The Marsh King's Daughter (2023)
Helena lives in the back woods of Michigan with her parents and seems to have a relatively normal life learning how to track, shoot, and survive in the wilderness. Well, that and her dad commemorates her accomplishments and failures by giving her tattoos and her mom always seems mad and scared.
Then Helena’s mom makes a big move and spirits her daughter away from her dad, which Helena resents, since it thrusts her into a world of electricity, computers, and city streets that she knows nothing about. She tries to go back to her dad, only to see him arrested by law enforcement.
Now an adult, Helena is happily married to Steve and the mother of a little girl named Marigold, and while she seems to have a great life, she still feels cut off from people. She doesn’t like to use the phone and covers her tattoos with makeup as much as possible.
Then she finds out her dad, who is the notorious killer and kidnapper, the Marsh King, has escaped from prison and is possibly coming to target she and her family. Helena may find she needs the skills she learned as a child more than ever, and remembers one bit of advice in particular: Protect your family.
The Marsh King’s Daughter is based on a 2017 novel by Karen Dionne and for some reason the movie is not exactly beloved by the critics, who call it various forms of “sluggish,” “predictable,” and “dull and shallow.”
Me, I think it’s another instance of enjoyment hinging on prior knowledge. If someone has read the book, they may not enjoy the film as much, or they may like the film more, and it was hard to tell where these critics were coming from. Not to rag on them too much, but there’s a fine line between honest criticism and hating something just for the sake of hating it.
Here’s what I saw: The film looks gorgeous. The colors are vibrant. There aren’t too many trendy angles, although there are a lot of drone shots. Like, a lot of drone shots. And they’re more like flashes, as if a nuke is supposed to drop or something.
The story moves along at a nice clip, for the most part, with bits of Helena’s normal life punctuated by moments of terror, with the ratio flipping as the film goes on. Yeah, it’s a wee bit predictable, but it’s not a bad film. It kept me interested all the way through.
Daisy Ridley plays a good part here as well. I’ve never seen her outside the Star Wars universe and wondered how she would do here—her face seems a little hard to me—but she really brings it. She’s ably matched by Gil Birmingham, who plays Clark, the local sheriff and Helena’s stepfather, as well as Garrett Hedlund as Steve, Helena’s husband.
And, ironically enough, Helena’s dad, Jacob Holbrook, is played by Ben Mendelsohn of Rogue One fame. He’s already more than proven himself as a villain and a scene-chewer, but in this case it’s a bit more up close and personal.
Yes, The Marsh King could have been better, but it doesn’t completely sink, either.
The Marsh King’s Daughter is currently in theaters. Rated R.
My grade: B
Principal Cast: Daisy Ridley, Ben Mendelsohn, Brooklynn Prince, Gil Birmingham, Caren Pistorious, Garrett Hedlund, Joey Carson, Pamela MacDonald, Joshua Peace, Dan Abromovici, Toby Proctor, Blair Johannes, Cotton Mather, Lee Villeneuve
Directed by Neil Burger.
Written by Elle Smith, Mark L. Smith, and Karen Dionne (novel).