Quartile rating: 7/10 · 4 ratings
The story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen, and General Nanisca as she trains the next generation of recruits and readies them for battle against an enemy determined to destroy their way of life.
The Woman King delivers a compelling and emotionally resonant story anchored by Viola Davis's commanding, physically transformative performance — arguably one of her best. The supporting cast, including Lashana Lynch and Thuso Mbedu, adds depth and energy. The film shines in its depiction of the Agojie, a genuinely underrepresented historical subject, giving it solid novelty value. However, the plot leans on familiar training-montage and personal-backstory tropes common to the war/action genre, and the ending — while rousing — resolves narrative threads a bit too neatly and sentimentally for a story dealing with morally complex history (particularly around Dahomey's own role in the slave trade, which the film sidesteps). Cinematography is competent and energetic but rarely transcendent.