The Princess (2022)

The Princess (2022)

 

7/10

Starring

Joey King

Dominic Cooper

Olga Kurylenko

Veronica Ngo

 

Directed by Le-Van Kiet

 

The movie has one major thing going for it: it’s not boring. I enjoyed how Joey King made her character flow from a strong-willed princess to a slight comedian, even though it was ill-placed given that her life was in danger at those moments.

Forget a complex plot, this movie has one that’s easy to understand. She must marry a man, she says “no,” and the man decides to take the kingdom by force. The Princess is set in medieval times, and Joey King has to maneuver her way without a sword. Taking on two by herself, flipping here and there in nice fight choreography that doesn’t exaggerate her abilities, with beautiful camera work driving home her skill.

The man she refused to marry had her drugged and placed in a tower while he ravaged his own town, wanting to break the spirit of her father and force her to marry him so he could be king. Unknown to him, our princess grew up knowing her father wanted his first child to be a boy but then had her and her sister. She trained in fighting to be a warrior, hoping to please her father, but sadly, he was not pleased. Now, all that training comes into play in a situation where her family has been captured, and she is the only one free to rescue them.

The movie’s CGI sucked badly, I can tell you that. What made it a bit easier for her at times is that some of the henchmen knew she must not be killed, so the antagonist could marry her and stake his claim to the kingdom.

What you’ll also like is her maneuvering with men twice her size. The movie doesn’t take pity on our heroine as she is tossed about, cut, and hurt while taking on these giants or more than one man at a time.

It’s not easy to have a movie run this long with little dialogue and more action without making it tiresome. I give the director props for that. Also, Joey King's acting in every situation was more convincing than I would have expected in movies like this. What you’d expect is for the protagonist to walk around with reckless abandon, believing that he or she is heads and shoulders above everyone and everything, and that nothing can touch them.

Our princess did not act that way. Other than the crappy CGI, the other thing that made me angry was the last fight with the antagonist.

You can stream this movie on Hulu.