‘The Princess’ Is Rapunzel by Way of John Wick, And It Really Works

Okay, imagine there’s a new Disney-esque project in the pipeline. Now imagine it’s directed by Gareth Evans. The Princess is a violent, energetic remix of traditional ‘princess needing rescued’ tropes, led by a talented Joey King who believably kicks all sorts of villainous derriere. Its plot is a little thin, there’s little in its runtime that isn’t action, but if it’s an action-heavy trope remixer you’re looking for (and it should be) this is exactly the film you need. It’s a grand time.

A Princess (Joey King) in a very tall tower is awoken by, essentially, medieval thugs. She’s wanted by Julius (Dominic Cooper), the classic spurned-invading-warlord who wants to conquer a kingdom and force his ‘legitimacy’ by marrying the existing King’s daughter—a classic rom-com meet-cute. The thing about the Princess, however, is that she’s been trained by Linh (Veronica Ngo) to be a hardened warrior, and the Princess spends the duration of the film… how do I put this… absolutely regulating every villain that gets in her eyeline.

The film literally boils down to some equivalent of the question ‘what if every Disney project was also actually John Wick,’ and here’s the thing—it works. It’s simple, and there really is no Act I with a simple introduction to the characters and their situation. The Princess is awoken by violence and gets into the action quickly. It doesn’t relent. Le-Van Kiet’s direction is confident and stylish and combines well with stunningly executed fight choreography.

Joey King really excels in the Princess role. The emotional beats land, definitely, but the crux of the film is her proficiency in combat, which is perhaps 90% of the film. The film’s actual combat has a strong frenetic energy, as our protagonist has to fight her way down through a variety of challenges to save her kingdom and free her family. It’s vicious, violent, and intense, and a thorough challenge to the traditional ‘dependent princess needing salvation’ trope by establishing a heroine who can absolutely handle her own business with aplomb.

The constant high frequency combat really works, an aggressive action outing with a strong female protagonist plowing through a host of baddies with fists, feet, and steel. The singular downside is that the action is so extensive that there’s little thorough character development or nuance, but that’s of little consequence in a film that sits more comfortably with The Raid or Ip Man than, say, The Princess Diaries. It works, and it’s badass.

The Princess is an interesting project. It takes a number of traditional cinematic fairy tale elements and turns them firmly on their head. The performances are good but functional, serving to bridge gaps between action sequences or to justify them, but the film excels royally at the simple thing it’s attempting. Altogether, it’s a novel and thoroughly enjoyable experience. The Princess may be a bit of a threadbare project, but your heart will be beating too quickly to notice. This reviewer would watch a dozen more just like this.

The Princess drops July 1st on Hulu in the United States.