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.

I enjoy history and like to see accurate representations in films. I will say straight away that I intensely dislike films that have an agenda and are incredibly historically inaccurate as a result, e.g., Braveheart, 300, The Patriot. However, I can easily accept and enjoy films a bit historically inaccurate as films primarily exist to entertain, i.e., most Hollwood historical films.

Unfortunately, TWK falls into the former category. If they had stuck to the real story, then it could have been an interesting film about a little-known African Kingdom, particularly with the lovely images of Africa. Instead, they decided to make it as a black female empowerment, anti-European propaganda piece. Sure, slavery is central to the film but with a twist, in that slavery was in place to make money from Europeans, for which Dahomey reluctantly supplied slaves to feed a European need. The truth is that Africans had been supplying slaves for thousands of years to Arabs, Egyptians, Romans, etc, and keeping hundreds of thousands for themselves. Europeans had a relatively 'short' involvement with the African slave trade, and Europe's largest contribution (primarily British) was to end the African slave trade, against the wishes of African kings and slave traders. The female warriors are shown as some sort of Spartan elite, which they were not, as they primarily attacked and seized women and children as slaves and were easily defeated by the French in hand-to-hand combat. In fact, the French lost 6 soldiers killed whilst the Dahomey warriors, including the female 'elite', lost many hundreds killed. The female warriors and their general were misrepresented in the same way that the Waffen SS would be misrepresented if portrayed as peace-loving pacifists!

A good film could have been made of court intrigue or the impact of Dahomey slavers on raided villages, but no, propaganda and politics rules the roost in Hollywood.

Woman King" attempts to retell historical events, but instead of staying true to the original narrative, it takes liberties that ultimately detract from the story's integrity. This film serves as a prime example of how modifying history for the sake of entertainment can result in a disappointing and inaccurate portrayal.

One of the most egregious aspects of "Woman King" is its blatant disregard for the true events and characters it claims to depict. By altering crucial details and fabricating scenes, the film not only distorts history but also undermines the significance of the actual events and the people involved. Rather than honoring the bravery and sacrifices of historical figures, "Woman King" reduces them to mere caricatures, robbing them of their complexity and depth.

Moreover, the deviations from historical accuracy serve no discernible purpose other than to sensationalize the story and cater to Hollywood conventions. The result is a narrative riddled with clichés and contrived plot points, which do little to engage or enlighten the audience. Instead of shedding light on lesser-known aspects of history, "Woman King" perpetuates misconceptions and reinforces stereotypes, doing a disservice to both the past and the present.

Furthermore, the film's disregard for historical accuracy extends to its portrayal of cultural and social dynamics. By glossing over or outright ignoring the nuances of the time period, "Woman King" presents a sanitized version of history that fails to capture the complexities of the era. This not only detracts from the authenticity of the story but also diminishes its potential impact as a work of historical fiction.

In summary, "Woman King" is a disappointing film that sacrifices historical accuracy for the sake of entertainment. By distorting the true events and characters it claims to depict, the film not only fails to do justice to the historical figures it portrays but also perpetuates misconceptions and stereotypes. Rather than offering insight into the past, "Woman King" serves as a cautionary tale of the dangers of sacrificing truth for the sake of a compelling narrative.

Terrible movie. Bad acting. There are much better movies to watch. Story line is typical. Could have made this movie better, but they choose a certain message and certain actors and actresses. In the world of action movies and heroes, this one didn't make the grade. Directing was OK and the cinematography wasn't too bad either. But the whole story line and premise of the movie has been done before and isn't interesting. I'm sure there are people that will find it interesting and entertaining, just wasn't me or the 3 others that watched it with me. I certainly hope they don't do a second one.. cause I won't watch it.

So there are very few films nowadays that I actually get excited for, sure Top Gun lived up to and surpassed any expectations, so to say the least I was excited to see this film.

This start out pretty good sort of a little bit of a history lesson then goes into a really good fight scene . But then you realize this movie is really discombobulated with zero direction. I honestly think someone had an idea but couldn't think of how to conclude it - like most Stephen King novels.

It went from 1 scene to another and they never really connected. Almost like watching a B rated movie. I'm not sure who edited this but not good.

Sure there is some good acting, 2 fight scenes, but where is the music score?? There were time you had zero background music and it was weird.

Overall this movie is crap, honestly its not remotely good but for the 1st 10mins.