movie review the woman king

The Woman King

From the moment Gina Prince-Bythewood became a director, her strength has always resided in her commitment to love stories. In her films, sumptuous twilight passions happen on a basketball court, they occur between generations, on the ladder rungs of show business, and between immortals. They center Black women carrying power and interiority, while finding strength within themselves, and often, other Black women. With her Netflix produced film, “ The Old Guard ,” she continued those themes on a grander scale. But nothing in her filmography can wholly prepare you for the lushness of her latest work. 

In going into “The Woman King,” a big-hearted action-epic whose major challenge is being sincere and historical while fulfilling its blockbuster requirements, you might feel some hesitation. Especially in a cinematic landscape that prizes broad statements on race over sturdy storytelling. You might wonder how Prince-Bythewood can shape a tale centering the Agojie warriors—an all-woman group of soldiers sworn to honor and sisterhood—hailing from the West African kingdom of Dahomey, when one considers their hand in perpetuating the transatlantic slave trade. It’s a towering task approached by Prince-Bythewood and screenwriter Dana Stevens with gentle sensitivity, and a fierce desire to show Black women as the charters of their own destiny. 

The film begins with flair: A group of men lounge at the center of a field by a campfire. They hear rustling in the tallgrass; they see a flock of birds fly away on a breeze. Suddenly a menacing Viola Davis playing Nanisca, the world-weary Agojie general, emerges from the grass armed with a machete. An entire platoon then appears behind her. The ensuing slaughter of the men (the women in the village are left unharmed), is soaked in delirious gore, and is part of this warrior ensemble’s mission to free their imprisoned kin. Nanisca, however, loses so many comrades in the process that she decides to train a new batch of recruits. 

After the thrilling opening battle scene, the plot to “The Woman King” can feel convoluted. But its excesses serve the film’s blockbuster goals. A defiant teenager, Nawi ( Thuso Mbedu ), is offered up as a gift to the young King Ghezo ( John Boyega ) by her domineering father, who is frustrated with his obstinate daughter’s refusal to marry her many suitors. Nawi, however, never makes it to the King, as the unflinching yet fun warrior Izogie (a phenomenal Lashana Lynch ), sees Nawi’s resistance as a strength, and enlists her in Nanisca’s training. Being part of the Agojie promises freedom to all involved, but not to those they conquer. The defeated are offered as tribute to the draconian Oyo Empire, who then deal their fellow Africans as slaves to Europeans in exchange for guns. It’s a circle of oppression that the guilt-ridden Nanisca wants the King to break. In the meantime, a dream has haunted Nanisca, and the disobedient Nawa, who struggles with upholding some of Agojie clan’s strict requirements, particularly the “No Men” part. It might be the key to what ails her.       

Despite these clunky narrative beats—there’s a twist halfway through that nearly causes the story to fall apart—the sheer pleasure of “The Woman King” resides in the bond shared by these Black women. They are the film’s love story as they commit to each other as much as they do to their grueling training. Vast compositions of Black women caring and nurturing each other proliferate “The Woman King,” and the rituals and songs they share adds further layers to their deep devotion. 

Prince-Bythewood isn’t afraid to rely on emotional heft in an action movie. Every actor in this deep ensemble is granted their own space; they’re organically challenged but never artificially wielded as a teaching tool for white audiences. Sheila Atim , who along with Mbedu turned in a stellar performance in Barry Jenkins ’ “ The Underground Railroad ,” is measured, aware, and giving as Nanisca’s trusted second-in-command Amenza. Boyega is commanding yet beguiling as a king projecting confidence while still learning what it means to lead (many of his line readers are instantly quotable). 

“The Woman King,” however, is quite messy. The overuse of VFX for landscapes, fake extras, and fire often flattens the compositions by cinematographer Polly Morgan ; she finds greater latitude in capturing the bruising yet precise fight choreography. And the low-simmering romance that emerges between Nawa and Malik, a ripped Portuguese-Dahomen fantasy ( Jordan Bolger ) returning to discover his roots, while clear in its intent to test Nawa’s dedication to her sisters, is unintentionally comical in its awkwardness. The script far too often also tries to neatly tie together these characters, especially Nawi and Nanisca. 

But when “The Woman King” works, it’s majestic. The tactile costumes by Gersha Phillips (“Star Trek Discovery”) and the detailed production design by Akin McKenzie (“Wild Life” and “ When They See Us ”) feel lived in and vibrant, especially in the vital rendering of the Dahomey Kingdom, which is teeming with scenes of color and community. Terilyn A. Shropshire ’s slick, intelligent editing allows this grand epic to breathe. And the evocative score by Terence Blanchard and Lebo M. gives voice to the Agojie’s fighting spirit. 

Though Davis is the movie’s obvious star, turning in an aching and psychically demanding performance that’s matched pound for pound with her interiority, Mbedu reaffirms herself as a star too. She gives herself over to the tale of a woman who so desires to be heard that she never backs down to anyone. A glimmer follows Mbedu in her every line read, and gloom follows her in devastation. There’s one scene where she cries over the body of a fallen warrior and lets out a wail with an impact that travels from your toes to your spleen. 

The subplots in “The Woman King” might undo it for some. But the magnitude and the awe this movie inspires are what epics like “ Gladiator ” and “ Braveheart ” are all about. They’re meant for your heart to override your brain, to pull you toward a rousing splendor, to put a lump in your throat. In between the large, sprawling battles of “The Woman King,” and in between the desire to not yield to white outside forces and the urge to topple oppressive and racist systems, the guide is sisterly love, Black love. Thrilling and enrapturing, emotionally beautiful and spiritually buoyant, “The Woman King” isn’t just an uplifting battle cry. It’s the movie Prince-Bythewood has been building toward throughout her entire career. And she doesn’t miss.  

This review was filed from the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10th. “The Woman King” opens on September 16th.

Robert Daniels

Robert Daniels is an Associate Editor at RogerEbert.com. Based in Chicago, he is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) and Critics Choice Association (CCA) and regularly contributes to the  New York Times ,  IndieWire , and  Screen Daily . He has covered film festivals ranging from Cannes to Sundance to Toronto. He has also written for the Criterion Collection, the  Los Angeles Times , and  Rolling Stone  about Black American pop culture and issues of representation.

• Viola Davis as Nanisca
• Thuso Mbedu as Nawi
• Lashana Lynch as Izogie
• Sheila Atim as Amenza
• John Boyega as King Ghezo
• Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Santo Ferreira
• Jayme Lawson as

Writer (story by)

• Dana Stevens
• Maria Bello
• Gina Prince-Bythewood
• Terence Blanchard

Cinematographer

• Polly Morgan
• Terilyn A. Shropshire

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‘The Woman King’ Review: She Slays

Viola Davis leads a strong cast into battle in an epic from Gina Prince-Bythewood, inspired by real women warriors.

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By Manohla Dargis

The kinetic action adventure “The Woman King” is a sweeping entertainment, but it’s also a story of unwavering resistance in front of and behind the camera. The ascendancy of women filmmakers over the past decade is one of the great chapters in movie history, and as women have fought their way back into the field, they have also taken up space — on screens and in minds — long denied them. Their canvases are again as expansive as their desires.

Certainly one of the most expansive of these canvases is “The Woman King,” a drama about the real women soldiers of the precolonial Kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the movie is filled with palace intrigues, sumptuous ceremonies and stirring battles, and features, as golden-age Hollywood liked to brag, a cast of thousands (or thereabouts!). Yet while it evokes the old-fashioned spectacles the studios habitually turned out long before Marvel, there is no precedent for this one.

The story, as moviemakers also like to say, is “inspired” by real events, which in this case are mind-blowing. The tale is rooted in the women warriors of Dahomey whose exact origins remain obscured by tribal myths and oral traditions as well as the obviously biased, self-serving and at times contradictory accounts of European observers. It’s thought that the warriors emerged in the 17th century, and were part of a heavily female social organization that included lots of wives and his-and-her sides of the palatial compound. (The stronghold was about one-eighth the size of Central Park.)

The wives show up now and again in “The Woman King,” seated and standing in a cloud of regal hauteur. They’re lavishly coifed and luxuriously dressed, and, for the most part, passive, as inert and prettily posed as dolls waiting for someone to play with them. That would be King Ghezo, a young monarch amusingly played by John Boyega, who gives the character the nonchalant imperiousness of a very important person who doesn’t seem to do much other than the most essential thing: hold power. If Ghezo wears the crown lightly it’s only because others do his hard, dirty, sometimes murderous work.

It’s the women warriors who do much of the toughest work, and, of course, are the main attractions, which Prince-Bythewood announces at once. So, after a bit of quick, dutiful place-setting — it’s 1823 — the movie takes flight with a showy battle, a grab-you-by-the-throat entrance that gets the story going and blood flowing, yours included. Led by the battle-scarred General Nanisca (Viola Davis), the women soldiers, their bodies oiled to a high gleam, emerge like hallucinations that Prince-Bythewood makes palpably real. Suddenly, the screen fills with intense movement and by turns soaring and falling bodies.

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Viola Davis is 'The Woman King' in an epic story inspired by true events

Justin Chang

Nanisca (Viola Davis) wields a sword and hacks her way through the many men who get in her way in The Woman King. Ilze Kitshoff/CTMG hide caption

Nanisca (Viola Davis) wields a sword and hacks her way through the many men who get in her way in The Woman King.

One of the more heartening Hollywood comeback stories in recent years has been the return of the director Gina Prince-Bythewood with movies like The Old Guard and now The Woman King . It had been a long wait for many of us who adored her earlier films like Love & Basketball and Beyond the Lights . As Prince-Bythewood has said in interviews, her focus on women protagonists, especially Black women protagonists, had made it hard over the years to get her projects off the ground. Fortunately, the industry is changing, and it's finally come around to recognizing her talent.

Her latest movie, The Woman King, is her most ambitious project yet, a rousingly old-fashioned action-drama, drawn from true events, about women warriors in 19th-century West Africa. The movie originated with the actor Maria Bello , who produced it and wrote the story with the film's screenwriter, Dana Stevens. It opens in 1823 in the kingdom of Dahomey, located in what is now Benin. For several centuries, this kingdom was defended by an army of women fighters called the Agojie.

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In the movie, the Agojie are led by the powerful General Nanisca, played by a galvanizing Viola Davis . She isn't the ruler of this kingdom — that would be the king, played by John Boyega — but given the movie's title, you suspect it's only a matter of time. The Agojie warriors are fighting the male soldiers of the Oyo Empire, who've been attacking Dahomey villages. To build up her army, Nanisca brings in a new batch of female recruits, among them an impetuous teenager named Nawi, played by Thuso Mbedu, the terrific South African star of last year's The Underground Railroad .

Much of the script centers on the growing bond — and the growing tension — between Nanisca and Nawi. As the leader of the Agojie, Nanisca insists that all her warriors follow a strict code that includes lifelong celibacy. Nawi chafes at that restriction, and her independent-mindedness often clashes with the Agojie's values of discipline and self-sacrifice. But by the end, Nawi absorbs those values and becomes a courageous fighter, honing her skills through many exciting scenes of training and competition.

The Woman King was shot on location in South Africa, and its re-creation of the Dahomey villages is so immersive — the costumes, designed by Gersha Phillips, are especially gorgeous — that it just about carries you past some of the messiness of the storytelling. To its credit, the script addresses some of the historical complexities of the situation, including the fact that Dahomey became a rich kingdom by participating in the trans-Atlantic slave trade — a practice that Nanisca wants to end. She also has a personal score to settle with the Oyo warriors, and The Woman King is sometimes a little unsteady in its mix of political plotting and emotional drama. A romantic subplot involving Nawi and a hunky European explorer feels especially tacked-on.

Nanisca may not be the most complex character Davis has played, but it's thrilling to see her take on her first major action showcase as she dons battle gear, wields a sword and hacks her way through the many, many men who get in her way. And she isn't the only one: My favorite performance in the movie comes from Lashana Lynch as Izogie, a top warrior who takes young Nawi under her wing. You might have seen Lynch squaring off with Daniel Craig's James Bond in No Time to Die , and here she manages to be funny, heartbreaking and fierce.

Prince-Bythewood has conceived The Woman King in the grand-scale tradition of epics like Braveheart and Gladiator , this time with women leading the charge. While the action doesn't rise to the same visceral intensity as in those films, it makes for an engrossing and sometimes exhilarating history lesson. I left the theater thinking about how an old civilization recognized the strength of what women could do — and how it's taken the empire of Hollywood so long to do the same.

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The Woman King Reviews

The Woman King is more than just a historical action film; it is a genuinely rare example of breathing life into the past with verve and imagination.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 18, 2024

There’s a certain tenderness yet mightiness with which director Prince-Bythewood choses to frame the story visually. Her exceptional direction enables an experience that is as emotionally invigorating as it is empowering and inspirational.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 25, 2024

To see Black women at the centrepiece of a Hollywood epic like this is both refreshing and extremely overdue.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Jul 12, 2024

The Woman King achieves cinematic royalty with its extremely skillful, well-crafted, and purposeful picture that tells a narrative of empowerment and humanity. It’s well-crafted from start to finish, with Davis shining in the starring role.

Full Review | Sep 26, 2023

writer Dana Stevens, story contributor Maria Bello – more known for her acting (“A History of Violence”) – and Prince-Bythewood continue an emerging cinematic trend of alternate, redemptive histories that bend toward utopianism

Full Review | Aug 16, 2023

Davis elevates this standard story with the emotion and dire she brings to her performance.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Aug 9, 2023

For viewers who choose to focus on the adrenaline rush of the feminist warriors ready to challenge the patriarchy, The Woman King proudly wears its crown.

Full Review | Jul 27, 2023

Thuso Mbedu delivers one of the best feature film debut performances I've ever witnessed. The anti-slavery, anti-racism and equal human rights messages are well conveyed, but the authentic, emotionally resonant character dynamics stand out.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jul 25, 2023

While this is undoubtedly Viola Davis at her finest, the movie's breakout star is Thuso Mbedu as Nawi. It may be called The Woman King, but it's Mbedu that steals the spotlight in every frame.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

An instant classic, Viola Davis slays as always. Lashana Lynch is incredible, Sheila Atim is amazing, & Thuso Mbedu steals the show as the heart/soul of the entire film! Blythewood created an epic that we don’t see anymore from Hollywood.

Despite stumbles in terms of plot and pacing, The Woman King is a thrilling watch. This story, these women, and the film’s heart deserve to be seen on the biggest screen possible with an audience ready to go along for a wild ride.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

The movie fails to fulfil its potential except as a military action epic.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 17, 2023

A dazzler from Terence Blanchard’s symphonic score to Polly Morgan’s eye pleasing cinematography. Acting is A-1, particularly by Davis and Mbedu.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Apr 25, 2023

Viola Davis is a force unleashed, heading up a full-blooded tale of conflict set against the backdrop of the slave trade that offers both a twist on the traditional male-dominated warrior-epic and a look at a part of history Hollywood typically ignores

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 27, 2023

Its the emotional sparring between the women - as fierce as anything on the battle ground - that really holds the attention

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 17, 2023

If it had been a story about white people, it would have been a snore. But we have rarely, if ever, seen a movie quite like this one about powerful Black women, and the energy onscreen is infectious.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 13, 2023

…goes all in as a popular entertainment, rolling back the male-dominance of the action genre and replacing it with something smart, dynamic and female driven…

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 19, 2023

As these women take their place in the kingdom of Dahomey and assert their power, The Woman King truly takes on new meaning, and finds relevance in the modern era.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Feb 10, 2023

The film is shot impeccably well, scored passionately, and gives the viewer something to savor as they leave the theater.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Feb 8, 2023

It's not a perfect film but acting-wise - this is a masterclass. Pacing was tight and effective despite lacking in some character development. This is a really good film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 5, 2023

‘The Woman King’ Is Viola Davis Kicking Ass. What More Do You Need to Know?

By David Fear

We all knew Viola Davis was an Oscar and Emmy winner, an extraordinary orator , and one of the great actors of her generation. We did not know she was a bona fide superhero, however, until Gina Prince-Bythewood gave her a proper superhero’s entrance. The first time we see the title character in The Woman King, the director’s sweeping story of female soldiers in 19th-century Africa, it’s during a rescue mission already in progress. A group of raiders have taken over a village. Women and children, soon to be sold off to slave traders, huddle in fear. There’s a rustling in the grass.

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(We hate to say that any one performer steals a movie that so doggedly works to give its ensemble so much screen time and stuff to do. Yet Lashana Lynch is most assuredly first among equals in terms of the supporting cast — Izogie is the sort of tragicomic, shoot-the-moon, standout type of role that brings out the best in the British actor, and vice versa. In every scene she’s in, Lynch radiates charisma and presence, along with a grab bag of expressions ranging from sisterly to sarcastic, while never taking the focus away from her partners in crime or the movie’s momentum. It’s the sort of performance that makes you think of, say, Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda, or Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, or Joe Pesci in Goodfellas or Dianne Wiest in Bullets Over Broadway. As to what those four turns have in common? Please feel free to read between the lines, Academy voters.)

The more that Dana Stevens’ screenplay, which shares story credit with writer-actor Maria Bello, keeps adding to the narrative, the more The Woman King risks collapsing under its own weight. Yet there’s so much filmmaking A-game on display (not just Prince-Bythewood, naturally, but also composer Terence Blanchard, cinematographer Polly Morgan, production designer Akin McKenzie, costume designer Gersha Phillips) and so much Old Hollywood territory being wonderfully claim-staked that the pros far, far outweigh the cons. An Afrocentric historical epic designed to be screened as big as possible, made by a Black female filmmaker, starring a Black woman of a certain age as an action hero, telling a story that’s left out of world-history books, vying for a mass audience in the age of I.P. imperialism — these are not just qualifiers for The Woman King. They are the sounds of ceilings being shattered and, hopefully, left to rot as piles of splintered glass on the ground. If they do, it will be in no small part due to this film. See it, however, not because it’s the first of many such future projects. See it because of the high bar it sets for all movies that still want to thrill you, move you, and operate on a larger-than-life level. Nanisca isn’t the only hero here.

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‘the woman king’ review: viola davis transforms in gina prince-bythewood’s rousing action epic.

The Academy Award-winning actress stars alongside Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim and John Boyega in a feature inspired by an all-women warrior unit in pre-colonial Benin.

By Lovia Gyarkye

Lovia Gyarkye

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Viola davis remembers being called the n-word more times than her own name as a child while accepting hollyrod foundation honor, toronto's so-so sales bode ill for future market, the woman king.

But as a product of Hollywood, working in the American cinematic lexicon, The Woman King , with all its good intentions, nonetheless falls into the expected traps of melodrama and obfuscated history. Perhaps those flaws will be the subject of later conversations, when The Woman King stimulates impassioned critical discourse — the type that leads to an enthusiastic push to explore the African continent’s rich precolonial history or copious present-day narratives.

Her character is familiar in her complexity: a ruthless, protective leader plagued by a reflexive defensiveness. Nanisca loves the women in her regiment, whom she refers to as sisters, but struggles to embrace different ideas. That posture makes her relationship with the Agojie’s newest recruit, Nawi (a sharp Thuso Mbedu), initially difficult. The two frequently butt heads as the young fighter repeatedly questions why certain rules — lifelong celibacy, for example — still exist. Mbedu, the jewel of Barry Jenkins’ Underground Railroad , shines as Nawi, a teenager sent to join the Agojie after her father abandons the project of marrying her off.

The training of the newest cohort of fighters frames the first half of The Woman King , which takes great care to build a detailed portrait of Agojie life in the Dahomey Kingdom. These scenes, in addition to the action sequences, showcase Akin McKenzie and Gersha Phillips’ crisp production and costume designs. We see the youngest women doing drills within the palace’s terra cotta walls, running laps through the tall grasslands of the surrounding area and wrestling each other to improve their tactical skills. There’s also a palpable sororal energy between these women, young and old. In Amenza (Sheila Atim), Nanisca has a devoted friend; in Izogie (a wonderful Lashana Lynch), Nawi finds comfort and necessary reality checks. These montages are backed by Terence Blanchard’s exuberant score.

The origin of the Agojie is not reliably documented, but scholars suspect their unit was born out of necessity: The Dahomey, known for their strategic warfare and slave raids, countered the attrition of young men by recruiting women into military ranks; every unmarried woman could be enlisted. The Woman King doesn’t flesh out the origin story, but it does acknowledge and attempt to tackle the kingdom’s participation in enslaving other Africans.

Taking a pseudo-Pan-Africanist turn, the film puts Nanisca in the role of dissenter. With the nation initiating a war with the neighboring Oyo kingdom, to whom they have paid tribute for decades, the Agojie general urges King Ghezo (John Boyega) to think about the Dahomey’s future. She argues with him about the immorality of selling their own people to the Portuguese and suggests the kingdom turn to palm oil production for trade instead. Ghezo is unconvinced, fearing that change would lead to the kingdom’s demise. Nanisca implores him not to trust the colonizers.

The Woman King flits between the war with the Oyo, the broader battle against the encroaching slave trade and the internal drama of the Agojie. Nanisca’s intuition proves to be correct, but a recurring nightmare forces her to wrestle with her own demons, too. The general must consider the weight of her ambitions to become Woman King, a title conferred by Ghezo in the Dahomey tradition, and her past.

As the war with the Oyo deepens, and the fight scenes grow ever more intense, The Woman King digs its heels into familiar dramatic beats, leaning into universal themes of love, community and unambiguous moralism. For a crowd-pleasing epic — think Braveheart with Black women — that combination is more than enough.

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Woman King

A historical epic inspired by true events that took place in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries. A historical epic inspired by true events that took place in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries. A historical epic inspired by true events that took place in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.

• Gina Prince-Bythewood
• Dana Stevens
• Maria Bello
• Viola Davis
• Thuso Mbedu
• Lashana Lynch
• 526 User reviews
• 222 Critic reviews
• 76 Metascore
• 28 wins & 124 nominations total

Top cast 44

• Santo Ferreira

• (as Chioma Umeala)

• (as Siv Ngesi)

• (as Angelique Kidjo)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Producer Maria Bello visited Benin in West Africa to research the Agojie, and returned to the US, convinced she had found a great movie pitch. The project then stayed in development hell for years, first at STX (which only offered $5 million for the budget), then at TriStar. Only after the massive success of Black Panther (2018) was the film greenlit with a $50 million budget.
• Goofs The Dahomey Mino (or Dahomey Amazons) did not fight to end slavery but were in fact prolific slavers themselves. The Dahomey enslaved thousands of fellow Africans until the kingdom was defeated by the French in 1894.

Nanisca : We are the spear of victory, we are the blade of freedom, we are Dahomey!

• Crazy credits There's a mid-credits scene, in which Amenza is seen performing a memorial ceremony for her fallen sisters, pouring salt and whiskey over their weapons. She says their names aloud, and the last name we hear is Breonna.
• Connections Featured in Black Conservative Perspective: WOKE BACKFIRE! 'The Woman King' DESTROYED For Glorifying African Women Fighting To Protect Slavery! (2022)
• Soundtracks Tribute to the King Written and produced by Icebo M

User reviews 526

• kevin_robbins
• Sep 15, 2022
• How long is The Woman King? Powered by Alexa
• September 16, 2022 (United States)
• United States
• South Africa
• Sony Pictures Entertainment
• La mujer rey
• TriStar Pictures
• Eone Entertainment
• TSG Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $50,000,000 (estimated)
• $67,328,130
• $19,051,442
• Sep 18, 2022
• $97,562,514

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 15 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• IMAX 6-Track
• Dolby Atmos

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