The action thriller film, Mia and the Dragon Princess, has been written and directed by Richard Foster. The story revolves around a mayhem that befalls a local tavern and a barmaid with the arrival of a mysterious woman. There has been a beautiful depiction of the backdrop of the film through a short animation at the beginning of the film, providing it with a conceivable context. The cast included the talented Dita Tantang, MyAnna Buring, Georgina Leonidas, and others. There are several action thrillers that have inspired the actions and fight sequences in this film; some include Mad Max: Fury Road, John Wick, Casino Royale, and others. Who are the ones chasing the strange woman? What is her real identity? All the questions will be answered once we are taken through the entire course of the film.
Spoiler Alert
What Happens In The Film?
Marshanda Damayanti is showcased as a pirate queen who has given up on her riches to be able to help people. She has helped many women slaves become liberated and plundered the South China Sea to help the needy. She shared a close bond with Red Cat Morgan, another pirate. After being attacked by her allies, Marshanda entrusted Captain Red with her share of riches and headed to the Antarctic. Before leaving, Red gave her a tracking device so that she could come back to claim her riches. However, Marshanda never comes back until there is a peek into the current times, hundreds of years later. Marshanda is seen being chased by someone in search of the device on her wrist. She runs down near a tavern and hides there until she is rescued and fed by Mia, a kind barmaid. Meanwhile, the owner of the Dragon Princess Tavern is being threatened by the men who sold the Tavern to him. When the owner, Skip, succumbs to the tortures and decides to sell it, Mia requests him to reconsider. There is supposedly a river Orlop that is hidden somewhere through a secret opening in the Tavern. The opening was a pathway to the treasure of Captain Red. More men from Mr. Walsh come in searching for Marshanda because the device that she was wearing on her hand could lead them to a treasure chest. There is a long fight sequence when they try attacking Marshanda, and she almost knocks all the men out.
Many other customers are also trapped in the Tavern, along with the main characters. Many people end up getting killed and injured due to the fight. Eddie, the bartender, got injured, and Skip got stabbed and killed while trying to save him. During his last breath, Eddie reveals to Mia that she had to head towards the Orlop River as he thought that Marshanda had something to do with the hidden treasure that was rumored to be around a secret opening through the Tavern. Some people in the Tavern manage to escape along with Marshanda and Mia through a narrow secret tunnel opening through the basement of the Tavern. The men of Mr. Walsh also follow them in the hope of finding the treasure, only to land up in a cave. They come across the skeleton of Captain Red and a pendant across her neck, which was supposed to be one of the keys to the treasure. After capturing them, Mr. Walsh takes away the device from Marshanda’s hands by force and finds a way to the treasure that is kept on another island.
He takes Marshanda and Mia to the island on a boat, keeping them at gunpoint, and they come across a small chest with coordinates in it. As he tries matching the coordinates to locate the treasure, the pieces of paper are thrown away by Mia, making him lose the sequence. As he tries touching the small box again to find the correct order of the coordinates, the box launches spears that dismember his fingers. An ancient pet of Captain Red, a huge Kraken, also appears, helping Mia and Marshanda across the river and finding the treasure after killing all of Walsh’s men. Mia and Marshanda leave behind an injured Walsh on the island to die.
Why Was Walsh After Marshanda?
The men of Mr. Walsh were after Marshanda so that they could take away the device that was tied to her hand. It was the device that Captain Red had given her so that she could come back from Antarctica, reunite with her, and find her own riches. Even after decades, when Captain Red is dead, Marshanda surprisingly lives on due to some supernatural causes, and she comes back in search of her left-behind treasures. Walsh’s father was a respected historian and archaeologist who specialized in 18th-century piracy. He had managed to find one of the three pieces of a pendant, which could be fitted into the device on Marshanda’s hand to find the treasure. Sadly, he was never able to find the two more pieces. The three pendants would together lock in the compass device in Marshanda’s hands, giving them the coordinates for the treasure.
The obsession of the father was inherited by Walsh, and he used all his resources to find Marshanda’s body but failed. Marshanda’s pendant was the one that guided her to locate Captain Red’s body because of the pendant tied to her neck. The three pieces were all that Welsh needed, and he had been after buying this Tavern because he knew that this old Tavern was frequented by Captain Red and that her body and the Orlop River would be somewhere nearby. The secret of the Orlop River was made clear to us when Skip once told Mia about the Tavern being built up on old rivers. There are several mysteries that have been unlocked by Mia, Marshanda, and a bunch of other people, which eventually help in clearing off the debts of the Tavern and saving it from being sold off.
Final Thoughts
There are several loopholes that are present in Mia and the Dragon Princess, and I’d run out of fingers if I started counting them one by one. Why was Marshanda still alive even though she belonged to an era beyond hundreds of years? It could have been because of the pendant that she possessed. It could have some kind of supernatural energy keeping her alive. However, if that were the case, then even Captain Red would have been alive because a part of the pendant remained with her as well. It is shown that Captain Red died of old age, while Marshanda lived on for ages. There is a very strong possibility that Marshanda is not a living person but just a spirit who has returned to claim her part of the share and look for her friend after being stuck in the Antarctic for ages.
The action sequences in Mia and the Dragon Princess were quite entertaining, but they could have been arranged better for a proper setting of the story. The haphazard sequence of events is somewhat confusing, and the characters except Marshanda and Mia have not been explored well enough for our better analysis. Some characters have not even been given a proper name throughout the film! However, the cast has been excellent in playing their roles, which is what kept me glued to the seat for a span of 1 hour and 25 minutes. I am sure people who enjoy extreme action and good acting skills would not mind the film.
