I am always up for a revisionist take on the age-old fairy tale formula, whether it is a Cinderella that rescues herself (Ever After, 1998), a princess headlining an action flick (The Princess, 2022), or even a princess that is also a dragon (Dragon Princess, 2021). New to this mini-genre of empowering fantasies is Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s Damsel, in which Millie Bobbie Brown’s princess is sacrificed to a dragon – only for the dragon to discover she is not as easy a meal as it thought.

To be honest there are few surprises to be had here. The screenplay, by Dan Mazeau, presses all of the appropriate buttons and follows well-rehearsed genre conventions. At the same time it peppered with plenty of inventive moments and ideas. It is certainly a step above his previously produced work – sequels Wrath of the Titans (2012) and Fast X (2023) – and provides a solid framework around which the film can be built. It even has some interesting thematic elements. It is difficult to miss that a core part of the story involves the very rich manipulating the system to exploit the very poor.

It is what is on top of Mazeau’s framework best demonstrates Damsel‘s assets. Fresnadillo has been very much idle since his last film Intruders (2011), but this new work continues the impactful use of violence that marked out his earlier film 28 Weeks Later (2007). There is an edge to this film that fantasy adventures often lack. It is not quite in Dragonslayer (1981) territory, but I was reminded of that film more than once. For one thing, Damsel is a lot more violent than viewers might expect; when characters are injured or even killed, it is with the sort of violence that makes one flinch. The design of the film is rock-solid, particularly its dragon and the labyrinthine network of caves that make up its lair.

The film also boasts an impressive cast for such a straightforward fantasy film. Asides from Brown, an actor that appears to have become Netflix’s official ingénue, Damsel boasts supporting turns from Robin Wright, Ray Winstone, and Angela Bassett. Shohreh Aghdashloo lends her distinctive voice to the film’s dragon, which is a creative masterstroke that turns what could have been just a visual effect into an actual character.

There are some that will dislike Damsel for not separating itself from genre conventions enough, or for hewing to closely to archetypes. For its target audience it really is a rock-solid and enjoyable action film with a richness of design, some great action, and a strong level of suspense. Under the Howard Hawks definition of good cinema having ‘three good scenes, no bad ones’, Damsel is a firm, enjoyable success.