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In Theaters Now
- 2023
- R
- 1 h 49 m
- 2023
- R
- 1 h 49 m
Summary Helena’s (Daisy Ridley) seemingly ordinary life hides a dark and dangerous truth: her estranged father is the infamous Marsh King (Ben Mendelsohn), the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. When her father escapes from prison, Helena will need to confront her past. Knowing that he will hunt for her and her ...
Directed By: Neil Burger
Written By: Elle Smith, Mark L. Smith, Karen Dionne
In Theaters Now
- 2023
- R
- 1 h 49 m
- 2023
- R
- 1 h 49 m
The Marsh King's Daughter
46
5.9
Where to Watch
Summary Helena’s (Daisy Ridley) seemingly ordinary life hides a dark and dangerous truth: her estranged father is the infamous Marsh King (Ben Mendelsohn), the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. When her father escapes from prison, Helena will need to confront her past. Knowing that he will hunt for her and her ...
Directed By: Neil Burger
Written By: Elle Smith, Mark L. Smith, Karen Dionne
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
46
31% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
54% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
15% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
46
31% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
54% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
15% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
What I appreciated about this movie was how it captured trauma and selective memory.
Despite strong work from Ben Mendelsohn, Daisy Ridley, and Gil Birmingham, director Neil Burger's adaptation is a medium-level thriller.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 12 User Ratings
5.9
25% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
67% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
8% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 12 User Ratings
5.9
25% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
67% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
8% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
IN A NUTSHELL:
A woman seeks revenge against the man who kidnapped her mother.
This movie is directed by Neil Burger and written by Elle Smith, Mark L. Smith, and Karen Dionne based on the book by Karen Dionne.
THINGS I LIKED:
It’s great to see Daisy Ridley outside of a Star Wars movie. She’s got the acting chops and fierce physicality for this kind of movie, so I hope to see her in more films soon.
I didn’t even recognize Ben Mendelsohn with all of that facial hair! He’s consistently fantastic in everything he does. He and Daisy Ridley both starred in Star Wars movies. They’re the reason why you would want to watch this film.
We get to learn some tips about surviving in the wilderness and hunting animals.
Beautiful cinematography.
I’ve never read the book the movie is based on, so I can’t tell you how they compare, but I’ve heard that the movie is better if you haven’t read the book and don’t know the mystery in the story.
The color palette looks filtered, which was a wise choice to visually illustrate how past memories don’t always embrace reality.
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
Like the lake in the wilderness, the movie is very slow-moving. The pace and tone change dramatically from Act 1 to Act 3. Some scenes could have definitely been cut to tighten up the telling. The wilderness story feels like a different movie from the home invasion one.
The ending is a bit clunky which left me with feelings of uncertainty about the entire movie’s experience and what it was really trying to say.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
Kids will be bored. So will some adults.
Bloody violence with a gun and other weapons on animals and humans
We see a woman in her underwear.
Two of the characters have a lot of tattoos. We watch a man poke a needle in a girl’s arm to give her a tattoo.
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The film’s execution isn’t entirely convincing. It’s not the actors’ fault.
The movie is being marketed as a “psychological” thriller, but psychology is what it doesn’t have. It’s more like “Cape Fear” reduced to a “Predator” sequel.
The novel presumably filled in the blanks to build an engrossing tale, one that here comes across as a rote suspenser, complete with jump scares and a violent climax. The actors nearly elevate the proceedings to something greater.
Perhaps suffering from the same kind of identity crisis as its heroine, Burger’s soggy mishmash of an adaptation struggles to thread the needle between pulpy fun and a probing character study.
While Ridley gives her all to a more thoughtful and nuanced performance, The Marsh King's Daughter remains a film on a directionless journey to nowhere. Even with the commitment of its lead, it just gets lost in the woods before falling flat on its face.
This wasn't bad for a cheap movie. Acting was good. Setting was good. Story was okay. Characters were okay. Our view is: "worth watching if you like slow suspense movies."
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I watched the movie without much expectation. Although the story did not promise much content due to the subject, at least the action could have been kept more lively. When it is weak, a boring movie emerges.
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The Marsh King's Daughter had an excellent premise that could have been turned into a much more effective drama, exploring the traces and wounds of a trauma. However, the film opts for an approach that, while not becoming explicitly simplistic, feels clumsy and ultimately lacks **** you're looking for a film that will entertain without requiring an intense narrative or a deeper plot, The Marsh King's Daughter can serve that purpose just fine. However, the film doesn't aspire to more, and as a result, you're likely to forget it in less than 24 hours.
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