Review - The Woman King

Directed by: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Written by: Dana Stevens
Starring: Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega, Sheila Atim
Running Time: 135 minutes
Rating: 3/5

To be a warrior, you must kill your tears.

Viola Davis and Director Gina Prince-Bythewood bring the epic film The Woman King, centered around the Kingdom of Dahomey. The movie set during the reign of King Ghezo (John Boyega) explores the Agojie, a group of female warriors that fought for the kingdom. Viola Davis masterfully plays Nanisca, the emotional centre of the movie, general and leader of the Agojie. Tasked with training a new set of warriors of the King’s guard, Nanisca is forced to confront something and is left reformed.

The cinematography in this film is spectacular and has many stand out action set pieces that are all shot and choreographed equally as well. A film for young kids this is not, as there is a lot of blood and killing throughout the film.

“One look at imdb and you can see that there are already 87 one star reviews, which is insanely disappointing but not surprising. My advice is to avoid those losers and check out the film when you can. ”

The film’s cast is the highlight of the movie. Viola Davis, the Academy Award winning badass, is every bit of that title in this movie. She anchors the entire film with a very strong performance and radiates every time she is on the screen. The supporting cast is equally as great with both Lashana Lynch and Sheila Atim being highlights in the film providing an emotional support to Davis while also delivering some humour, bringing levity to a serious topic.

I would say that the film is a bit predictable, having most of the tensions of the characters either being all good or all bad with few shades of grey. While this makes it easy to connect with the characters and have a simple set of characters to either root for or hate, it felt a bit paint by numbers in terms of story structure. Having said that the film is still enjoyable just don’t expect to be blown away by something new.

Another worry of mine is that this film will not gain the audience it deserves due to the recent surge in review bombing or close mindedness of the audiences. Even though this story is about a real group of woman that existed, I can see so many keyboard warriors trying to bring this movie down before they even see it. One look at IMDB and you can see that there are already 87 one star reviews, which is insanely disappointing but not surprising. My advice is to avoid those losers and check out the film when you can.