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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.

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The Woman King (2022)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some disturbing material, thematic content, brief language and partial nudity.

135 minutes

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

• Gina Prince-Bythewood

Writer (story by)

• Maria Bello
• Dana Stevens

Cinematographer

• Polly Morgan
• Terilyn A. Shropshire
• Terence Blanchard

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‘The Woman King’ Review: Viola Davis Leads an Army of African Warriors in Compelling Display of Black Power

'Love & Basketball' director Gina Prince-Bythewood and her Oscar-winning leading lady want the world to know about the exceptional group of women who took on the slave trade.

By Peter Debruge

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Dubbed “Amazons” on account of their superior strength and berserker fighting style, the Agojie are reportedly the group that inspired “Black Panther’s” Dora Milaje. Now, they are liable to inspire future generations, as Prince-Bythewood (a director for whom scope comes easily, coming off Netflix’s globe-spanning “The Old Guard”) gives these women the iconic treatment: Rigorous training montages and other rites of passage, seen through the eyes of new recruit Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), build to elaborately choreographed action sequences and, in some cases, dramatic death scenes. These women are formidable, but not invincible, after all.

With women clearly established as its heroes, the movie proceeds to introduce two villains: The first is Oda (Jimmy Odukoya), ruthless leader of the Oyo Empire, who’s been organizing other tribes against the Dahomey — and who, judging by a few intense flashbacks, gave Nanisca a personal reason to want his head on a pike. The other is a white slave trader named Santo Ferreira (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), who speaks Portuguese and seeks strong Black laborers to bring with him back to Brazil. This character isn’t even remotely intimidating and seems ill-suited to the jungle, through which he’s carried in a sling by Black porters, a shameful practice seen often in Tarzan movies.

We can’t help hating these two figures, although Santo is accompanied by a hunk named Malik (Jordan Bolger), whose heritage is more complicated: His father was white; his mother was Dahomey. The instant Malik sets eyes on Nawi, the movie opens a Disney-esque door for romance (“Pocahontas” comes to mind) it’s not really equipped to see through. That said, a little sexual tension helps to underscore the sacrifices these virgin warriors must make to defend the kingdom, and the target audience likely won’t mind a bit of beefcake to break up the 80 minutes of conditioning Nawi and the others need before the film’s next big battle scene.

The Dahomey won’t be free until Oda and Santo have been dealt with. To make these confrontations believable, “The Woman King” must establish that its warriors are capable of standing up to superior weapons — the Agojie are armed mostly with blades and spears, while their attackers carry guns. But Nanisca’s fighters show discipline as well, and one of the film’s points seems to be that greatness is not given but must be earned. No wonder there’s so much focus on training — time that Prince-Bythewood uses to dimensionalize the Agojie’s other members, like Ode (Adrienne Warren), a young Mahi captive who joins the cause, and Nanisca’s trusted spiritual adviser Amenza (Sheila Atim), who acts as a sort of conscience for the group. While she and Nanisca keep an eye on Nawi from afar, Izogie (Lashana Lynch) steps in as mentor, recognizing aspects of herself in the teenager and becoming something of an audience favorite in the process.

Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Gala Presentations), Sept. 9, 2022. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 135 MIN.

• Production: A Sony release of a TriStar Pictures presentation, in association with eOne, of a JuVee Prods., Welle Entertainment production. Producers: Cathy Schulman, Viola Davis, Julius Tennon, Maria Bello. Executive producer: Peter McAleese.
• Crew: Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood. Screenplay: Dana Stevens; story: Maria Bello, Dana Stevens. Camera: Polly Morgan. Editor: Terilyn A. Shropshire. Music: Terence Blanchard.
• With: Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, and John Boyega. (English, Portuguese dialogue)

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The Woman King review: ferocious warrior tale is a vibrant celebration of Black womanhood in all its glory

Viola davis plays the (fictionalised) leader of the (real-life) agojie, an elite unit of all-female warriors active in the historical kingdom of dahomey, article bookmarked.

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Dir: Gina Prince-Bythewood. Starring: Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, John Boyega. 15, 135 minutes.

Gina Prince-Bythewood is exactly the kind of filmmaker Hollywood needs. Whether in the intimacy of her dramas Love & Basketball (2000) and Beyond the Lights (2014), the propulsion of her comic book adaptation The Old Guard (2020), or, now, the rousing spirit of her historical epic The Woman King, the core strengths of her work remain unaltered, whatever the scale of the project. There is always the same heart, the same integrity, and the same genuine investment in representing the world as it is, even if it puts her at odds with what white Hollywood execs want it to be.

So far, she’s been proven right in her instincts. The Old Guard already has a sequel in the works. The Woman King , which was bounced around studios for three years after being deemed unprofitable, climbed straight to the top of the US box office. Its success should never have been treated as a surprise – this is kinetic, muscular, easy-to-cheer filmmaking applied to a story ready-made for the silver screen. Written by Dana Stevens, based on an idea pitched by Maria Bello to fellow actor Viola Davis at an awards ceremony, it casts the Oscar-winner as Nanisca. She’s the (fictionalised) leader of the (real-life) Agojie, an elite unit of all-female warriors active in the historical kingdom of Dahomey (located in what is now Benin, in West Africa).

Stevens’s script, set in 1823, introduces the Agojie as a transgressive group able to live within their own vision of womanhood. Formally considered “wives” of King Ghezo (John Boyega), unable to marry or have children of their own, their reputation for ferocity remains unparalleled – no one dares gaze upon them as they march through the streets. We learn of the Agojie, and their ways, primarily through the eyes of a newcomer to their ranks, Nawi (Thuso Mbedu). Passed off to them by her father, as supposed punishment for her refusal to take a husband, she’s quickly welcomed in by Nanisca’s officers, Izogie (Lashana Lynch) and Amenza (Sheila Atim).

The Agojie’s battles against their enemies – part of the neighbouring Oyo Empire – bear a ruthless efficiency. A machete carves into an Achilles tendon. Izogie’s nails, filed into sharp talons, scratch at a man’s eyes. A knife, tied to the end of a rope, whistles as it cuts through the air. The militancy of the Agojie has its own cold beauty, but the film equally drinks in the splendour of Gersha Phillips’s costumes and Akin McKenzie’s production design. The camera, at times, may linger on a beautiful set of carved, wooden doors, or the gilded embroidery of King Ghezo’s robes.

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The film, contrary to some claims, doesn’t shy away from Dahomey’s role in the European slave trade, and Ghezo is seen trading off captives to the Portuguese in exchange for weapons. Stevens, however, reaches for the same kind of narratively expedient simplification that saw Gladiator ’s own fictitious, larger-than-life hero Maximus usher in the restoration of the Roman Republic (a wholesale invention, any historian will tell you). Nanisca is positioned as a moral objector to slavery, who believes Dahomey’s wealth can instead be sustained through the trade of palm oil.

There are a few other concessions here, made primarily to fit the traditional image of what a historical epic should look like, including a wishy-washy, illicit romance between Nawi and a biracial slaver named Malik (Jordan Bolger). But Davis, Mbedu, Lynch, and Atim’s performances are all so unilaterally committed – not only to the hardened quality of these soldiers, but also to their gentility, their sense of humour, their pain, and their resolve – that the film’s emotions are convincing and sincere. The Woman King isn’t intended to be any ordinary account of history. It is a vibrant, restorative celebration of Black womanhood in all its glory.

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The Woman King

2022, Action/Adventure, 2h 15m

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Critics Consensus

All hail Viola Davis! The Woman King rules. Read critic reviews

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With a fantastic cast and an action-packed story that also manages to be meaningful, The Woman King makes it reign. Read audience reviews

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The Woman King is the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen. Inspired by true events, The Woman King follows the emotionally epic journey of General Nanisca (Oscar®-winner Viola Davis) as she trains the next generation of recruits and readies them for battle against an enemy determined to destroy their way of life. Some things are worth fighting for....

Rating: PG-13 (Partial Nudity|Brief Language|Sequences of Strong Violence|Some Disturbing Material|Thematic Content)

Genre: Action, Adventure, History, Drama, War

Original Language: English

Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood

Producer: Cathy Schulman , Viola Davis , Julius Tennon , Maria Bello

Writer: Dana Stevens

Release Date (Theaters): Sep 16, 2022  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Dec 13, 2022

Box Office (Gross USA): $67.1M

Runtime: 2h 15m

Distributor: TriStar Pictures

Production Co: JuVee Productions, Welle Entertainment

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

Viola Davis

Thuso Mbedu

Lashana Lynch

Sheila Atim

Hero Fiennes Tiffin

Santo Ferreira

John Boyega

Jayme Lawson

Adrienne Warren

Masali Baduza

Jordan Bolger

Angélique Kidjo

Thando Dlomo

Jimmy Odukoya

Gina Prince-Bythewood

Dana Stevens

Screenwriter

Cathy Schulman

Julius Tennon

Maria Bello

Peter McAleese

Executive Producer

Polly Morgan

Cinematographer

Terilyn A. Shropshire

Film Editing

Terence Blanchard

Original Music

Akin McKenzie

Production Design

Catherine Makgati

Art Director

Gersha Phillips

Costume Design

Aisha Coley

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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.

The action scenes are visceral, and more or less rooted in the laws of physics. Even during the darkest of night, Prince-Bythewood anchors you both in the battlefield and the ensuing chaos of the fight, which tethers you visually and, by extension, strengthens the movie’s realism. Put differently, she puts you right on the ground so that you can watch these women fly. They do just that, not with superhero capes and fairy-tale enchantments, but with swords, javelins, twirling ropes and an occasional gun — as well as long, razored fingernails that scoop out enemy eyes, and thighs that crack men like walnuts.

The women are their own greatest weapons, and among everything else it addresses, “The Woman King” is about strong, dynamic Black women, their souls, minds and bodies. Prince-Bythewood frames these warriors, with their gradations of skin tones, lovingly and attentively. (The cinematographer is Polly Morgan.) You don’t need to be a scholar of old Hollywood, which divided Black performers in hierarchies of color, typecasting darker actors in servant roles, to grasp the greater implications of Prince-Bythewood foregrounding women like Davis, Sheila Atim and Lashana Lynch — it’s galvanizing.

The overstuffed story oscillates between intimate, sometimes soppy drama and world-shaking events, most profoundly in terms of the slave trade. That the Dahomey traffic in other people complicates the triumphalism of a movie that celebrates women’s power, a complexity that the story never satisfyingly engages. For the most part, the filmmakers — the script is by Dana Stevens, from a story by her and Maria Bello — navigate the political and moral thickets through Nanisca’s personal qualms about the trade, which she voices to the king, arguing that he can maintain his power more benignly.

Nanisca’s hopes and Dahomey’s future are tangled up with the schemes of the kingdom’s principal rival, the Oyo Empire (Jimmy Odukoya plays its swaggering leader), which also sells other human beings, including to the insatiable Europeans. Accurately portrayed or not, the images of the Oyo, who wear turbans wrapped around their heads and sweep in on horses, startlingly evokes the janjaweed , the mounted militiamen who beginning in the early 2000s ravaged western Sudan. The visual connection to these forces both adds to the movie’s overall sense of the past and bridges the horrors of 19th-century Africa with those of the continent’s post-colonial conflagrations.

Even as the script falters, that history and Prince-Bythewood’s direction imbue “The Women King” with an intensity that’s manifest in every fight and in the clenched faces and straining muscles of the warriors. When Nanisca rallies them before battle, thundering that they must fight or perish, it echoes the vow that it’s better to die on your feet than live on your knees. Women are taught to live on their knees, and part of what makes this film so moving is how it lays claim to a chapter in history that upends received ideas about gender even if the story is more complex than the movie suggests.

“The Woman King” drags here and there, weighted down principally by a subplot that grows more unpersuasive with each scene and involves an unruly young woman, Nawi (an appealing Thuso Mbedu), who’s dumped at the palace by her family. The character, a classic naïf who needs to be schooled and tested, is an obvious narrative contrivance that Mbedu fills in with grit and personality. In part, Nawi serves as a proxy for the audience, who follow her lead as she’s transformed into a fighter and learns from her mentor, Izogie, a ferocious warrior played by a fantastic, charismatic Lynch.

It’s disappointing that the script isn’t always up to its singular source material and Prince-Bythewood’s sure, steady direction. Certainly, if the writing were more nuanced and less bogged down by contemporary ideas about women’s roles — at one point, the movie shifts into a trauma-driven maternal melodrama — Davis would have far more to do than glower or dissolve in tears. She’s good at both, and she gives the role the steeliness it requires, but the character isn’t intricately detailed even if, when Nanisca raises her sword and rallies her women, you feel in your bones what is at stake in this fight.

The Woman King Rated PG-13 for human trafficking and battleground violence. Running time: 2 hours 6 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis has been the co-chief film critic of The Times since 2004. She started writing about movies professionally in 1987 while earning her M.A. in cinema studies at New York University, and her work has been anthologized in several books. More about Manohla Dargis

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The Woman King First Reviews: Viola Davis Rules the Screen in a Rousing, Action-Packed Crowd-Pleaser

Critics say that despite a few minor quibbles with the script, gina prince-bythewood's historical epic offers an awards-worthy performance from davis, a breakout star in thuso mbedu, and impressively choreographed action scenes..

TAGGED AS: First Reviews , news

Viola Davis stars in the action drama The Woman King , which received rave reviews out of its Toronto International Film Festival premiere. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood ( The Old Guard ), the movie is said to mix mainstream Hollywood entertainment with a story of social and historical significance. The ensemble cast, including Davis, Lashana Lynch , John Boyega , and Thuso Mbedu , has been praised across the board, and the action is also a highlight. However, there are some minor disappointments in the script.

Here’s what critics are saying about The Woman King :

Is The Woman King a crowd-pleaser?

A crowd-pleasing epic — think Braveheart with Black women. – Lovia Gyarkye, Hollywood Reporter

When The Woman King works, it’s majestic… The magnitude and the awe this movie inspires are what epics like Gladiator and Braveheart are all about. – Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

A hell of a time at the movies, a seemingly “niche” topic with great appeal, the sort of battle-heavy feature that will likely engender plenty of hoots and hollers. – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

Easily one of my favorite experiences of the year in a theater… It’s an action epic that is sure to make everyone stand up and cheer. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community

An absolute blast. It’s a film that isn’t afraid to get you cheering. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

As a mainstream action epic, it has plenty to offer. – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

It is a splashy popcorn movie with a social conscience. – Caryn James, BBC.com

(Photo by ©TriStar Pictures)

How is Viola Davis?

This is the greatest performance of her career. – Jamie Broadnax, Black Girl Nerds

Davis is stellar…[she] seems to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders just with a single glance. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

This is Davis’s film, and her artful control of her face, her voice, and her body is breathtaking. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community

The Oscar-winning actress, known for digging into her characters’ psyches, accesses an impressive level of emotional depth and nuance as Nanisca. – Lovia Gyarkye, Hollywood Reporter

Reminding us at every moment that she’s one of the best actresses of her generation. She’s the thespian rising tide that lifts every other performance around her. – Roger Moore, Movie Nation

Davis truly gets to flex the full range of her acting chops. A performance of this caliber is rare in what’s essentially an action flick. – Martin Tsai, The Wrap

Viola Davis is the movie’s title character and should have been in more scenes. – Carla Hay, Culture Mix

Does she rise to the occasion as an action star?

Viola Davis is a formidable force in The Woman King … [She] stuns in the most physically demanding role of her estimable career. – Tim Grierson, Screen International

At 57 years old, this is Davis’s first full-blown action role, and she’s still fully believable as a seasoned warrior. – Reuben Baron, Looper.com

If people like Bob Odenkirk and Liam Neeson can become action heroes in their 50s, Davis seems bound to show people she can, too. Her raw intensity is backed up by a newly jacked physique that makes her an imposing action heroine, and she performs exceptionally well in the numerous action scenes. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

Davis showcases that action sequences can be just as intimate and emotional as dramatic moments… [She] can easily best any action star on the screen. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community

How is Lashana Lynch?

In a cast full of heavy-hitters, Lynch is the real stand-out… Every second she’s on screen is a treat, and I wanted more of her. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

Lynch demonstrates the same steely authority that made her so appealing in last year’s No Time To Die . – Tim Grierson, Screen International

Lashana Lynch, the most experienced action star of the bunch with No Time to Die and the Marvel Cinematic Universe under her belt, is a standout as Izogie… and is responsible for some of the film’s most intense emotional moments. – Reuben Baron, Looper.com

Does anyone else in the cast stand out?

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. – Lovia Gyarkye, Hollywood Reporter

Mbedu gives a breakout performance. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

Thuso Mbedu seems destined to be a star. – Reuben Baron, Looper.com

Mbedu reaffirms herself as a star. – Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

[With] an exceptional supporting performance… Mbedu nearly steals the show. – Tim Grierson, Screen International

How is Gina Prince-Bythewood’s directing?

Prince-Bythewood has somehow managed to set the bar even higher for her own standard of women-empowered stories. – Jamie Broadnax, Black Girl Nerds

Prince-Bythewood knows how to craft a sword and sandals style action epic. – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

[She shows] a skilled eye for understanding that an action sequence is never just a fight, but rather a moment to tell a story packed with emotion. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Her style encompasses the perfect balance of action and drama and is unafraid to put the brutality of humans on full display. – Valerie Complex, Deadline Hollywood Daily

Gina Prince-Bythewood doesn’t make a wrong move. – Caryn James, BBC.com

It’s the movie Prince-Bythewood has been building toward throughout her entire career. And she doesn’t miss. – Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

How is the action?

The fight choreography in this film is by far the most impressive I’ve ever seen on screen in a very long time. – Jamie Broadnax, Black Girl Nerds

The battles are relentless and kinetic. – Caryn James, BBC.com

The fight scenes are big, bombastic, and often brutal. – Martin Tsai, The Wrap

Gina Prince-Bythewood has crafted battle sequences that are exciting and moving at the same time. – Tim Grierson, Screen International

The Woman King opens with an incredible action sequence… Men are getting sliced, diced and tossed across the screen by these mighty warrior women. – Valerie Complex, Deadline Hollywood Daily

The Woman King is at its best when our heroines are kicking ass. – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

The PG-13 rating… makes the action sequences tamer than they should be. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

Is it violent?

Eye-popping battle sequences [push] that PG-13 rating to wild ends. – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

The camera takes us inside the hand-to-hand combat, with warriors plunging spears into bodies and slicing throats. This is not benign, cartoonish action. – Caryn James, BBC.com

The sound team works overtime to give us a sense of brutality, but there’s no blood or gore when Davis and her crew are hacking adversaries to pieces. It leaves the battles looking a little too clean-cut. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

There are moments where swords don’t connect and the wounds from being injured or killed look like bright red blots of ink rather than an injury from war. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community

The Woman King has some intense battle scenes and depictions of enslavement that might be too hard to watch for very sensitive viewers. – Carla Hay, Culture Mix

What about the script?

The script by Dana Stevens (with a Story By credit going to Maria Bello) is a bit on the standard side, but it’s in service of the old school dramatic spectacle on hand. – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

The plot to The Woman King can feel convoluted. But its excesses serve the film’s blockbuster goals. – Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

Dana Stevens’ screenplay, based on Maria Bello’s story, tries to balance several competing and not always steady plotlines over the course of two hours. – Lovia Gyarkye, Hollywood Reporter

The script never goes quite as deep as it could. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

The Woman King doesn’t always successfully juggle its myriad narrative ambitions. – Tim Grierson, Screen International

The Woman King is sometimes cluttered and uneven… The development of the Nanisca character sometimes falls short of what many viewers might expect. – Carla Hay, Culture Mix

Does the romantic subplot work?

The inclusion of a romance subplot… feels quite forced and accelerated. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community

A flat attempt at a love story… feels like the product of truly misguided studio notes. – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

It feels like it comes out of another movie… Mbedu, unrealistically, seems drawn to a man that associates with the same folks that routinely enslave her people. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

The dramatic beats and subplots are fine, but they lack some of the consistent effectiveness that the fight scenes do. – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

How well does it represent history and the culture it depicts?

The Woman King also does a phenomenal job of showcasing the culture, wealth, and beauty of Dahomey. – Kate Sánchez, But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Shot on location in Africa, [it] benefits immensely from rich production design from Akin McKenzie, delightful costumes from Gersha Phillips, and functional and fun hairstyles from Louisa V. Anthony’s department. – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

The tactile costumes by Gersha Phillips and the detailed production design by Akin McKenzie feel lived in and vibrant, especially in the vital rendering of the Dahomey Kingdom, which is teeming with scenes of color and community. – Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

Production design by Akin Mackenzie and costumes by Gersha Phillips are lush and opulent, drenched in deep red and yellow hues. A lot of thought went into making the kingdom of Dahomey look as authentic as possible. – Valerie Complex, Deadline Hollywood Daily

The Woman King leans toward fantasy in its heroic moments, but is rooted in truth about war, brutality and freedom. – Caryn James, BBC.com

The Woman King begins as portraiture and then surrenders to melodrama when faced with the challenges of translating history for the screen and constructing a coherent geopolitical thread. – Lovia Gyarkye, Hollywood Reporter

The Woman King is an 8/10 for entertainment value, and 4/10 for how it deals with history. – Reuben Baron, Looper.com

Do we need more movies like The Woman King ?

In 2022, this should not be the exception. Hollywood should have been making films like The Woman King for many years… If this is what a Hollywood-ized and -sized blockbuster looks like in 2022, bring it on. Bring them all on. – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

Maybe one day we’ll get to a point where such a movie doesn’t feel groundbreaking, but here we are. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

The Woman King opens everywhere on September 16, 2022.

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Review: 'The Woman King' is indelible and truly inspiring

Black women only -- no white saviors need apply.

Black women only -- no white saviors need apply. That's the unwritten mission statement behind "The Woman King," starring Viola Davis in a performance brimming over with ferocity and feeling. Having wowed audiences at the Toronto Film Festival, this historical epic is now at a theater near you where it delivers both the action and the artistic goods.

Think of the Dora Milaje, the all-female special forces who figured in Marvel's "Black Panther." But that unit was fictional. There's nothing made up about the Agojie, the legion of women warriors who grab and hold the spotlight as if by divine right in "The Woman King."

As Nanisca, the African general of the Agojie, Davis is bringing vivid life to the facts that can be documented. Set in the 1820s in the kingdom of Dahomey, in what is now Benin, the film chronicles the wars between West African empires.

Nanisca serves King Ghezo (John Boyega), who leaves the fighting and the dying to the Agojie. And there's plenty of both as director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who fired up Charlize Theron and Kiki Layne as immortal mercenaries in "The Old Guard," pumps up the adrenaline without going shallow on why these women forgo marriage and children in the name of battle.

MORE: Review: 'Judas and the Black Messiah' is a new movie classic

Nanisca knows her country is participating in and getting rich on the slave trade she personally abhors and Davis lets us see how deeply the moral quandary is eating at her. Her ambition to become the woman king burns hot.

No knock on Davis as an action hero -- she's electrifying -- but it's the roiling depth of emotion that the "Fences" Oscar winner brings to Nanisca's crisis of conscience that raises the bar.

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And Davis is not alone. Cheers to Thuso Mbedu as Nawi, the rebel teenager whose father sends her to the Agojie to learn to follow orders. As if. Mbedu, so good as the runaway slave in "The Underground Railroad," movingly shows how Nawi learns to follow her heart.

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Nawi also benefits from the guidance she receives from Izogie (a knockout Lashana Lynch) and Amenza (Sheila Atim), both offering counsel that is sometimes at odds with the preachings of Nanisca. For all its external flash, "The Woman King" never runs from its internal conflicts.

The training sessions for Nawi, set to a resonant Terence Blanchard score, help give the movie a thrilling, visceral life. But the film's female creative team, including screenwriter Dana Stevens, is committed to showing the Agojie community in all its infinite variety.

Even when "The Woman King" forgets its mission and goes full "Gladiator" about pleasing the crowd ("Are we not entertained?"), Davis and Prince-Bythewood pull back the reins and remind us there's more to movies than spectacle.

In its portrait of warrior sisters doing it for themselves, "The Woman King" is indelible and truly inspiring.

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The Woman King

• 4 out of 5 stars
• Recommended

Time Out says

Viola Davis is a mighty warrior woman in an epic for the modern age

Watching The Woman King , the phrase ‘it’s about time’ springs to mind. It’s about time there was a big-budget dramatic epic about Black female warriors, inspired by true events. It’s about time that a film set in the 1800s had a predominantly Black cast, and that slavery was only part of the story. It’s about time this film was directed by a woman. It’s also about time that Viola Davis was given a leading action role. Your only hope is that a film this overdue is actually good, too 

Phew. It is. Gina Prince-Bythewood (2012’s Love & Basketball ) directs a gripping, accessible epic, while Davis is meaty and magnificent as General Nanisca, leader of the legendary Agojie. This all-female unit of warriors fight to protect the African kingdom of Dahomey from slave traders and violent invaders. They train up the next generation, including 19-year-old Nawi, beautifully played by The Underground Railroad ’s Thuso Mbedu. After stubbornly resisting her father’s attempts to marry her off to abusive men, Nawi is dumped at the gates of the Agojie, and leaps at the chance to learn how to behead a man in one clean swipe of a sword. 

The Woman King ’s script isn’t perfect, with a few sudden jumps and one contrivance too many, but it’s easy to forgive that in the sheer thrill of it all. The training scenes recall classic sports movies, and the ensuing action scenes really deliver, while the narrative hits emotional beats that recall everything from Braveheart to Gladiator . 

It’s a story of sisterhood and racial identity that deserves to pack in the crowds

Like many of her warriors, Nanisca is a victim of multiple rapes, and while this adds to her motivation to kick abusive male ass, it doesn’t define her: she is many things including a political strategist, a fighter, a friend. An excellent John Boyega plays King Ghezo, who has the ear of Nanisca, but is also prone to the odd eye-rolling moment of casual sexism. His pampered favourite wife Shante (Jayme Lawson) provides easy laughs, while not benefitting from many layers. 

These are reserved for the warrior women, not least Izogie, an expert trainer played by an awards-worthy Lashana Lynch. The Londoner is given more action and arc than she had as 007.  Other strong supporting performances include Jordan Bolger as the biracial Malik, who’s conflicted by his friendship with Brazilian enslaver Santo Ferreira (Hero Fiennes Tiffin). That Malik provides the only topless scene is surely no coincidence; and it’s also no accident, either, that his flirtation with Nawi is not the film’s most compelling relationship. The Woman King is a story of sisterhood and racial identity that deserves to pack in the crowds. About time, indeed. In US theaters now. Out in UK cinemas Oct 7.

Cast and crew

• Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
• Screenwriter: Dana Stevens, Maria Bello
• John Boyega
• Viola Davis
• Lashana Lynch
• Hero Fiennes Tiffin

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Woman King, The (Canada/United States, 2022)

Once upon a time in motion pictures, the historical epic was a popular genre – big, sprawling stories featuring larger-than-life characters splashed across a wide screen. The best of these often deviated wildly from the facts that formed their foundations, but that didn’t matter. Some won Oscars; others didn’t. In the former category, Braveheart and Gladiator come to mind. In the latter, The Last of the Mohicans . I’m not mentioning these by accident – director Gina Prince-Bythewood has cited them as inspirations for The Woman King . And, although her modern-day retelling of 1820s incidents doesn’t soar to the heights of that trio, it’s a welcome arrival in a climate where comic book and horror movies have choked out almost everything else like weeds in a once-fertile garden.

It takes a little patience to get into The Woman King . The movie opens with nearly 50 minutes of setup – introducing the characters, establishing the setting, and proving background for the impending conflict. Some of this is heavy-lifting and, although generally inspired by events on the African continent during the early 19 th century, it is not historically accurate (nor does it pretend to be). Just as Mel Gibson took considerable liberties in bringing the tale of William Wallace to the screen in Braveheart , so Prince-Bythewood and her screenwriter, Dana Stevens (working from a story that Stevens co-developed with actress Maria Bello), have relied on a heavily fictionalized account of what happened when the state of Dahomey revolted against the Oyo Empire in a bid for freedom, with the Agojie (the name for the all-female King’s guard) at the forefront of the conflict.

The strength of the movie lies more in the performances than the storyline, although the screenplay is carefully constructed to provide its share of old-fashioned, crowd-pleasing moments. This is one of those films when standing up and cheering is, if not encouraged, at least accepted. It thrives on emotional catharses and offers more than one of the “big” instances. Those interludes work primarily because the filmmakers lean on the talents of lead actress Viola Davis and newcomer Thuso Mbedu. Making her motion picture debut, Mbedu gives a performance of impressive physicality and emotional range. (She’s 31 years old but credibly plays someone more than a decade younger.) She holds her own alongside the titanic presence of Davis, whose seemingly cold exterior hides a plethora of conflicting emotions that are always percolating just under the surface. The connection between these two is strong, immediate, and believable – a crucial ingredient of the alchemy that allows The Woman King to work during the times when the brutality of two significant engagements isn’t filling up the screen.

There’s arguably more here than can possibly be contained within the 135-minute package; one can see an entire streaming series developing around the movie, fleshing out aspects of Dahomey, the royal court politics, and the intricacies of life within the Agojie. Many of the characters might have longer, more fully fleshed-out arcs. But what Prince-Bythewood provides is more than enough for a rousing motion picture filled with well-choreographed battle scenes effectively folded into stories of human interest.

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The woman king

Viola Davis as The Woman King

The $50 million action epic, The Woman King – directed by African-American, Gina Prince-By the wood, and filmed in Cape Town and Kwazulu-Natal – recounts the tale of the all-women regiment of Agojie warriors from the Dahomey kingdom in 1823.

The film has taken in $65 million in its first three weeks of release, with black moviegoers accounting for 59% of the audience. It is expected eventually to gross over $100 million.

The Woman King has inevitably elicited comparisons with Marvel’s $1 billion-grossing largely all-black cast Afro-futuristic, Black Panther. That film’s Dora Milaje female warriors were modelled on Dahomey’s Agojie.   Black feminists like Grenadian scholar, Eudine Barriteau, noted that Black Panther reinforced fundamental gender roles rather than transcending them, complaining that female characters had been given only peripheral and supporting roles.

In stark contrast, women are at the very core of The Woman King which is inspired by true historical events rather than Black Panther’s mythical, scientifically-advanced African country. The Woman King has also been compared to Hollywood blockbusters Braveheart and Gladiator.

The impressive cinematography brings the audience up close to the hand-to-hand battle scenes. As Wendy Ide observes, the movie is “muscular in its action sequences, sweeping in scope; a big, flexing, show-off spectacle of a movie.”   This is an epic griot’s tale involving a carnival of armies, martial rituals, lavish costumes, devious slavers, and palace politics. The warrior-women unleash frightful battle cries, as they breathlessly run through thorny forests and other obstacle courses while decapitating stuffed enemies in a draining boot camp.

The movie focuses centrally on the women warriors of Dahomey – wielding swords, spears, machetes, and ropes – and the stories of their close bonds of black sisterhood, as they defend their kingdom from the rampaging Oyo empire. There are many stand-out performances from the Pan-African cast. The formidable Oscar-winning, Viola Davis, plays Nanisca, the fearless abolitionist Generalissimo of the Agojie.

Her role is described by Jamie Broadnax as “the greatest performance of her career”, while Roger Moore dubbed her “the thespian rising tide that lifts every other performance around her.” Davis is ably supported by Ugandan-Briton, Sheila Atim, who plays the diviner Amenza: Nanisca’s javelin-throwing lieutenant.

The accomplished Lashana Lynch (Izogie) mentors the young South African break-out star of the movie, Thuso Mbedu (Nawi), a fiercely independent and disobedient young girl – ably demonstrating both great strength and fragile vulnerability – cast out by her family for rejecting the advances of male chauvinistic suitors. All the actresses perform their own physically demanding stunts.

Nigerian-Briton, John Boyega, delivers a subtle performance as the polygamous King Ghezo who – unlike King T’Challa in Black Panther – shows human frailties, and is far from a comic book superhero.   When Viola Davis first approached Prince-Bythewood with the film script, the director broke down and wept, later noting that this is the story that her career had prepared her to tell. She was determined to bring a classic of African female heroism to a global audience. Prince-Bythewood wanted to portray real-life female characters in order to break down the ubiquitous stereotyping of African characters and demonstrate that Africa too had its own heroines.

As she noted: “we really were these women, we have this innate warrior within us.” The Woman King is a truly Pan-African project, with costumes by Afro-Caribbean Briton, Gersha Phillips, and African-Americans, Akin McKenzie and Terence Blanchard (supported by South Africa’s Lebo M.), providing production design and soundtrack respectively.

Razmig Bedirian praised the film’s “slickly orchestrated violence, epic battle scenes and achingly cool heroes.”

The Woman King simultaneously entertains and educates, providing spectacular fight scenes, while tackling difficult issues such as the role of African kingdoms in slavery. It is also timely in an era in which reparations for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade are being vociferously demanded across Africa and its Diaspora.   Professor Adebajo is a senior research fellow at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship in South Africa.

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Kinds of Kindness

A man seeks to break free from his predetermined path, a cop questions his wife's demeanor after her return from a supposed drowning and a woman's quest to locate an extraordinary individual... Read all A man seeks to break free from his predetermined path, a cop questions his wife's demeanor after her return from a supposed drowning and a woman's quest to locate an extraordinary individual prophesied to become a renowned spiritual guide. A man seeks to break free from his predetermined path, a cop questions his wife's demeanor after her return from a supposed drowning and a woman's quest to locate an extraordinary individual prophesied to become a renowned spiritual guide.

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• Trivia According to Hong Chau , 'Kinds of Kindness' tells three separate stories with the cast playing different characters in each.
• When will Kinds of Kindness be released? Powered by Alexa
• June 21, 2024 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• New Orleans (location)
• Element Pictures
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StarTribune

Review: guthrie's epic shakespeare history plays open in mountainous marathon.

"Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings," King Richard says to his surrounding minions as his monarchy slips away.

On its face, that sounds unappealing. But as put into practice by the Guthrie Theater, Shakespeare's History Plays — "Richard II," "Henry IV," and "Henry V" — are absorbing and exhilarating.

The production opened Saturday in a 13-hour marathon in Minneapolis, with the plays running back to back (with breaks). Even if you might think about bringing an oxygen tank to climb this theatrical Everest, it's worth the once-in-a-generation journey. (The Guthrie repeats the marathon May 18; all the individual shows can be taken in a la carte between now and then.)

With director Joseph Haj and dramaturge Carla Steen as guides, a company of 25 actors scale the lofty heights with stamina, style and lyrical aplomb. The actors handle the language with assured skill and transport us into an ancient England that feels resonant of contemporary America. On the circular set, there's a ritual of all the great impulses that animate people, and also make people show themselves as animals.

Haj and Steen have distilled these narratives about the lust for power while preserving the shows' best lines and bringing up the comedy, making them digestible for audiences with short attention spans.

"Richard II" is about a king becoming a man. Or, alternatively, you learn more from pain and privation than from comfort and pleasure. "Henry IV" is about a man becoming a king. And "Henry V" is about a king becoming a hero.

'Richard II'

The crown : Haj starts the dramas with the crown, a simple gold circle, lit evocatively at center stage like an invitation to some eternal ritual or a portal into a new dimension. The light catches it as it's held in the hands of the three successive monarchs, a reflector of swirling virtues and vices, of crushing ambition and weighty responsibility.

For Richard, who holds it lightly, the crown could be a plaything. Where should it go? Oh, yes, the head, where it always sits ill at ease, especially when there are those plotting to wrest it away.

Richard thinks of the crown's hollowness and imparts power to the otherwise empty souls who dare to wear it. The crown is caught up in eternal struggles for power and self-actualization. "Sometimes I am a king, then people's treasons (like Bolingbroke's) make me want to be a beggar, and so I am," Richard says. "Then extreme poverty makes me want to be a king again, and so I am. And then I soon lose my crown again because of Bolingbroke. And once again am nothing."

The king : Richard is a sort of Hamlet who wears his thoughts on the outside of his head and forgets himself altogether in his musings (sometimes he has to be reminded of who he is). For those who have seen Tyler Michaels King play Puck and Ariel onstage at the Guthrie, he is the embodiment of whimsy and magic. But Michaels King shows that he is just at home in gravitas, stepping into these royal robes with masterful authority.

The court: Is there anything more effective than a mother's plea? When the Duke of Aumerle (Tracey Maloney) gets caught up in a plot, the Duchess of York (Jasmine Bracey) seeks to win the king's forgiveness. She gets on her knees and uses wit and charm, while dismissing her husband (David Andrew Macdonald), to save her child's life.

There are no slouches when it comes to the actors' line readings but these two stand out alongside Charity Jones as John of Gaunt and Melissa Maxwell as the Duchess of Gloucester.

Design : The action takes place on Jan Chambers' huge turntable of balconies, upturned naves and a throne enfolded by scaffolds. It's epic and theatrical and, with Heather Gilbert's lighting and Jack Herrick's compositions, brings cinematic magic to the proceedings. Gilbert makes the set appear and disappear with her lighting scheme and directs our eyes like a camera. When Richard is being led away to his ignoble fate, with the masses hurling stones and insults at him, both lights and sound design are used to quiet the rabble as Richard and his queen (Lanise Antoine Shelley) share moments of tenderness.

Money quotes : "Not all the water in the rough rude sea can wash the balm from an anointed king," Richard says, but he later changes his tune. "With mine own tears I wash away my balm, with mine own hands I give away my crown."

"The shadow of your sorrow hath destroyed the shadow of your face," Bolingbroke.

"I wasted time, and now doth time waste me," Richard, dropping the mic.

The grade : As a practice, Shakespeare has royals speak in poetry and the regular lumpen in prose. But he departs from that in this play, which, in its execution and delivery is a total, gorgeous and altogether affecting seduction of language. A-plus.

The crown : In the hands of Henry IV, the former Bolingbroke who holds it lustily, the crown is an object of bottomless, perverting ambition. He looks on it like the most sumptuous of meals. But his hunger for power and revenge is such that it might be consumed in one gulp.

The king : "Henry IV" is a connective tissue play in the marathon, one that deals with the wages of original sin and the Eastcheap education of Prince Hal. The king seeks to sanctify how he came to power, to have it be blessed, even if a sense of illegitimacy gnaws at his soul. Will Sturdivant leaps with alacrity into the maws of this character of large, overweening appetites. The actor delivers with relish. And if death can be said to be beautiful, his is gorgeous.

The court : Vaunted literary critic Harold Bloom regarded Falstaff as "the grandest personality in all of Shakespeare." He's a portly, bawdy remorseless liar who exudes joie de vivre. Jimmy Kieffer's Falstaff is glib and charming. He gets us to marvel at the charm, and not the falsehoods, of a creative liar.

Money quotes : "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

"Can Honour set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? No. What is Honour? A word. What is that word 'honour'? Air."

The grade : This is an A-minus, but it's not because of the actors. Shakespeare himself should have stuck with that blank verse throughout.

The crown: By the time we come to Hal, the crown is a porthole held aloft. It offers a view into a misty, breathing darkness that he holds spellbound. The question of where to wear it is easy for him. Though it fits right on his head — he was born for it, after all — he casually takes it off to go incognito and hear the true feelings of his fighters.

In "Henry IV," Hal has his caterpillar stage, learning under Falstaff and his dissolute bunch. And yet when the prince puts on the king's crown, he's transformed into a monarch, a creature of muscle and fleet flight. If the game is afoot, let's have at it, he says. If blood must be let, then let it splash with vigor and relish.

The king: Henry V is efficient and clear-eyed to the edge of psychopathy. And Daniel José Molina shows it in eyes that flash with example-making glee in his treatment of traitors. The king makes moral and mortal examples of them, strangling one brute with his bare hands. His romancing of Princess Kate is complicated but well-done. Henry is, after all, a conqueror. But Molina injects enough awkwardness for it to be charming.

The court : The French court characters are literal and metaphorical stitches. The personages include Kurt Kwan as serious King Charles VI, Dustin Bronson as the flighty dauphin and Erin Mackey as scene-stealing Princess Katherine.

Design : Throughout the plays, Trevor Bowen's costumes have supported the narratives with royal regalia that bear the weight of duty with beauty, gravity with glow. But when he dresses the French court in contemporary couture, it also gets at the humor so redolent throughout these plays.

Money quotes : Perhaps caused by some combination of delirium, exhaustion and exhilaration, there was a moment of magical ovation and instant rapture at Saturday's opening when the chorus marched mightily onto the stage. Their delivery of a muse of fire opening was gorgeous as they played out the last play about "a kingdom for a stage, princes to act, and monarchs to behold the swelling scene."

"That's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion."

"Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined within the weak list of a country's fashion: we are the makers of manners, Kate," King Henry.

The grade : Haj and Steen have been skillful in their treatment of Shakespeare's script. Still, there's a little scene that's supposed to inject humor, and does, even though it could be nipped to move things along. A.

Overall : These plays create a similar moment of marvel in the cultural life of Minnesota and the nation. Patrons from 26 states and two Canadian provinces flew in for Saturday's opening. The History Plays mark a major milestone in American theater, a moment of brilliant achievement for Minnesota and the field.

History Plays

Who : Written by William Shakespeare and directed by Joseph Haj.

When : The final marathon is on May 18, with shows at 10 a.m., 3 and 8:30 p.m. This week's a la carte schedule: 7:30 p.m. Tue., 1 & 7:30 p.m. Wed., 7:30 p.m. Thu. & Fri., " Richard II "; 1 & 7:30 Sat.: " Henry IV "; 1 p.m. Sun.: " Henry V ." The plays run in rotating repertory through May 25.

Where : Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Mpls.

Tickets : $34-$82 for single tickets on nonmarathon days, $66-$150 for all shows on May 18. 612-377-2224, guthrietheater.org .

Rohan Preston covers theater for the Star Tribune.

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• Review: Guthrie's epic Shakespeare History Plays open in mountainous marathon • Stage & Arts
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Fallout review – an absolute blast of a TV show

This immaculately made, supremely witty post-apocalyptic drama is yet another brilliant video game adaptation. It’s funny, self-aware and tense – an astonishing balancing act

The following review contains spoilers for the first episode of Fallout .

The first thing to note is that, as with The Last of Us, there is no need for any viewer to be au fait with the source material of Fallout, Amazon’s new competitor in the field of hit video game adaptations (though a fan of the game who watched it with me assures me that there is much to enjoy in addition to the basic narrative if you are).

For newcomers such as me, this intelligent, drily witty, immaculately constructed series set in the Fallout universe fully captivates and entertains on its own terms. It opens in 1950s America, at the height of the cold war and the “red scare”, with former TV star Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) reduced to appearing at a children’s birthday party after being tarred with the pinko brush. A mushroom cloud appears on the horizon, the blast wave hits, the apocalypse arrives.

All those who can afford it rush to the secure vaults they have had built in preparation. We cut to Vault 33 two centuries later, by which point they appear to be doing very nicely. All the naivety of the 50s and the better parts of its mores – politeness, consideration, cooperation, modesty and restraint – have been preserved, albeit with the occasional twist. Like daily weapons training, and chipper approaches to the avoidance of marrying one of your many cousins.

The underground idyll is shattered when they are brutally raided by surface dwellers led by a woman called Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury). Vault Overseer Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan) is kidnapped and his daughter Lucy (Ella Purnell) defies orders from the remaining Council and leaves the Vault to find him. As a wide-eyed believer in the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you), she is wildly unprepared for the array of delights surface-dwelling holds. It’s not like she can disguise herself effectively either. As one gnarled resident of the desperate nearby town of Filly says – “Clean hair, good teeth, all 10 fingers. Must be nice.”

Surface threats include, but are not limited to: giant cockroaches, godawful sea monsters (the Gulper’s innards haunt my dreams), radiation poisoning, strung-out survivors, fanatics of various kinds, puppy incinerators and cannibalistic Fiends. The Brotherhood of Steel try to control the Wasteland but you can’t help but feel, committed warrior faction though they are, that they are on a losing wicket. The Brotherhood is divided into Lords (in battered Iron Man-esque suits), Squires who attend and hope to become them and Aspirants training as Squires. Aspirant Maximus (Aaron Moten) is our guy and we follow him as he rises from bullied victim to rogue Lord. His mission? Acquire the severed head that Lucy also needs to find, containing a chip that Moldaver wants (and which Lucy hopes to trade for Daddy MacLean).

The biggest threat of all, however, is the Ghouls, and one in particular – a noseless, mutated remnant of Cooper Howard who is also hunting for the head and the bounty on it. He is the first to cross paths with Lucy, and oh the fun we have! By the end of a fishing trip, she’s in such a state that if she were to return to Filly, they would probably accept her unquestioningly as one of their own.

Co-creators Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner somehow manage to combine traditional post-nuclear apocalypse tropes with semi-ironic takes on 50s motifs, B-movie conventions and horror-level blood and gore (and work in plenty of Easter eggs and other pleasures for gamers). It’s a perfectly paced story that is both funny and self-aware without winking at the camera, undercutting our increasing emotional investment in characters who reveal – and sometimes unexpectedly redeem – themselves layer by layer. If I tell you that the organ-harvesting robot is voiced by Matt Berry, that the Ghoul’s meeting with a long-lost, rotting colleague almost made me cry and that neither element jarred with the other, perhaps that will convey something of the triumphant balancing act that is maintained throughout the eight-episode series.

It is, if you’ll pardon the pun, an absolute blast. Goggins is wonderful as both the unsullied golden boy Cooper and the wretched Ghoul, Moten brings such nuance to what could easily be a one-note role and Purnell performs Lucy’s fall from innocence brilliantly. The growing mystery back at Vault 32, as Lucy’s brother Norm (Moises Arias) becomes suspicious of the origins of the murderous raid and the supposedly benign Council that has protected them all these years, adds yet another strand to the story and ratchets up the tension even further. In short, for Fallout, I’m all in.

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