The Princess

I watched this movie while trying to assemble a particularly spiteful IKEA nightstand, and seeing Joey King kick a knight out of a window was the only thing keeping me from throwing the Allen wrench through my television. There is something profoundly satisfying about a film that knows exactly what it is and refuses to apologize for it. The Princess isn't trying to win an Oscar for costume design—even if the lead spends the entire runtime transforming a wedding gown into a tactical assault suit—and it certainly isn’t aiming for Shakespearean depth. It is, quite simply, a wedding-themed version of Die Hard on a budget of sheer spite, and honestly, that’s exactly what my Friday night needed.

The Tower of Terror (and Flying Teeth)

We’ve all seen the "subversive fairy tale" bit before. From Shrek to Enchanted, Hollywood loves telling us that princesses can do more than wait for a kiss. But The Princess ditches the meta-commentary and replaces it with a morning-star to the face. The premise is stripped-down and lean: The Princess (Joey King) wakes up handcuffed in the highest room of the tallest tower. She’s been locked away because she refused to marry Dominic Cooper’s Julius, a man who clearly has the charisma of a damp, aristocratic cardboard box and the soul of a Twitter troll.

What follows is a 94-minute descent. Literally. She has to fight her way from the top of the castle to the bottom. Director Le Van Kiet, who previously gave us the fantastic Vietnamese martial arts hit Furie (2019), treats the castle like a vertical level in a video game. There’s a specific rhythm here that feels very "Post-John Wick," which makes sense given that Derek Kolstad (the architect of the Wick franchise) is on board as a producer. The action isn't just fast; it’s heavy. You feel the weight of the broadswords and the exhaustion in Joey King’s breath.

Stunts, Silk, and Streaming Stakes

The biggest surprise for me was Joey King. Before this, I mostly knew her from The Kissing Booth or her incredible dramatic turn in The Act. Watching her pivot into a full-blown brawler is a revelation. Apparently, she did about 85-90% of her own stunt work, training for months in various martial arts. You can see the effort on screen; the camera doesn't have to cut away every three seconds to a stunt double’s wig.

Then there’s Veronica Ngo, who plays the Princess's mentor, Linh. If you haven't seen her in The Old Guard (2020) or Furie, you’re missing out on one of the best action performers working today. Every time she’s on screen, the movie levels up. The choreography between her and Olga Kurylenko—who plays a whip-wielding henchwoman—is the kind of high-speed, technical craft that makes me mourn the fact that this went straight to Hulu/Disney+. In a theater, that sound design (the crack of the whip, the clink of the armor) would have been deafeningly cool.

This is where the "Contemporary Cinema" of it all hits home. The Princess is a victim of the 2022 streaming dump. It’s a mid-budget action movie that would have been a modest summer sleeper hit in 2005, but in the current landscape, it was pushed to a digital platform with minimal fanfare. It’s a shame, because the practical sets are gorgeous. They built a massive, multi-level tower set that allowed for long, continuous shots of the Princess tumbling down stairs and swinging from tapestries.

A Sledgehammer in a Tiara

Is it perfect? Not even close. Dominic Cooper is leaning so hard into "Snidely Whiplash" territory that I expected him to start tying people to literal train tracks. His motivation is basically "I’m a man and I want the throne," which is about as deep as a puddle in a drought. But the film doesn't need a complex villain; it just needs a punching bag at the bottom of the stairs.

I appreciated the way the film handles its "girl power" themes. It doesn't stop the movie for a five-minute lecture on the patriarchy. Instead, it just shows you that the Princess’s father (Ed Stoppard) underestimated her, and now he’s watching her liquidate his entire enemy’s army from the sidelines. It’s "show, don't tell," and what it’s showing is a lot of broken bones and ruined masonry.

Interestingly, the film was originally pitched as The Raid meets Tangled. While it doesn't quite reach the dizzying heights of The Raid's choreography, it captures that same sense of claustrophobic, "no-way-out-but-through" energy. It’s a lean, mean, 90-minute exercise in momentum. There’s no sub-plot about a talking animal, no romantic interest to save her at the last minute—just a girl who is really, really tired of wearing a corset and happens to be a lethal weapon.

In an era of three-hour superhero epics that feel like homework, The Princess is a shot of adrenaline. It’s a scrappy, punch-drunk fairy tale that honors the stunt performers who make modern action worth watching. It might not have the historical weight of a classic, but for a streaming-era original, it’s a total blast that deserves a spot on your "I just want to see someone get hit with a mace" watchlist. If you like your royalty with more scars than crowns, give this one a spin. Just maybe don't try to build furniture while you're watching it.

Stuff You Didn't Notice

Joey King's training was so intense that she reportedly mastered the "hair-flip kick" in just a few days, a move that looks cool as hell but is apparently a nightmare for your neck. The film's screenplay was on the "Black List" (the industry's list of most-liked unproduced scripts) before 20th Century Studios picked it up. Look closely at the background knights—many of them are played by the same stunt team members who worked on The Witcher and Game of Thrones*, which explains why the swordplay feels so seasoned and professional.