I can’t remember the last time I was this frustrated watching a movie. At its core, “Damsel” has a good movie in it, and, given the opportunity, it shines. This film feels like it was trying to be “The Black Phone” meets “Alien” meets “Game of Thrones,” a strange combination that, on paper, shouldn’t work but nearly is pulled off. Unfortunately, there are glaring issues that hold this film back from reaching its full potential.

“Damsel” follows Elodie, played by Millie Bobby Brown, a princess of a poverty-stricken kingdom on the decline. Her father marries her off to a prince in a different kingdom to secure funds for their homeland. After some unforeseeable circumstances, the movie turns into a monster movie. It sees Elodie trapped in a cave with a dragon, where she has to outmaneuver the dragon to survive.

Before I discuss what makes the film fail, certain elements truly shine, and I want to give the film credit where it is oh-so-earned.

Visually, except for a few poor CGI shots, “Damsel” looks incredible for a budget film. Some of the scenes are genuinely breathtaking and help build an immersive fantasy world. The sets felt real, lived-in, luscious and colorful. The costume design and makeup are perfect here and are key elements throughout. Additionally, “Damsel” explains its politics thoroughly, and we get a clear sense of what is driving each character’s actions. To supplement this transparency, the film cleverly conceals certain characters’ motives to keep the audience on their toes. 

The acting in the movie is similarly impressive. Everyone turns in a good performance. Obviously, Brown, as Elodie, continues to show why she is an A-lister. Ray Winstone as Lord Bayford, Angela Bassett as Lady Bayford and Robin Wright as Queen Isabelle also turn in very fine performances as the supporting cast. Despite how thin these characters can be, I could feel everyone’s pain, joy, grief and triumph, whether the film earns those moments or not. 

Unfortunately, that is where my praise ends.

As you watch the film, here’s a suggestion: Count up all the times Elodie absolutely should have died. By the end of the film, you’ll run out of fingers — and, considering the movie is only 110 minutes long, that’s some seriously impressive plot armor, thicker than a bowl of oatmeal. It destroys any element of suspense during the film.

Elodie will fall from incredible heights, sustain burns from a fire-breathing dragon or have a dragon toss her across a cave — then get up and keep walking like it was a mosquito bite. I never once felt like she was in serious mortal trouble.

Elodie’s character, just like the rest, is paper thin. Despite this film serving as a character study for Elodie, by the end, I couldn’t think of any adjectives to describe her except for “kind.” Her character arc does not feel earned seeing as how the only reason she survives the movie is because, apparently, the laws of physics don’t apply to her. 

The pacing of the movie is outright bad. The first 35 minutes or so of the film are extremely slow and aimed at establishing the world. Despite how much I liked the impressively detailed world-building, much of it seemed unnecessary for the story the creators wanted to tell. A few scenes could have been outright cut from the film and it would have made no difference on the plot. 

Furthermore, the action in the film is atrocious, which is especially disappointing, seeing as this movie looks so stunning at times. There could have been some interesting set pieces — especially in scenes that feature dragons — akin to “The Hobbit.” But, instead, we get half-baked sequences of knights stupidly running at full speed toward a fire-breathing dragon, swords in hand.

The film also has similar mechanics to “The Black Phone,” where the ghosts of the dragon’s past victims can communicate to Elodie where they failed and give advice on how she can succeed where they couldn’t. Unlike “The Black Phone,” this setup has no payoff, making it feel pointless and, again, adding to Elodie’s incredibly thick plot armor. 

When the movie tries to be a monster movie, it fails to have creative set pieces or make its audience nervous for the hero’s survival. When it tries to be a “Game of Thrones”-style political thriller, it is unnecessary and uncalled for. When it tries to be a character study of Elodie, it fails to give her any dimensions of her character. When it tries to be like “The Black Phone,” it fails to follow up on any of the mechanics it set up.

At its heart, “Damsel” holds so much potential — I really, truly, wanted this movie to be good, and, 30 minutes in, I was pumped to see where this film was going. Unfortunately, it failed to execute these ideas, and I was instead left wondering what could have been.