3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): The Princess

2022, Le-Van Kiet (The Ancestral) -- download

Download? This was a Hulu/Disney+ movie!! But where is it? WTF Disney, why are you cleaning house of the movies I never got around to watching yet? It was only there a year !!

I was in the mood for a "fantasy movie", i.e. something with swords and pseudo-medieval worlds, not necessarily with magic or monsters but something in the D&D vein. This one about a faerie tale princess who turns the tables on her captors fit the bill quite well.

And I liked this movie. It perfectly scratched the itch I had. It also had a rather expeditious nature to it that fit the Wuxia inspired action rather well. There isn't a lot of world building here; we are just dropped in a situation. Princess (no name given) (Joey King, Bullet Train) awakens, groggy, in manacles, locked in The Tower. Two leather clad henchmen were sent to check on her, and are probably about to grope her, when she attacks. She's no meek princess and makes quick work of them, while still recovering from whatever overcame her. She kicks ass.

Think reverse-The Raid as The Princess makes her way down the tower defeating enemies and hiding as the circumstances require. As she makes her way, we are given her recollections of the events that got her put there, as well as the requisite background. Good King (no name given) (Ed Stoppard, Knightfall) was about to marry his eldest daughter off to smug nobleman no na....er... Julius (Dominic Cooper, Preacher). He does not have a male heir and feels he has no other options. But The Princess is not traditional in the least, and abandons her betrothed mid-ceremony. In response, Julius takes the castle. And her.

She does not react well to that. Julius does not react well to her daring to rebuff him. But he still feels he has to marry her in order to win the people's hearts. He could just be a plain old usurper, but tradition rules this land. But The Princess has made her choice and all who stand in her way will feel her wrath. And she's a skilled warrior, so even Julius's best and biggest barbarian cannot defeat her.

Its a silly movie, with lots that doesn't make sense outside the faerie tale sub-genre, but it was a lot of fun and Joey King has you rooting for her almost immediately. Oh, it could have used a bit more polish and finesse, but it more than satisfied the desire I had for a "movie with swords".