The Woman King

Last weekend, The Woman King was released into theaters. The Woman King follows the Kingdom of Dahomey and the Agojie, an all-female unit of warriors, as they clash with a tribe aligned with the western slave trade.

This movie was an exciting ride from beginning to end. It has the feel of Black Panther and Wonder Woman in terms of the warrior culture and action and also feels like Mulan in terms of the structure of the story and the training aspects. All the characters are very strong, you can understand their motivations and why they are driven to their goals. It also has a lot of good action sequences that do a great job of tying in aspects from early in the film. The action is also very practical and doesn't rely heavily on CGI. The film also has some good emotional moments in it that really build on the relationships established throughout the story. I also think it is cool to see a movie centered around a female African American cast without having it feel forced. It does a great job of portraying its message without getting too preachy. The movie also does a great job of portraying the woman warriors as strong characters while not taking away from their femininity. In a lot of movies, strong females will basically be a man in a woman cover in terms of personality and character structure. In this film, the women are strong but aren't overpowered with masculine attributes. It lets them be independent while still making them maternal. Finally, I really enjoyed the historical setting of the film and how it tied into the slave trade. I also liked that the movie was able to showcase the African culture without going into the realm of stereotypes. Overall, this is just a really good movie with strong characters and a well-written story.

The only issue I had with the film was the romance that happens towards the middle of the film feels a bit forced. I felt it didn't add anything to the story nor allowed the characters to grow. In the end, it could've been left out and the movie would have played out pretty much the same.

In the end, this was just an exciting well-written movie with strong characters and a good message. If they had not tried to force romance into the story, I feel it would've made the movie even stronger.

Score: 8/10 Grade: A- Recommendation: Go watch it