The princess (Joey King) of our story is chained up on her bed, and before she can process what is happening, two soldiers barge into her chambers. It is clear that they want to molest her, but she will not go down easily. With a few clever tricks, she manages to dispatch her foes. As it turns out, this princess is unlike any other. She’s strong and smart, and she will fight.
The whole castle is under the control of her cruel betrothed, Julius (Dominic Cooper). And he has one order for his men: capture the princess so he can force her to marry him. In that way, he will be king. Of course, his plans come with assurance. Julius holds the royal family hostage, and if the princess disagrees, their lives will be the consequence.
But the princess will not surrender quickly. Her trainer, Linh (Veronica Ngô), didn't teach her martial arts just to yield so easily to her adversaries.
We all support a young woman fighting for her emancipation. We are even more supportive if that young woman is a sword-wielding princess willing to hack and slash her way through hordes of soldiers to save her family. We are not unfamiliar with the use of violence to make a point, especially on the topic of liberation. But an important message requires a compelling story. "The Princess" lacks a good story.
In contemporary cinema, if you chain a powerful woman up, you will see her fight back with furious rage. And we get just that. The opening sequence gives us glimpses of the things we can expect from this movie: sword fights and a lot of men. It is impressive and satisfying at first, but then it gets repetitive. The princess gets into a fight with big dudes, hides, and then gets into a fight again. Eventually, it gets tiring.
It occasionally reminds us that there’s a backstory to all of these, but it is sometimes unnecessary and unamusing. The plot is so thin and simple that they don’t really need to hide it from viewers. We can break it down to a few sentences: The protagonist's father believes that only males can be strong heirs to his kingdom, so the princess and her sister are out of the picture. Ouch. Her father decided to wed her to Julius; she ditched her on the altar. Then the ruthless betrothed jerk lays siege to the castle, and the fate of the kingdom falls into the hands of the princess. The princess kills incompetent soldiers. She saved her family. The end.
Yes. The story is not good enough for a 94-minute feature. Maybe Le-Van Kiet knows that too, so he decided to shower it with an endless supply of fight scenes. In a deeper perspective, it might’ve been a way of telling us that we should ditch the damsel-in-distress narrative and that we should all subscribe to feminism. But my problem is that it quickly becomes a film that proudly taps itself in the back for subscribing to liberal ideas when the story they created inadvertently tells us that a woman can only be a deserving leader if she matches the savagery of a man. Not wits, not values, not skills, but their barbarism.
If we forget about the whole sexism angle and break "The Princess" down to its action elements, it is definitely a blockbuster hit. The staircase scene is fantastic, and there’s a stunt reminiscent of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Kiet knows his fight scenes. But none of it matters without the right actress. Fortunately for him, Joey King is an underrated and unexpected star for the role. Her graceful yet fierce demeanor, combined with her acting experience, is perfect for the project. She’s basically your description of a moxie princess with an undeniable charm, and she's also a reliable actress who can carry a film by herself.
In essence, The Princess sets out a long checklist of feminist tropes and quips, and you will admire its focus on crossing out each and every one of them. It has a hero you can easily like, a believable production design, and a boatload of remarkable stunts. But its determination to make a radical point without being creative with the story and the presentation can make it look pretentious. It always retreats to violence, most of it pointless. It therefore opens the question of whether this film is really meant to empower teenage girls against sexism. Or is it just an attempt for movie executives to make it look like they care and understand progressive ideas?
2.5/5
