The Woman King

The Woman King (2022) is a movie my wife and I caught in theatres last night. The storyline follows an African kingdom with a new(er) king in 1823 who posses the only female army in Africa. The leader of the female Army has a past that haunts her but the respect of her king, enough to be on his council. She strongly urges him to avoid the slave trade and find alternative methods of riches. Meanwhile, those who do believe strongly in the slave trade look to march on the kingdom and bring them down. A new recruitment class to the female army brings brashness, new ideas to defend the kingdom, and the female leader's ghosts back to the forefront...

This movie is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball) and stars Viola Davis (The Help), Thuso Mbedu (The Underground Railroad), Lashana Lynch (No Time to Die), Sheila Atim (Doctor Strange: In the Mouth of Madness), John Boyega (Star Wars: Episode VII-IV) and Jimmy Odukoya (Mamba's Diamond).

This movie has so much depth and contains a great primary plot and even better sub plots. The writing is remarkable, thorough and very impressive. The character's inner demons are well portrayed as is their struggle to overcome them. The acting is out of this world across the board. You feel for every character; and if anything happens to anyone, you feel personally hurt. The villains were also excellent as is the outcome of each of them. The settings and cinematography is outstanding and there is impressive use of lighting. The action scenes are remarkable and the fight choreography is award winning caliber. My only complaint is an awkward love story that is obviously in here to show maturity and self discovery but I could have done without it.

Overall, this movie has literally everything you'd want in a movie - tremendous action, great villains, self discovery and character triumph. I would strongly, strongly recommend seeing this movie and score it a 10/10. We loved it.

Damn, it's hard to diss a movie that so much work went into, and where so many great performances were offered.

But the disgusting way that the writers have turned villains into heroes and sold a fake history lesson to the public cannot be overlooked.

This country was a despicable, slave-owning, slave-trading, totalitarian regime and its Amazon army, composed of girls who were themselves enslaved as children, were how the country captured its slaves.

Viola Davis is great as the fictional character she plays and the whole thing looks spectacular but none of this matters a damn because its all a cash-grabbing lie.

"The Woman King" is a historical drama film that tells the story of a powerful all-female warrior army in 18th century West Africa. Despite its intriguing premise and star-studded cast, the film fails to deliver a compelling and engaging story.

The pacing is slow and uneven, with long stretches of time where nothing seems to happen, followed by sudden bursts of violence and action that feel out of place and disconnected from the plot. The characters are one-dimensional and poorly developed, making it difficult to care about their struggles and motivations.

The dialogue is also clunky and unnatural, making it hard to follow the conversations and understand the characters' relationships with each other. Additionally, the film's attempts at exploring themes of gender and power are heavy-handed and lack nuance, reducing complex issues to simplistic and cliched stereotypes.

Even the production values, which are usually a strength of historical dramas, are disappointing. The sets and costumes are uninspired and lack authenticity, with a noticeable lack of attention to detail that takes viewers out of the story.

Overall, "The Woman King" is a lackluster and forgettable film that fails to live up to its potential. It's a shame, given the talented cast and fascinating subject matter, but the weak script and direction leave little to recommend. Save your time and skip this one.

I watched this movie not knowing much about it. So it made me curious. I love history, and I found after some research that I had to agree with History vs Hollywood. "To make a movie that celebrates the Dahomey is a glaring example of how Hollywood likes to morph history, either by way of omission or outright fabrication. If you're going to watch The Woman King, read about the true story of the Kingdom of Dahomey first. Otherwise, take everything you're seeing with a grain of salt." I knew many tribes sold other captured tribes to the European slave traders, but that is putting it mildly with the Mahomey. They were a very cruel tribe that perpetuated it.