战斗史诗勇敢的心andGladiator,The Woman Kingis based on the Agojie, the women warriors of the Kingdom of Dahomey in 19th century Western Africa (the territory of Dahomey now lies within Benin). Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and written by Dana Stevens—with a story credit going to producer Maria Bello, who conceived the project after learning of the Agojie in 2015—The Woman Kingtells the story of Nawi (Thuso Mbedu,The Underground Railroad），一位19岁的男孩，他的养父在拒绝为她安排的婚姻后，将她拒之门外。目的是使纳维成为仆人或conc妃，但她被送入了幼稚园，她训练成为欧洲人称为“达霍米·亚马逊”的精英战士之一。
Dahomey has a new king, Ghezo (John Boyega), who wants to get his kingdom out of the slave trade while simultaneously protecting his people from being captured by the rival Oyo Empire and subsequently sold into slavery. The film opens with Nanisca, played by Viola Davis, and the Agojie attacking an Oyo village that is housing Dahomey hostages bound for the coast, and you can immediately see Prince-Bythewood applying lessons learned fromThe Old Guard这里。动作场面The Woman Kingare excellent, well-choreographed and executed, featuring lots of bone-crunching finishing moves, albeit toned down for general audiences. The opening attack sequence reminded me ofThe Northman, minus the gore.
Once she begins training, Nawi is taken under the wing of Izogie (Lashana Lynch), a stand-out fighter among the battalion. Viola Davis is the Oscar winner in the bunch, and she’s Viola Goddamn Davis, so she is toplining the film, but the story really belongs to Nawi. Through her eyes, we learn the ways of the Agojie, which includes forsaking men and children and all the usual trappings of feminine life. The Agojie live in a secluded portion of the palace, and the Dahomey people are prevented from looking at them, but it is clear how revered they are, just as it is clear that Dahomey having a female fighting force is unusual in Western Africa. The Dahomey also have a position called “the woman king”, who is meant to rule alongside the king but does not necessarily have to be his wife. The tradition is meant to honor the brother-sister gods worshipped by the Dahomey, and Ghezo is on the brink of choosing Nanisca as his woman king when everything goes to sh-t.
Portuguese slavers arrive from the coast, including the smarmy Santo (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) and the handsome Malik (Jordan Bolger), who is biracial. His mother was a Dahomey woman captured and sold, and since her death, he wants to see her homeland, of which he heard many stories. Of course, he and Nawi have a little flirt, and implied more, becauseThe Woman King被设计为令人愉悦的人，因此有人必须拥有一个浪漫的子情节，显然，我们都会忽略Izogie和Amenza（Sheila Atim，终于获得值得她能力的角色）显然是一对夫妇。Mbedu和Bolger没有太多的化学反应，但是很好，无论如何，Nawi和善意的Himbo带来了浪漫。
With the Oyo teaming up with tribute kingdoms and backed by the Portuguese, things seem hopeless for the outnumbered, literally outgunned Dahomey. But Nanisca is a wily commander and comes with a plan—borrowing an idea from Nawi, naturally—to defend Dahomey from outside their walls against the greater force. There are shades of300不过，在这里The Woman Kingis better about wearing its sentimentality openly and not burying it under a metric ton of toxic masculinity. Because despite the many fight scenes,The Woman King是感性的，尽管结果不平衡，但肯定是心弦。一些情感回报的土地，但其他人则感到更为人为。Nanisca和Nawi之间有一个子情节，这并不是真正的必要，我们只是通过观看他们的战斗，训练和笑，从而融入了Agojie的友善和姐妹情谊。我们不需要边缘性的骇人听闻的创造力来提高情感赌注，他们已经被高高了。如果达霍米（Dahomey）输掉了这场战斗，他们将全部被奴役，无需更多的动力。
ButThe Woman Kingis the sort of widely appealing action movie that doesn’t get made much anymore—at least without superheroes attached—and these kinds of movies often use cliché relationships to increase the emotional stakes.勇敢的心, for instance, turned an infant French princess into a hot lady solely so Mel Gibson could have a romantic plot after William Wallace’s wife is murdered.The Woman Kingisn’t guilty of anything pretty much every other movie in the genre isn’t also guilty of. And it does many things as good as, or even better than, other battle epics, with the added bonus of focusing on a time and place we don’t usually see depicted in mainstream Hollywood films, which sets it apart in its genre.The Woman Kingis a rousing battle epic that wears its heart on its sleeve.
The Woman Kingwill be exclusively in theaters from September 16, 2022.
