- Director : Gina Prince-Bythewood
- Actors : Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Hero Fiennes Tiffin
- Producers : Julius Tennon, Cathy Schulman, Maria Bello, Viola Davis
- Studio : Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 2
- Aspect Ratio : 2.40:1
- Dubbed: : Portuguese, Spanish
- Subtitles: : English, Portuguese, Spanish
- MPAA rating : PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
- Media Format : 4K, Subtitled
- Run time : 2 hours and 15 minutes
- Release date : December 13, 2022
For those who want more realism in their
action than the CGI-filled silliness of Marvel films, The Woman King is a good
option. At the same time, for a film about female warriors, the action is
surprisingly sparse. Instead, the film veers into melodrama territory, complete
with a severed mother/daughter relationship. There is also a tragic romance in
the film. Even with some solid action choreography and an impressive
performance by Viola Davis, it is a little disappointing that a female-led
action movie spends so little time with the action and instead chooses romance
and tear-jerker subplots to fill much of the run-time.
Despite Davis being
top-billed and at the head of the marketing campaign, she isn’t actually the
main character of The Woman King. The film instead follows Nawi (Thuso Mbedu),
a new recruit in the Agojie, an all-female group of warriors in the 19th century West
African kingdom of Dahomey. General Nanisca (Davis) takes these warriors in
missions to liberate Dahomean women who were abducted by slavers from the Oyo
Empire, under the leadership of King Ghezo (John Boyega). Nawi’s training takes
up a large portion of the film, especially when something in her personality
causes Nanisca to challenge her more than the other new recruits.
I have always
been a fan of director Gina Prince-Bythewood, though I’m not entirely convinced
she was the right choice for The Woman King. Although the drama is successful, this
often means the action elements are pushed to the background. And when there
are action scenes, great efforts are put into making sure it is never graphic enough
to achieve anything above a PG-13 rating, even at the expense of the spectacle
and the realism of the violence.
The PG-13 rating was achieved
partially by over-editing the action scenes, cutting away from blows before any
blood is seen. These blood-less scenes of action not only detract from the
realism, but the quick editing also makes it near impossible to see what is
happening in many of the battle scenes. If the drama was half as good as the action,
The Woman King could have been a great film. As an R-rated movie it would have
been spectacular, but as a PG-13 it is just okay. There is also so much preoccupation
with the coincidences and contrivances of relationships, the focus is mostly left
off of the battlefield. In reality, there are only two or three scenes of
actual action, with the rest just dedicated to training and the relationships
between the soldiers.
Although the lack of realistic action
is somewhat disappointing, The Woman King is well shot and features and
convincingly tough supporting performance by Davis. The cinematography looks
especially good on the HDR of the 4K release. The color of fire is especially
vibrant, and the nighttime battle scenes contrast the daytime training
sequences with vivid colors. Even though the screenplay and editing of the film
left me underwhelmed, the good aspects of the filmmaking are highlighted and
improved with the high definition presentation.
The 4K release also comes with a Blu-ray
copy of the movie and a digital copy. There are also plenty of extras,
including three featurettes (“Representation Matters,” Woman/Warrior,” and “Storytellers”),
behind-the-scenes footage from the set with Viola Davis, and audition footage for
Thuso Mbedu. The best of the extras is a commentary track with Prince-Bythewood,
who provides insight into many elements of the story, including a defense of some
of the choices I did not care for.
Entertainment Value:
7/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 7.5/10
Historical
Significance: 6/10
Special Features: 7/10
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