Film Journal 2023: Nimona

Film Journal 2023: Nimona
Directed by Troy Quane and Nick Bruno


A rough first three quarters pays off in the end with a satisfying third act. The pivotal point comes with a pairing of subsequent scenes that fill in the backstories of our characters, explaining motivations, bringing the different characters together, and establishing an arc for potential redemption.

Unfortunately the sum of its parts is mired in an inconsistency that leaves the third act feeling marooned on its own island, separated from the shoddy dialogue and superficial caricatures that frame most of the story to that point. The animation is fine, but even there we are given nothing to really sink oursleves into outside of something that, I think, is meant to be a fun. I’m not sure it delivers on that front, milking a tired “metal girl as bad girl” cliche from the get go. As I mentioned, the dialogue, and to a point the voice work, is pretty poorly imagined.

The premise follows a knight (or a knight in the process of being knighted) in a futuristic medieval world who finds himself on the wrong side of the law after the Queen dies in his presence and, by all appearances, by his hand. This forces him to go on the run where he then encounters a magical (and metal) shape shifter in the form of a young girl bent in her seeming isolation from the world to be an evil villain. To live into her role as someone the world seems to fear rather than embrace. She seems elated to have found this man who can fulfill her dream of being an evil duo, believing he is a true villain. But things are not as they appear, and this leads to a concerted effort to correct wrongly held perceptions of the man as bad. Thematically speaking, of course (this can be seen from a mile away), this works itself into a story of a shape shifter coming to terms with being misunderstood as well. Which of course is where this relationship becomes a place where they each are able to see each other for who they really are. That becomes a critical part of the overall journey and the foundation for the film’s eventual emotional payoff.

I confess. I rarely if never do this, or can’t remember the last time I did, but I almost turned this off around the halfway point. I’m glad I stuck with it though, as the film’s potential becomes apparent in the final stretch.