[Review] The Woman King (6.5/10)

 

Title - The Woman King
Production - TriStar Pictures, Eone Entertainment, TSG Entertainment
Starring - Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Shiela Atim, John Boyega, Jayme Lawson, Masali Baduza, Adrienne Warren, Jordan Bolger, Hero Fiennes Tiffin
Writer - Dana Stevens
Director - Gina Prince-Bythewood
Release - 16 September 2022 

I have to disagree that The Woman King is being spoken in the same breath as Till when it came to the "snubs" of this year's Oscar running. At least for the Director and Picture categories.

To be very honest, The Woman King was not a great film. It had the potential to be a sweeping epic movie, yes. But Gina Prine-Bythewood's direction and Dana Stevens' screenplay just couldn't quite reach that potential. 

The movie had a lot of editing. Most of it were excellently done, but some had to be there to fill in the blanks that the screenplay had. As a result, a lot of scenes felt rushed and cut off way too soon. Felt like the Dana Stevens was unable to let a scene simmer; either that or, there were just too many scenes to film and too little minutes to tell - the runtime was already as long as it could go.

This movie needed at least another 30 minutes to properly set up the emotional weight between Viola Davis and Thuso Mbedu's characters, because by the end of the movie, I felt nothing for them. 

Not to mention Mbedu's character's budding friendships with two other characters that, by the end of the film, I also didn't feel anything for; and yet those minutes spent on them, building them up, were wasted because they were just half-baked stories.

I also found how Lynch's character ended up lost and distraught in the third act to be very unconvincing. Of all the people, she was the strongest and there was no reason for her to be that down and out. And then, after a big adjustment on her arm, she didn't feel the pain anymore? Again, very unconvinced.

This whole effort was a real shame because, Davis, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega and Shiela Atim all gave really strong performances - especially Lynch who I thought could have snuck into the Best Supporting category, kicking out Stephanie Hsu or Jamie Lee Curtis. 

And I would have swapped out Michelle Yeoh for Davis for Best Actress! But then again, not even Davis would have come close to Cate Blanchett, nor Angela Bassett's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever performance.