Nimona

A Queer Factor Deep Dive

We’re back, y’all! After fighting off Covid and some big life stresses, we have returned to dive deep into queer culture via a new movie on Netflix!

Nimona premiered on Netflix on June 30th, and initially, I wasn’t planning to watch it. But after a very strong recommendation from my friend and soon-to-be-new roommate Taila, who does not watch a ton of tv and movies, I decided to give it a shot.

THE SOURCE MATERIAL

Nimona was originally published as a weekly web comic between 2012 and 2014. Author/illustrator ND Stevenson developed the series based on a character he had created in high school and in 2015, the series was released in print form. It has gone on to win multiple awards and is heralded as a fantastic entry into comic canon. I personally have not read the comic, so I won’t be able to speak to as an adaptation, although I have heard that the source material is much darker, and the predominant queer relationship in the film is merely implied in the original comic.

This is far from Stevenson’s only queer themed work. He is a transmasculine individual and identifies as bigender. His other significant comic work is Lumberjanes, a series about a group of girls (several queer) who are investigating supernatural occurrences at their summer camp. He was also the creator and showrunner for the reboot of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a very queer version of the classic cartoon that ran for five seasons on Netflix. If you haven’t seen that show, I highly recommend it.

20th Century Fox Animation got the rights to the comic shortly after it’s print publication, and development began to turn it into a film. It was originally going to be produced by Blue Sky Studios (the studio behind the Ice Age franchise) and released in 2020, but things got delayed following the Disney/FOX merger, the subsequent shuttering of Blue Sky Studios, and the Covid outbreak. With the shutdown of that studio, it seemed as though the adaptation might be dead in the water, but last year, Annapurna Pictures picked it up to finish the film and release it on Netflix.

THE PLOT

This film takes place in a world where medieval knight culture is the predominant culture, even though we are in a futuristic world with all manner of typical sci-fi tech. Honor is the name of the game for anyone wanting to be a knight, so long as one is born into nobility. Except for Ballister Boldheart (Blackheart in the comic), a commoner who displayed exceptional skill as a child, earning him a place to train at the Institute for Elite Knights, granted by Queen Valerin herself.

Training alongside Ballister is Ambrosius Goldenloin, the literal golden boy of the Institution. It is revealed early on that the two of them are a couple. More on that later. During the knighthood ceremony, Ballister’s sword shoots a laser (yup, that’s the world, folks), killing the queen, and he is branded a traitor to the kingdom and an official Villain.

Enter Nimona, a shapeshifter who most commonly takes the form of a teenage girl. She links up with Ballister, wanting to be his sidekick, as she has been an outcast and a Villain her whole life. They set out to prove Ballister’s innocence. I’ll stop there, as we are about to get into spoiler territory. We’ll get into some spoilers later, but I’ll warn you.

THE CAST

We’ve got a great voice cast for this film, starting with Chloë Grace Moretz as Nimona. She brings a youthful energy and the right amount of sass to the role, and it’s great fun every time things go boom and she says: “Metal!” So punk rock in all the best ways. As Ballister, we’ve got Riz Ahmed, who is always excellent. He is not queer, sadly, but hey, nobody’s perfect. Eugene Lee Yang (one of Buzzfeed’s “Try Guys”) voices Ambrosius. Yang is indeed queer, and this is his first major film role. He does an excellent job, and I look forward to seeing and hearing him in more things.

Filling out the cast are Frances Conroy as the Director of the Institute; Lorraine Toussaint as the Queen; Beck Bennet as Sir Thoddeus Sureblade, a cocky knight who is a constant thorn in Ballister’s side; Julio Torres as Diego the Squire; and Indya Moore and RuPaul as news media talking heads.

THE OPINION

I enjoyed this so much more than I expected to. There were a lot of tropes, but they were also subverted in smart ways. From what I’ve heard the source material is stronger and a more direct commentary on society, but again, I haven’t read it so I can’t speak to that. However, I do think that as a movie aimed for a young audience, this is an outstanding addition to the animation oeuvre. The animation is absolutely incredible, especially the action sequences when Nimona transforms. You can definitely see influences from Into the Spiderverse but the movie stands on its own as well. I’m loving this new world of animation that we’re in, exploring different styles and seeing how far you can push the genre.

THE QUEER FACTOR - HERE LIE SPOILERS

Ok, if you don’t want spoilers, skip to the wrap up. But I gotta get into them to talk about the queerness of the film. So, immediately after Ballister’s sword fires and kills the queen, Ambrosius tries to stop it by cutting off Ballister’s arm. His boyfriend’s arm. That’s one. Then, even though Ballister maintains his innocence, Ambrosius doesn’t believe him and hunts him as a villain. That’s two. Ambrosius and Nimona manage to get footage of the Director admitting to being the one behind the Queen’s death. This gets broadcast out to the world, and the Director finds evidence that Nimona is a thousand years old and is the monster that the original Knight Queen of the kingdom, Glorith, fought and supposedly killed. She tells Ambrosius and he seeks out Ballister to tell him that he believes Ballister is innocent but is being duped by Nimona. (Now, there’s a slight plot hole here in that Ballister and Nimona could have filmed the confession differently and the Director wouldn’t have been able to spin her lies, but then the entire third act doesn’t happen, so we’ll ignore it.) Ballister tries to explain, but Ambrosius won’t listen to him. Again. That’s three. You’re out, bitch.

Now, Ballister does confront Nimona about her past, and they fight and she runs off to have a flashback about how she and Glorith were friends until society saw her powers and made her out to be a monster, causing a chain of events that branded her as a Villain and set in motion the birth of the kingdom we have today. This causes her to spiral into extreme despair and take on a true monstrous form and attack the city. The Director tries to blow up half the city in order to destroy her, and Ambrosius FINALLY thinks for himself for the first time and believes Ballister, attempting to stop her. Ballister is the one to stop her, though, through the power of friendship. Aw.

When all is said and done, Ballister and Ambrosius are back together. This is where I learned a new term. It’s called dry docking. It is the opposite of shipping. Maybe this is why I’m single, but I was not ok with Ballister taking Ambrosius back after all that. You cut off his arm, don’t believe him when he tells you he’s innocent, and then don’t believe him AGAIN when he tries to tell you the truth, and when you finally grow a brain at the very last second, when it’s almost too late, you just get to have your boyfriend back? Miss me with that.

There is an argument to be made - and it has been made - that he is somewhat not responsible for his actions, given that he was raised in a system where he was trained from birth to believe in the Institution and to obey the Director without question. And it takes him time to break out of that. Sure. Fine. But when your partner, someone you’ve known for half your life, supposedly commits regicide, and claims innocence, you don’t even consider the fact that maybe you know that isn’t in their character and that they would never do such a thing? Come on.

What I wanted was for Ballister to stand on his own at the end, and for there to be a moment where he calls Ambrosius out for not believing him. Then, in a sequel, we get to see Ambrosius earn him back. Or for there to at least be a grand gesture to majorly apologize for being a right prick about it. But alas, no, we get a stupid happy ending that to me, was unearned.

I will say that it is refreshing that in this fantasy world, the fact that these characters are queer is a non-issue. Queerness in both medieval stories and sci-fi stories is uncommon, and usually secretive, and in animation, explicitly queer characters are still relatively new (see “Disney’s first openly queer character” meme). So to have a prominently queer couple centered in the film when the film is not about their queerness is a wonderful example of representation done right.

THE WRAP UP

Ok, we’re past spoiler territory. Overall, I really loved this film and would love to see a sequel. The animation is top notch, the voice cast is excellent, and it’s a solid story that makes me want to read the original comic to get more of the world.

9/10. Queer Factor: 6/7.

Thanks for reading, y’all! If you’ve seen the film, (or if you haven’t!), drop a comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time, stay queer out there!