The Woman King

Imagine a 2022 film painting Confederate soldiers as badass heroes. Their leader's against slavery, but he never actually existed. Anyone who pitched such a film would be laughed out of the office, but set it in a black-ruled society that FOUGHT TO HOLD ONTO SLAVERY & H'wood will give you a giant budget & stars like Viola Davis. Mainstream critics will also love it. If anyone complains, Davis will assert they are "supporting a narrative". Any whites angered by such egregious hypocrisy? Racist.

Watchable but never grabbed me. I've heard it called "African Braveheart", but "Braveheart" wasn't PG-13, had a lot more humour, and a much more involving story. Weird that this film celebrates women warriors whose entire purpose in real-life was capturing and selling their fellow Africans into slavery to "the white man"? WTF?

The title hints at a friction between understood and actual history, and with that a reclamation of identity, and there the film absolutely succeeds. Using the training/war/action template first seems like a misstep (the formula is tried and true down to at least one superfluous subplot and a battle that comes and goes too quickly), but giving us the space to not think too hard about the plot gives us more time to reflect on its themes of legacy - what we choose to pass on, and to embrace.

I don't know how to rate this, actually. As a movie, it freaking works, Davis is great, even if I loved Lashana Lynch more in this. Visually, it was vibrant and beautiful and full of ritual and culture. History-wise... Literally all historic epics are actually acts of myth-making. This is also that. It is meant to inspire and create mythical imagery and models. I don't have enough characters left for the very nuanced discussion it requires.

Here's an exercise for the viewer: 1) Watch the movie 2) Grab a history book and compare the depicted events with what actually happened 3) Ponder what would have to go through the head of everybody involved to make such a film 4) ??? 5) Profit

Marketed as a war picture, but in reality it's another of Prince-Bythewood's explorations of kinship and collaboration. Davis is excellent as usual, but it's fantastic support from the whole cast--particularly Lynch and Atim--that drives home the stakes of this historical moment, which the film argues could be OUR moment, given its universal concerns about the choices that are or are not afforded to people based on their imagined potential.

A.I suspicion 2. This is a piece of soulless, artless, history-revising, Marvellized, virtue signaling hollywood studio entertainment. It takes 30 minutes to see the first (barely) logical human emotion. I could predict every line of dialog and plot twist without fault. I'm starting to develop a big problem with history revisionism to fit the current hyped narratives of feminism and anti patriarchy. It does the important cause of feminism no good.

A classic, good time at the movies. I don't care if anybody dislikes a movie, but how Woman King deals with the tension between its historical subjects and its storytelling and thematic decisions is more nuanced than the Bravehearts of the world and any claims otherwise I find really fucking suspicious. All of this is worthy of a nuanced discussion, but there is a lot of bad faith engagement with this film that is very annoying and I hate it.

The Woman King’s attempts to have it both ways by delving into the horrors of the slave trade without fully distancing Dahomey from it can make the movie feel a bit wobbly at times, but Davis, Mbedu and the supporting cast (particularly Lashana Lynch as Nanisca’s trusted lieutenant Izogie) let their characters’ personal drama take precedence — and with it a stirring sense of sisterly unity in the face of adversity — over the historical fuzziness.

The Woman King is a mediocre film with great production values & a strong cast. While the performances aren't exactly middling, the script calls for so much grunting, chanting & pontification, that it's hard to look past to see the smaller, understated moments. The story itself is okay, if uninspired, but the fight-choreography becomes tiresome quickly; hit, hit, special, kill-shot, empowered-female pose...repeat. For me, the film just caught the wrong notes of personal drama and grand war epic.

Mid section nearly destroys everything, but action material delivers and keep the wheels running.

It would've been an entertaining, if conventional, hero's journey... Had it not been about the Dahomey. Making it about another culture, even a fictional one as a what if, would've avoided some of the worst historical whitewashing this side of "The Birth of a Nation" (and Griffith already didn't have an excuse for that one 100 years ago) I've seen.

If Black Panther weren't a Marvel movie...

The Woman King delivers on all the expected fronts: intense action spectacle, beautiful costumes and production design, and fantastic performances from the whole cast. MVP is definitely Terence Blanchard, penning one of the best and most gorgeous scores of the year. The film drags a little here and there, and while the action is thrilling (and incredibly brutal for a PG-13), it’s a tad more incoherent than I’d prefer. But this is rock solid entertainment and worth experiencing on the big screen.

I was really looking forward to watching this since it seemed like a such a fascinating story with a great cast. And it was both of those things, but it had a lot less emotional impact than I figured it would have. That's not because of the actors - who are great, especially Viola Davis and Lashana Lynch - who show a great emotional range. The script itself just was a bit too much all over the place. Could have done with zero romance in this one, too.

This is quite an epic type film - lots of gripping fight scenes, interesting characters and plot and a decent atmosphere. There's some good cinematography too, with landscape shots showing the surroundings in the exotic settings (Africa). It'd be hard not to feel for the women fighting for their own freedom and rights. The performances are decent and its an all around good film that I'd happily recommend, yes.

That's a lot of body oil.

Would be unremarkable if not for the sheer craft - the cast, visuals, and action sequences are all excellent. The historical revisionism is super weird and awkward though like ignore them being enthusiastic slavers if you want but don’t make them not being so the entire source of the conflict

Westafrica1823+it'sherrapedaughtersheknifemarkedsharktooth+mostlystoppedpayingattention

Let's set the grotesque historical inaccuracies aside, because others have made that point already. ... This is such an incompetent production. The plot - why does it matter, which side is victorious? The cinematography - pedestrian, like a shitty bio-pic. The soundtrack - I'm suddenly so glad that I've never seen a Blanchard opera. All in all, such a disappointment, because the true story of Ghezo and the Dahomey and Souza would have made for a fascinating movie.

The acting was solid. The fight scenes were... very Xena: Warrior Princess-esque. As in not believable in the least. I really did like the cast, though, especially the younger actresses. Course, the messaging was all off, and this was far from historical accuracy. The male love interest in the end abandoning his friend to death at the hands of the mob was kinda sickening. But it does portray accurately Africans selling other Africans into slavery, so that's my takeaway.

I had high hopes for this based on the cast, setting, and worthwhile story but I can't get past how generic the presentation is at every turn, and I pin the blame mostly on Sony. Everything is sanitized and squeaky-clean, and the blockbuster "Marvelization" is impossible to miss.

Competently made. Well executed, acted, scored and choreographed. I found the romance to be a bit tacked on and underdeveloped. But in the grand scheme of things, that didn't really matter. It was cool, but ultimately a bit too typical and predictable for my tastes. Still a good film, but for me that is the one thing that keeps it from being a great film.

colors perfectly inside the lines, and Viola Davis tears shit down. LASHANA LYNCH I LOVE YOU.

There are some well done and exciting action scenes in this film. The script has a few slow moments, a little bit shorter running time would have helped. Viola Davis is good in the lead role in this movie. Overall I would recommend this film.

Enjoyed this movie a lot. Amazing acting performances

This is a little more historical epic than full blown action movie.This has all the acting and production design of a movie with Oscar ambition, but has a few fight scenes too. I guess a good comparison would be Gladiator or something. I guess my main complaint is that between the fights, there are parts that could get a little boring. The plot does drag a bit in the first half. It’s over two hours and could probably have been shortened a little. But despite that, this is still a great movie.

I quite enjoyed this movie. It has lots of good characters that you become invested in. Viola Davis was great in her role. The subject was also quite interesting. Performances all around were also quite good. Some of the fighting was very exciting, with many surprise moves. The women were smaller than the men, but they were quite fierce. PG-13 due to severed heads, violence and minor amounts of blood. Worth watching, and I might even watch it again.

"The Woman King" is a true crowd-pleaser, firing on all cylinders with passion from everyone involved. The film is a thrilling and emotionally-stirring experience, filled with excellent performances, well-crafted action sequences, and gorgeous production design. While the story may feel familiar, the film's unique perspective makes it a refreshing addition to the historical epic genre.

Beyond the absurd twisting of history, the action scenes are so beyond believable this made no sense. Just garbage.

Entertaining enough but unremarkable and formulaic film. Davis is incredibly badass. The action is really good, and there's nothing particularly wrong with it, but also nothing that really makes it stand out.

Some good performances and set pieces, but don't go into this looking for historical accuracy. Once you've finished the movie it's important to read up on the truths of the time vs. this well produced fiction (w slivers of truth here and there). 6.6. Score is of the acting and entertainment alone. It gets a 1.5 for accuracy.

It's essentially Braveheart with Black people, both in historical accuracy, moral complexity, character development, and sheer fist-pumping root-for-FREEDOM-ness. Only you don't feel bad for liking it and kinda wishing it could be true.

It's an interesting tale, but it does lose momentum in the middle. I assume it's not meant to be 100pc historically accurate.

Historical accuracy aside, this is a rousing adventure that is just bursting with bright colors and earnest performances. The movie looks great and I can't help but feel energized watching Davis and crew mow down their foes. The writing, unfortunately, is pretty over-stuffed. There is politics on various fronts, back stories, a brief romance, and more back stories. It is took much and a lot of it is clumsy.