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The Princess Movie Review: Going into The Princess, I had really no idea what to expect. Having not seen any promo material and just judging my view of it based on its title, I expected something similar in tone to The Princess Bride. However, what I got was way different as The Princess immediately began with a few kicks to the gut of a character and someone being thrown off a building in a brutal way. Akin to films like The Raid and Dredd, The Princess definitely took me by surprise, but it still lacked the depth that those films had. Minions the Rise of Gru Movie Review: Steve Carell’s ‘Despicable Me’ Prequel Is a Hilarious Outing With Underwhelming Villains (LatestLY Exclusive).
Directed by Le-Van Kiet and produced by Derek Kolstad of John Wick scribe, The Princess sees a Princess (Joey King) being trapped at the top of a castle after she refused to marry a cruel sociopath by the name of Julius (Dominic Cooper). The movie sees her escape from that room and try to make it to the bottom of the castle so that she can kill Julius and save her family from him.
Here, the story of a princess being trapped at the top of a tower with a Prince Charming coming to save her is completely flipped on its head. The Prince Charming here happens to be a power-hungry sociopath, and it's up to the Princess to save her own a$$.
Previously, I did make some comparisons to the films The Raid and Dredd, and the inspirations are very much present over here with a slight twist. While those films saw our protagonist trying to make it to the top of a building, The Princess sees our protagonist try to reach to the bottom of a castle. There are enemies sprinkled throughout her way, and she displays her skills in combat to take them out.
Watch The Trailer:
What The Princess does very right is the stunts and action. Sure, it’s not up to the level of films that were previously mentioned, but the film still manages to pack in a good punch. Director Le-Van Kiet holds such a good view of everything as there are no frantic cuts present through the scenes. The action is framed also very well with a bit of chaotic energy to it.
Joey King nails the action sequences right, as the Princess fights a barrage of enemies throughout the movie. One impressive sequence sees her fight on a staircase and it involves a good number of stunts that were choreographed amazingly well. As for her performance, King does well. She being a driving force for the film, King brings this badass persona to the character of the Princess making us believe in her will to fight.
As for others, Dominic Cooper does fairly well as a villain who is supposed to be a complete d-bag. Olga Kurylenko as Moira is an enjoyable addition too where she gets to show off her impressive skills with a whip. Overall, the cast does quite well, but none of that can save The Princess from being extremely shallow.
From the first scene itself, The Princess moves at a breakneck speed. Clocking in at 94 minutes, more than half of the runtime is regulated to people getting punched in the face. Despite the protagonist's badassery, it doesn’t make up for the story being very onenote. They try to fill in some of the character backgrounds with some very misplaced flashbacks, but even then, connecting to any one of them was a difficult task. It’s like jumping into a lake only to realise that it's four-feet deep.
Characters aren’t given enough scenes to work with over here. We see the Princess being extremely caring for her sister, but when those interactions take place, I didn’t feel anything while watching it. There is an emotional dissonance as The Princess can’t seem to get its viewers involved with what’s going on.
Why are movies like The Raid and Dredd so effective? That’s because they take some time to build up their characters and then launch them off into this crazy mission. Here, it immediately starts off with an action sequence, and then never pauses for the characters and the plot to breathe. The story is never allowed to be explored, and when the flashbacks occur, they end up feeling like an obligatory addition. Elvis Movie Review: Austin Butler’s Elvis Presley Biopic Is An Audacious and Exuberant Film Fueled By Baz Luhrmann’s Eccentric Direction (LatestLY Exclusive).
You hardly see the protagonist interact with anyone else, and that’s the downfall of it. With character interactions being kept even lesser than bare minimum, I couldn’t get myself to be emotionally engaged with anyone. That in turn makes the stakes seem very low.
Yay!
The Action
Joey King
Nay!
Shallow Story
Not Emotionally Engaging
Final Thoughts
The Princess would have been better if it had thirty more minutes added to its beginning to explore character development. While the action and the vision are fine enough, the movie's very much bogged down by a plot that’s as deep as a puddle. The Princess will start streaming soon on Disney+ Hotstar.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 01, 2022 06:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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