The movie takes place in an unspecified, vaguely medieval kingdom. The premise is straightforward. The king has arranged to marry off his daughter for political/dynastic reasons, but the princess is unwilling.

Then the fun begins.

It's one long escape/fight/rescue scene, with occasional flashbacks.

The Princess is no helpless damsel waiting for others to rescue her or her family. If you can't bear to see an action movie without a manly man saving the day and getting the girl in the end, move along. This isn't that.

The film is violent. There's blood, a body count, on-screen fatal wounds, and occasional gruesome deaths.

There's plenty of stuntwork and violations of the laws of physics, but if you're looking for a historical documentary or a physics simulation, this ain't it.

There are flashes of humor here and there.

"Not exactly ladylike behavior". No kidding. A lady that kills people demonstrating some serious Van Dammage.

Anyway, 2022's The Princess is directed by Le-Van Kiet. Le-Van obviously wanted to bypass any dramatic elements and go straight for the action-packed jugular. How annoying. "Princess" is basically action scene then payoff, action scene then payoff, action scene then payoff. It's like one long reel possibly shown at dailies.

So OK, The Princess is about a martial arts-loving princess who refuses to wed an evil suitor who's bent on taking her father's throne. It's basically the type of pic Ridley Scott would do on a dare. Joey King plays The Princess while Dominic Cooper plays said suitor Julius. Cooper as usual channels a creep (it's in his comfort zone) and King is reduced to a female Scott Adkins with constant fist fight sequences that never seem to let up. The whole time I watched The Princess I was wondering if King was auditioning to appear in the next Expendables flick. Exhausting and humdrum I tell you.

The Princess is modern-day schlock spliced with medieval times. Oh brother. I mean what made director Kiet think that this genre mesh would be anything a critic would recommend (not this one I assure you). The film is also nearly a spoof, with unintentional humor and side characters that are heinous just for kicks-and-giggles. The worst part is that "Princess" has a plot that is so vague, a sort of excuse for people to brawl and show off their mad, judo skills.

All in all, I kinda wish The Princess had a more Flowers in the Attic vibe to it. Sigh for that. Personas grapple and then grapple again, not establishing any original set piece or true setup. Watching "Princess" is like viewing a 10-minute YouTube video on the art of self-defense. Heck, I lost interest. I had time to leave the room and "tinkle".

At least the girls enacting superhero female warriors should do some exercise before doing the job - like every male actor does. Sorry, Joey King could maybe use some kitchen knife to hunt me down but a sword or something like that - no. Anyway, nowadays the theaters and channels are flooded with superstrong women (but without muscles, where the power shall come from, I dunno) now this is just old news. Sadly, they don't care anymore to make the female leads something more than mini-Schwarzeneggers (but the muscles again). Just compare The Princess with the one and only true hero of all time - Conan, and you know how silly this whole affair is.