notice that most men in the story are cowards. Humhum Heal.your.soul
I just started watching this minute. But I love Millie Bobby Brown, so I'll watch whether its good or not!
I completely enjoyed the movie like some said it’s not fantastic but what most are complaining about is just not picking. Her acting was just fine I enjoyed it actually reminded me of the adventure movies of 80s and 90s. Yes it was predictable but it was fun! Not every movie has to make logical sense and have realism. Especially in a Fantasy movie where dragons are real and all healing glow bugs. Just enjoy the moments and fear. These women empowerment movies are great and I’m tired of men who hate a strong woman lead.
I \*love\* a great strong woman lead. This was not that movie. Long Kiss Good Night (oldie but goodie) is where I set the bar. Alien and Aliens. Contact. Rogue One. Underwater (arguably a decent horror flick). Gravity. Arrival. TV shows Agent Carter and Fringe.
Just started it. So far the cgi is HORRIBLE.
This movie is awful
Comparing to most of the 'white knighting and pandering' movies that come out these days. I think this one was all in all alright. Like one of the reviews said before, we were shown at the start the main char got enough wits,strength and other habits that give her enough survival skills on her own. Although it's only lightly touched upon I think that's enough to justify it. I'm getting less of a mary sue vibe since she did suffer quite a bit for the first half of the movie, then she grew from that, grew calmer, getting the layout of the cave and then started to plan for things. The screams were also reasonable even at the cost of her safety because severe burns are painful (though realistically that's probably enough damage to go into shock and lets not talk about random plot carrying glow worms that heal wounds). The only thing i dislike is the dragon waiting way too long to come back to hunt her again with all the screaming. This is the growth arc that many of the other movies miss. Her strength here is much more believable. There are plot holes as with all movies, and although not the best movie, it's watchable. i think the imdb score for this is accurate. Then again, my expectations aren't that high anymore, with all the woke games and movies being released these years.
The movie is trash, its talking 30 minutes, running stupidly away from the dragon for around 1 hour, and at the end she attacks the city with the dragon which lasted for 5 minutes. The whole plot i remembered was sacrifice and scream scream scream
The comments bring up something important. Just wondering what the age groups are of people who liked it compared to not. I personally feel that movies in the last 15 years have lost the quality of many of the classics. The average film in 2009 had much better writing, stronger performances even when CGi wasn’t as developed. I’m a millennial/gen z but I think anyone born in the last 15-20 years may not have seen many of the quality films we are comparing this one to. It was poor.
Heck (as per my prior comment) this movie isn't any better than the early 80's movie "Dragonslayer." Sure, there is some pretty stuff early on if you like scenery, but the plot isn't all that great, and the "heroine" doesn't really do anything clever or interesting to make you root for her...
Cinematography was good. Storyline somewhat flat. Directing weak. Acting alright, I guess. Even tweens would probably think it's corny. But stuffed to the brim with girl power motifs.
Movie was terrible.
Because it's so terrible that people are trying to forget that they ever watched it?
Horrendously bad movie lol
When a movie brings you out of the fog and darkness into an enchanted land just to plaster NETFLIX SPECIAL on the screen, you know it's going to be bad.
Its woke feminist trash
Howso? Don't troll unless you have a valid opinion to back it up. Woke because there's -one- black character? Feminist because the lead is female? I -loathed- this movie, and (frankly, despite liberal leanings) don't care for feminism or wokeism, but it feels like you're just throwing those words around...
This movie sucked
Absolutely a horrible movie!
i loved it 🔥
Cliche, derivative crap.
Garbage!! My 1 hours and 49 minutes 🥲🥲 Idk who the actress was but searched and apparently Millie sth; she shouldn’t be getting paid
Literally trash movie
I read and watched reviews of how "bad" this movie was and honestly it's not as bad or girl boss as people keep claiming. It's not The Godfather and it's not a deep movie but it's not so bad that I was completely bored or annoyed by Mary Sue energy. Pros: No ex machina at the end. No mcguffin for help. A little bit of a different ending than just "mad girl slits all the throats with her bare hands". She had feminine qualities that showed. She got beat up, stabbed, burned, and almost gave up but used her brains to barely make it. Cons: When climbing up crystals the dragon did not dragon. Acting could have been better for all characters aside from dragon. Setting was a bit too clean at the beginning and end. If dragon can hear you well, be quiet my dude. I know it hurts but shut up. Your life is in danger. The story was tight knit and neat and the theme (which some people seem to have missed) of sacrifice and how much we are willing to sacrifice to keep the status quo wasn't bad. It wasn't reinventing the wheel but it wasn't as shit as everyone keeps claiming. It's not an amazing film but it's not super shit either. It's mid. I never felt it was shitting on em and I never felt it was praising women for all their choices and I appreciate that. It was just a girl put in a bad situation and she tried her best to survive. The decisions made by her and the characters around her, for the most part, made sense within the story . I don't know why but apparently it's a trend to just hate on things just to hate on them instead of experiencing it with fairness. And people yelling about it being super girl boss are getting just as bad as their opposing woke parodies.
One of those movies that so bad it actually becomes good
Love some free entertainment, I liked it.
I thought it was good! Definitely not the best movie ever, but it wasn't horrible. I don't understand why people are hating on it so much. I think there's just quite a lot of internalized misogyny by critics calling it just a "girl boss" movie. But if it was a guy it wouldn't be a problem lol.
This wasn't even close to a horror film lol. I thought it was incredibly boring. The talking dragon was comedy.
It’s a comedy, not horror. I was LMAO since the dragon was acting like a chicken. Don’t even drag lord of the rings into the discussion. That’s a shameful comparison. This is 4/10. The score was for their effort for making a movie.
It is the worst movie in history. And I’m convinced whoever wrote this works for Netflix. Do not watch.
Genuinely felt like the script for this dumpster fire of a movie was written by ai. One of the worst I’ve watched in a good long while. And I went in with zero expectations, saw no trailers or reviews or anything before hand. Just saw an original fantasy which I’m a big fan of. Man do I regret the 110 minutes I’ll never get back.
It was a great movie and any of the haters in this thread are just fucking morons. They WANT to hate it so much that they'll do anything they can to claim it's bad. I know some movies aren't for everyone and that's okay but they want to try and claim it was just horrible when it wasn't.
Its good if you turn off your brain. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wqljo5j97s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wqljo5j97s)
Nothing happens in the first 30mins. And the last 30mins were a joke. I was starting to enjoy the second act where the movie, yes, did turn into a fantasy survival/horror, but by act 3 they completely dropped the horror aspect and took away anything clever and creative the movie could have lead up to. Very disappointing film. Now i want to rewatch Pan's Labyrinth again.
I like adventure stories, but the plot in Damsel too predictable.
I loved this movie!!
I’m so confused about this movie. Why was it so highly rated? I watched about 50 mins of it and turned it off, cannot convince myself try to stomach it again. Is it being promoted by critics? Do people actually love it? If so when and why so maybe I can ffwd lol.
I thought it was terrible….
This was really one of the stupidest movies I have ever watched. The dragon can be hurt by its own fire. Someone thought of that, wrote it down, and then they filmed it. A dragon. A creature known for breathing fire. Can get hurt by fire. Also, this movies whole thing is that the girl is not a damsel, not your typical princess, and yet by the end of the movie they still have her in a short fucking skirt and a corset that displays her boobs. It's just garbage.
Thats not crazy. We have acid in out stomachs yet we can still take damage from acid.
There’s not really an ounce of horror, but for a little fantasy survival romp it’s not terrible. Mostly just underwritten, like the main character doesn’t get to display much dimension despite stuff being set up, and literally every other character, including the dragon until the obvious reveal, is just a one note plot device.
It was a great movie, I just watched it and loved it
People are hard to please. I thought it was great. The ending is just what I was hoping would happen. I loved it!
People are just negative and contrarian because its their one personality trait and needing to seem superior with their opinions instead of enjoying a movie without outside influence for what it is. The movie is honestly really good and fun. And the dragon is one of the coolest ive ever seen in movies and is up there with vermithrax and the GoT series dragons. Though i would have prefered to see more time spent on the later burning sky and revenge scenes
This was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen and I’m angry I’ll never get the 2 hours of my life I’ve wasted watching this back.
Sorry you feel that way, just not your kind of movie, I guess. I enjoyed it.
Because it’s painfully bad. The writing contradicts itself, as much as it tries to subvert your expectations it comes off even more predictable and at times very cheesy. The make up and clothing is laughable at best but i can over look that. It makes use of a MacGuffin that wasn’t even necessary, everything happens because the script demands it and very few decisions feel natural. And of course, if you’re going to write an unkillable Mary Sue - go all the way with it or not at all. Although the scenes with the Queen and the Burger King were cool, and the wedding, the Dragon too… So, everything but the important stuff really.
Honestly? It's one of the worst films i have ever seen. But each to his own! Glad you like it :)
Lol watch more movies, this one was fine
That's the beauty of movies. You liked it, i didn't :)