Movies

The Woman King Is The Best Action Epic You Haven’t Seen

All hail.

by Lyvie Scott
Lashana Lynch, Viola Davis, and Sheila Atim in The Woman King
Sony Pictures
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2022 was an impossibly good year for movies. After years of pandemic-fueled drought, theaters suddenly burst back to life, fueled by a steady diet of excellent blockbusters. From The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick to Everything Everywhere All At Once and Nope, it was an old-fashioned abundance of riches, so much so that it feels impossible to name every film that broke big that year. But there’s one in particular that still feels left out of the conversation, a triumph of a film that broke box office records and garnered critical acclaim, but continues to feel robbed of the recognition it deserves.

That film is The Woman King. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, and featuring a stacked cast led by Viola Davis, it’s one of the decade’s best historical epics. It’s also one of the most slept-on blockbusters of the 2020s, but now that it’s headed to HBO Max, it’s high time it gets a second look.

The Woman King’s subject matter alone makes it unlike anything we’ve seen before. It’s a mainstream blockbuster in the vein of Gladiator or The Northman, but made by Black women for Black women. The film follows the adventures of the Agojie, an all-female army that fought for the Kingdom of Dahomey in the 19th century. It did face some flak when it hit theaters, largely due to its revisionist take on history; the Agojie and their king, Ghezo (John Boyega), existed in real life, and were often regarded as villains.

Prince-Bythewood, directing a script by Dana Stevens, leads audiences back to a contentious chapter in history, when the Atlantic slave trade was becoming an enterprise too lucrative to ignore, and Portuguese and French traders were landing on the West African coast to collect their “cargo.” Dahomey was one of a handful of African powers that supplied slaves (typically prisoners captured from neighboring communities), but The Woman King reframes this as a matter of convenience, and Agojie general Nanisca (Viola Davis) as a vocal advocate of change.

Unlike Ghezo’s other advisors, who advocate for slavery to bolster Dahomey’s wealth, Nanisca sees participation as a moral failing. She encourages the king to sever ties with Portuguese slavers, and to defy their ruthless rivals, the Oyo Empire. But standing up to the latter would mean risking all-out war, and the Agojie, weakened from their last skirmish with the Oyo, need to bolster their ranks before their rematch.

The Woman King didn’t quite get the recognition it deserved, but that’s all the more reason to celebrate the film now.

Sony Pictures

With the help of Izogie (a scene-stealing Lashana Lynch) and Amenza (Sheila Atim), Nanisca works to turn a rag-tag group of freed slaves into a new class of Agojie warriors. Her most difficult protege comes in the form of Nawi (Thuso Mbedu). Ousted from her father’s home for spurning one too many suitors, Nawi is a headstrong thorn in Nanisca’s side, but she’s not without promise, either. Her upstart ways will give the general the push she needs to bring Dahomey into the future, all while forcing her to reckon with the demons of her past. Their tentative bond quickly becomes the film’s heart, and even as The Woman King veers into unnecessary romantic subplots and pulpy palace intrigue, Davis and Mbedu keep the film from losing its way.

The Woman King is a window into a world we rarely get to enjoy in a big Hollywood production, and while it has plenty of heart, it’s also ruthless when it needs to be. It pushes the limits of its PG-13 rating with searing, kinetic battle sequences, and rarely shies away from Agojie’s brutal reputation. That it balances its big action stakes with quiet moments one would expect in an indie drama makes The Woman King feel even more novel. Three years removed from its release, there still hasn’t been anything like it. That’s a shame, but it’s also good reason to celebrate the film while we can.

The Woman King is now streaming on HBO Max.

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