What’s it about?

In 1820s West Africa, General Nanisca trains the all-female warriors of the kingdom of Dahomey as they are drawn into conflict with a neighbouring kingdom and foreign interlopers.

What did we think?

Peter Linning says: The Woman King feels like a halfway point between two versions of itself. One version is a bombastic popcorn flick filled with tough ladies doing cool flips and spinning kicks in highly-choreographed Marvel-style fight scenes, with a few training montages and vague speeches about certain things being worth fighting for. The other version is a sombre and serious look at the historical role of African states in the Atlantic slave trade, and the harsh realities that women faced in militaristic societies. The Woman King tries to do both, and fails at doing a good job of either.