This damsel is the distress
In a faraway land, long ago where fairy stories are tales as old as time, The Princess trades glass slippers for steel-toed boots and dressmaking scissors for swords sharp enough to cut through the thickest of stereotypes. Move aside, Cinderella – “once upon a time” just became right now and the damsel is out to cause some distress of her own.
When the fiercely independent Princess (Joey King) rejects her arranged marriage to Julius (Dominic Cooper), the spurned suitor does not take the setback to his plans to usurp the king’s thrones well. Seizing the castle with his band of mercenaries led by his fanatically loyal lieutenant Moira (Olga Kurylenko), Julius threatens to kill the other members of the royal family if the Princess doesn’t reconsider the marriage which will legitimise his takeover of the kingdom. But the Princess knows the castle well and sets out to turn the tables on the cruel man who would be king.
The Princess impresses immediately with its full-blooded – and I do mean blooded – embrace of medieval combat. Yes, there’s artistic licence at play here but the combat is choreographed in a way that feel authentic. Swordplay isn’t some dainty pas de deux like the lightsabre fights in the Star Wars prequels, The Princess’ action is more akin to Game Of Thrones. There’s a real sense of heft and hurt to the weapons. Heavy swords are swung clumsily, weighty objects break things and pointy things gouge and gore. Joey King’s performance shines as she throws herself into the physicality of the role, embodying the spirit of a heroine who takes control of her destiny and faces challenges head-on, instead of waiting for a knight in shining armour.
Amidst the clangour of battle and the urgency of escape, The Princess finds its core motivation not in the crushing of skulls or disembowelling of enemies but in the empowering narrative it uses its almost comic-book violence to decorate. It isn’t about vanquishing foes; it’s about demolishing the shackles of expectation and patriarchy, proving that courage, determination and strength are universal, and that power resides even in the most unexpected of places. In The Princess, empowerment isn’t a mere thread—it’s the entire tapestry, a resilient and resistant weave that can deflect the slings and arrows of misogyny.
However, even the finest tapestry can have its rough edges. While the story explodes from the opening, there are moments where the momentum falters, and some later developments elevate predictability to the point of inevitability. While Dominic Cooper does good work and chews the scenery to the required degree as the odious Julius, the film would have benefited from him being further fleshed out—an almost parallel track of flashback reveals to the one which rounds out the Princess’s personal journey—to increase the personal stakes a little more. There’s also, late in the day, the revelation that the movie doesn’t really have the courage of its nascent Game of Thrones convictions and won’t cross the line of killing any of the good guys. Severely injure, sure, but kill? No.
Like a live-action fusion of Brave and The Raid, The Princess finds a rich seam of action and humour, mining both aspects to exhaustion. It’s bold and a bit bonkers, but thanks to a committed and knowing performance by Joey King and the cast, it’s a twisted fairy tale that leaves you feeling happy ever after.
