Even while weddings might be stressful, the real dragon that faces Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown) in Damsel is far more formidable than your dragon of an in-law. The damsel-in-distress cliché is subverted in Brown’s Netflix comeback, as highlighted by many (the title even presents this feminine cliché in a heroic perspective), and it’s encouraging to see the movie work to dispel prejudices. The issue is that this road to triumph is littered with cliches of a very different sort, which somewhat undermines the argument Damsel is attempting to make.
The accents and the way they are delivered come across as dead as the people the dragon attacks.
Anyone who has seen the trailer or has even a passing understanding of the plot will find that the opening thirty minutes leading up to the wedding “twist” feel particularly drawn out. Shock! When Elodie is Thrown into a cave rife with dragons, it’s almost a relief. Director of 28 Weeks Later Juan Carlos Fresnadillo provides some powerful visual effects, and the dragon (voiced resentfully by Shohreh Aghdashloo) is portrayed so vividly that you truly feel Elodie is in danger all the time. However, it appears that other world-building components, including some dubious wigs and rather traditional production design, were cut from the budget in order to make room for that.
In this sense, the Stranger Things actor ably grounds Elodie’s plight because Brown is no stranger to a hero’s world turned upside down. Despite the participation of well-known actors like Ray Winstone, Angela Bassett, and Robin Wright, the same cannot be said of the supporting cast. Going hammy when it fits the tone is OK, but the delivery and those accents come across as as lifeless as the dragon’s victims. Regretfully, this also applies to the different story turns, which are all known ahead of time. Although Damsel wants us to take it seriously, the overall theme and common fairy-tale elements are much too simple for that.