With five months left in the year, it’s hard to imagine 2022 offering more of an action-movie-for-action-fans than this. If one fondly remembers Albert Pyun-Gary Daniels collaborations as forgotten gems or gets excited at seeing stunt coordinator Clayton Barber in the credits, then The Princess is a movie for them. This is fluffy corny popcorn that knows exactly what it is, ‘90s direct-to-video entertainment in spirit while dedicating its relatively considerable budget towards satisfying varied choreography and an economical plot that puts fun first.
Vietnamese director Le-Van Kiet had made a number of horror films before unleashing his action scorcher Furie in 2019, a simply-plotted Taken-but-badass-mom showcase of how undeniably awesome actor Veronica Ngo is. The Princess distills the strengths of Furie into an even leaner thrillride, resulting in a movie where the action is the plot, and the film’s structure unfolds less as a fantasy tale and more as a fight reel for lead Joey King. As the camera zooms into the highest room in the highest castle tower, the opening minutes of The Princess might be mistaken as a fairy tale or a Disney Channel original; yet once grimy brigands enter to leer at the chamber’s sleeping royalty only to be subsequently brutally dispatched via stabbings and defenestration, it becomes clear that this fairy tale is far closer to The Raid than to Tangled.
As a conniving throne-usurping Dominic Cooper takes the royal family captive to force a marriage, Joey King murders her way from tower peak to courtyard grounds in a film that is effectively a martial-arts medieval Under Siege or Die Hard. In video game fashion, each tower floor becomes a playground for a new distinct fight, as King slinks through hidden passages and gathers weapon and gear upgrades along the way. Any themes of empowerment in the face of a controlling patriarch, any flashbacks showing how the princess has the skills and will to fight, or narrative asides to other characters are all in service of contextualizing Joey King’s cleanly-choreographed surprisingly-bloody castle escape. She is a joy to watch, completely game for selling the visual gags, winking quips, and cheesy tone but also radiating a primal intensity that sells every stab, slam, kick, and lithe dodge. King makes sure we never forget she is outnumbered and surviving through crafty agility, but The Princess also relishes in the infectious thrill of a hero who’s clearly having a blast kicking everyone’s butt.
It would be so easy for the many fights to look cheap, to feel repetitive, but cast and crew poured all their efforts into ensuring every confrontation tells its own story of underestimated underdog versus overconfident odds, laced with an adventure film’s sense of rollicking heroics and packed with neat action moments unique to each scenario. Fight choreographer Kefi Abrikh stages a martial arts set-piece every few minutes, breathlessly throwing unique mini-bosses and fight arenas at King: a towering gold-plated knight, a staircase crowded with goons, a kitchen brawl littered with utensils to wield as improvised weapons. The action bonafides opposite our assured lead are top notch as well, with Veronica Ngo in a nicely-characterized role as King’s strongest ally and combat mentor, and Olga Kurylenko as Cooper’s hammy whip-wielding right hand. And yes, Le-Van Kiet delivers on that showdown potential.
An economical action-first tale, impressive stunt work and lithe screen fighting from its committed lead, a relentless assortment of fun sleek melees, camerawork and editing that knows what its audience wants to see and how to film those sequences with kinetic clarity: to the audience for whom those factors are music to their ears, The Princess is a breezy playful gem and the real martial-arts-action-flick deal.
Photo courtesy of Hulu
The post The Princess appeared first on Spectrum Culture.