My wife is a massive fan of and was very excited to go and see The Woman King. This is a historical biopic about the all-woman force known as The Agojie. The trailers made this look like an exciting thrill ride of a movie and I had a strong feeling that it would be a movie my wife and I would really enjoy.
How to Download The Woman King
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and check the current availability. If you like Viola Davis, check her out as Amanda Waller in Suicide Squad (2016) and The Suicide Squad (2021).
The Movie Review
I like to read about movies I am interested in before I see them and something really grabbed my attention about The Woman King. The movie is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and based on a script put together by Dana Stevens. However, what grabbed my attention was that the movie was actually based on a story thought of by actress Maria Bello who I am a huge fan of.
The movie takes place in 1823 in Dahomey, West Africa. General Nanisca (Viola Davis) is a powerful and honorable warrior that leads the Agojie. They find and save women from Dahomey that have been taken into slavery by the Oyo Empire. Their heroic acts do not go unnoticed and this leads to some very big trouble.
This leads to a massive war between Dahomey and the Oyo Empire. We get to see Nanisca train a new generation of warriors to fight off the impending war that sees the Oyo Empire teaming up with slavers who have come from Europe to take people from Africa to be slaves back home!
It is pretty brutal stuff and two of the female warriors end up taken captive. While General Nanisca wants to go and save them, she is forbidden from doing so. Of course, being the noble, brave, and badass warrior that Nanisca is, she defies her orders and heads out to rescue the two women that have been captured.
There is a great deal going on with this movie and while I can certainly appreciate the historical impact of the story and felt that it had some real weight to it. I have to say that The Woman King also stands on its own as a badass action movie as well. Some of the fight choreography here is brutal and very well done and gets you well and truly invested in this horrific war these women find themselves in.
What I loved about the movie is that it really did have it all. You have a great base story, a truly compelling hero, a despicable villain, and a whole lot of action as well. To be honest, I am not a history buff so I cannot speak of how accurate the movie is to the time period it is based on, but it was a lot of fun and clearly made with a lot of love.
This was such a great movie! If you are looking for a good date night movie that is not some kind of rom-com garbage, but something that you can both enjoy, I highly recommend The Woman King. My wife and I both really enjoyed this movie and it is a movie that I am sure I will end up watching again as a matter of fact I have plans to eventually pick up the 4K version of the film!
