Harriet Tubman is as deserving of a biopic as any historical figure. Her life was as crowded with incident and distinguished by almost unthinkable accomplishments. Not only was she an escaped slave and a leading figure of the Underground Railroad (accomplishments enough), she also was a spy for the North during the Civil War and was the first American woman to lead an armed expedition. She was also active in women’s suffrage and spent her last years in a home for aging African Americans that she had helped found. Any filmmaker who accepts the task of translating Tubman’s life into film is faced with a wealth of riches and an immense challenge: What sections of her life to dramatize? And how, indeed, is this story best told?

Harriet, directed by Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou), focuses on Tubman’s escape from the plantation on which she was born and her subsequent efforts to rescue her fellow slaves. This was probably a wise decision; this section of her life contains obvious drama and provides plenty of action. The film is geared for suspense, to hold your attention, and its intent is clear: to depict how courageous she was.

The film’s style, unfortunately, is as formulaic as they come. We feel, to an extent, that we are watching a Hollywood action movie. Every character, even Tubman (played by Cynthia Erivo), lacks depth, not as played by the fine cast but as written. We can hear the emotional strings before they start playing, we are rarely surprised by how any perilous situation turns out, and during Harriet’s visions, which she actually did experience, the director resorts to a technique so corny it may shake the belief of many audience members.

Still, we do need films like Harriet. The typical Hollywood tricks do not necessarily interfere with one’s enjoyment of the film. We want her to achieve the impossible, to put the oppressors in their proper place, and she does. We all deserve to watch a movie that affords us such a pleasure, especially these days.

And yet, these days, the heroes of past generations, whether they marched on Selma or formed the Underground Railroad, feel almost fictional. It is increasingly difficult to imagine a world in which people rise to make the seismic changes that must happen. Consequently, I wish that Lemmons had gone to greater lengths to find an original and palpable way to tell Tubman’s story as opposed to one that makes her look like yet another character in a Hollywood movie. Whenever that film comes along, Harriet Tubman will have the biopic she deserves.