“Damsel,” Netflix’s power fantasy with a feminine twist, allows lead Millie Bobby Brown to command viewers’ attention swiftly. Yet, the film’s exhausting screenplay and underutilized world leave a lot to be rescued.

Hoping to save her impoverished kingdom and helping her father (Ray Winstone), Princess Elodie (Brown) agrees to marry the wealthy Prince Henry (Nick Robinson) of Aurea. 

Soon after the marriage is finalized, Elodie is tricked by the royal family and cast into a dark, gloomy cavern deep within the nearby mountains. 

Realizing she isn’t the only one traveling through the caves, Elodie must decide whether to fight back and break out or become another dead body in the kingdom’s enigmatic scheme.

Throughout the years, Netflix’s original films have seemingly become the equivalent of Walmart’s $5 bargain bin. An occasional diamond in the rough, yet primarily a pile of dull rocks and crumbly dirt.

 “Damsel” is far from a diamond, but it is an adequate quartz. Although the film fails to strike up anything memorable, its interesting premise is enough to warrant giving the dark fantasy flick a shot.

The film offers bounties of action-filled sequences while featuring an unexpected amount of mild horror. It isn’t a terrifying experience by any means, but the somewhat spooky elements allow the film to bask in its interesting premise. A majority of sword-slashing, knight-filled adventures take place across vast kingdoms and multiple biomes. However, “Damsel” addresses the genre differently, throwing audiences into the decrepit cave alongside Elodie for a majority of the runtime.

On paper, this fantastical-inspired idea could easily topple over, but director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo manages to use the cave’s claustrophobic setting to his advantage. Inspired by Fresnadillo’s past film “28 Weeks Later,” as well as Australian horror flick “The Descent,” “Damsel” combines isolated horror with grim fantasy, showing audiences that the fears found in “Alien” can easily be replicated in other genres.

While it doesn’t leave a remarkable impression, its genre-twist works for the most part and offers a unique style of fantasy.

Another way “Damsel” is like “Alien” is in the story’s need for a valiant heroine. She’s no Sigourney Weaver, but Millie Bobby Brown offers enough charisma to carry the film forward. Her character arc from personable princess to hellish avenger is only believable due to Brown’s commitment to her character. Despite the character not being hard to portray on an emotional level, Brown more than proves that she has what it takes to become the next female action star. The actress’ willingness to execute her stunts not only elevated her performance but took the film’s stirring action to a whole new level.

In between moments of battle and survival, we’re treated to a variety of different ways that Elodie survives. Whether it be the glowing, wound-healing leeches, the unveiling of Aurea’s ghastly secrets or the kingdom’s mystifying costumes, “Damsel” tries to offer a multitude of concepts and ideas. Sadly, none of these thoughts stick as planned. Strange cultural concepts such as Aurea’s devilish cult workings and ancient garments are left to the tumbleweeds, the creatures of the film are barely explained and the film’s plot twists don’t offer enough turns to satisfy. When a film does everything in its power to become a unique presence, it’s respectable, yet its lack of cohesive explanations will leave viewers clawing for more in all the wrong ways.

The facet of the film that requires rescuing the most is the film’s abysmal screenplay. It does a fine enough job of introducing characters, but anything beyond a simple meet and greet is doomed.

Every time the flick introduces a new concept or twist, it feels the need to treat its viewers like elementary students, barraging viewers’ ears with step-by-step explanations and unbelievably barren pieces of dialogue. It’s a fault that can be looked past from time to time, but so many scenes are needlessly dragged down because of this.

Although the dark fantasy adventure could have used more time to utilize its unique offerings better and move past its laughable writing, the film’s mesmerizing action and invigorated lead create a desire to explore the world’s potential in further films.

“Damsel” was released March 8 and is now available on Netflix.