When a strong-willed princess (Joey King) refuses to marry Julius (Dominic Cooper) her cruel suitor, her family is held hostage while she is locked in the tower of her father’s castle. To save her kingdom she must first save herself.

The Princess is one of those simple but fun action films. Its concept has probably been compared to The Raid or Dredd a lot already as instead of someone fighting their way up to the top of a tower, here our heroine is fighting her way down. Because the Princess is used to being underestimated. She was trained by her friend and mentor Linh (Veronica Ngo) in secret so when she wakes up and at the supposed mercy of her captors. She’s not going to wait to be rescued.

The action sequences are well-choreographed and fun as the Princess uses whatever comes to hand to fight before she actually gets her hand on some proper weapons. The lace from her dress or her hair pins become deadly weapons in her hands. She never shies away from an opponent even when so many of them are twice her size and it’s fun to see how she uses her size and speed against them.

The Princess has one of my favourite things in film when it comes to costuming. It’s where a character has one outfit for the entire film but over the course of the film it gets to look different thanks to what the character goes through. Sleeves are ripped off, skirts are caught and torn, various elements are added (some armour) or taken away (dainty shoes swapped for boots) and the evolution of the costume reflects the evolution of the character. With the Princess, she knows who she is and it’s how the costume becomes a reflection of that over time rather than discovering her true self. She wakes up in the tower in a beautiful, long white dress (clearly meant to be her wedding dress) and as she fights for her life it becomes more battered, bloody and well-suited for fighting hordes of mercenaries.

It’s honestly very therapeutic watching an angry young woman absolutely destroy dozens, if not hundreds, of men in her pursuit to save her family and to prevent herself from being forced to marry a sociopath. Sometimes it’s just nice to spend 90 minutes in a fantasy world where women can save the day and be near indestructible as they survive just about anything that could be thrown at them.

The Princess is a decent action film and one with women at its core. Julius’s henchwoman Moira (Olga Kurylenko) is more interesting than him, and the Princesses mother and sister are more rave and layered than her father the king. Then there’s Joey King in the titular role, she’s fierce and brave and fantastic. It is a shame that The Princess is one of the many 20th Century Fox films that has seemed to have been dumped on streaming services rather than get a cinema release since Disney bought the studio as it’se definitely one of those films that’d work well with a crowd. 3/5.