Księżniczka

A medieval martial arts B-movie, but relatively entertaining. The Princess is silly and a proper B-movie, and it is aware of that, so if you tune into that wave, it will hold up as a one-off. The story keeps it very simple, the princess doesn't want to marry a sociopath so she'd rather escape the tower on her own and have it out with all the guards. It wants to be a sort of variation on Die Hard and The Raid at the same time, which works at least because of the novel setting, but Joey King is neither Iko Uwais nor Bruce Willis, and unfortunately that's where it falls down for me, because I didn't believe the teenage actress with the badass role at all, and she's not convincing in action either. The film has a decent pace and is quite entertaining, but the action is only slightly above average (there could have been more gore ), no action scene evoked screams or excitement in me, not even sweat let alone adrenaline. Visually the film is average, you can tell it's a B movie (awful CGI fire), the actors are ordinary, and of course it's both naive and stupid, but that's what's expected. If the film was given a proper budget, better actors, a more experienced director and a better choreographer, it would have stood up as a hit even without a proper story, but as it is, it's a very forgettable B-movie, but not offensive for one viewing. Personally though, I don't see how an R-rated movie called Princess can show up in Disney, it will be a shock for unaware parents. Story 2/5. Action 3/5, Humor 2/5, Violence 3/5, Fun 3/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 2/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 1/5, Actors 2/5. 5.5/10. (04.07.2022)

It's got sets like a Xena episode, the CGI seems straight out of a Xena episode, there's a variation of both Gabrielle and the Warrior Princess like a Xena episode, but it's not a Xena episode, it's a straightforward swashbuckling B-movie that relies on stunts and action (there's no plot, and the little dialogue there is it’s quite toe curling), but it runs out of breath faster than the running time of an episode of Xena. At first it works well with the concept of "an unarmed, albeit trained, princess in a dress versus barbarian colonists in cloaks or versus an ambush in a narrow corridor". What she lacks in strength, she makes up for by using "what is at hand" and paying attention to the difference in strength, etc. But as they descend the staircase (or want to descend the same part of the staircase), this gradually ceases to be the case, and sooner than later, the young Red Sonja is already kicking everybody's ass. Paradoxically also, as long as the opponents are "Bulgarian stuntmen", the action is done in long clear shots, but once we get to the "final bosses", who are actors and not stuntmen, it's full of cuts and clutter. Too bad, at least a hint of plot or characterisation, better work with pacing and "Wick" playfulness with varied action wouldn't have hurt it at all. That said, it’s a watchable B-movie. (24.10.2022)

The princess did not want to marry the evil king, so he locked her in a tower and threatened to murder her family and subjects. But this princess knows kung-fu and she's gonna kick everybody's ass. An action comedy built on fairy tale foundations that delivers very solid fights, a likeable heroine, humour and a short running time. And that's it. On the other hand, it plays fair from the start and doesn't even pretend to be anything more than it should and wants to be. Director Le-Van Kiet has shown for a small budget that he has something to offer Hollywood. Hopefully someone will take notice, I'd quite like to see something bigger and more ambitious from this bunch. (25.07.2022)

Yikes, what a disaster. I like women and I think they should really take a stand against making films like this one. How could a woman convince a jury that a man had raped her or domestically abused her, when it will be scientifically proven on the basis of such films that a 100-pound woman can hit a man twice her size so hard that he goes into rotation on a horizontal axis? Anyway, back to the film. The story was pathetically simple and reminded me of old video games in which the player descends floor after floor into some kind of a dungeon, fights troops of enemies, and has to defeat a particularly nasty boss in the end so that he can finally have something to eat and take care of basic hygiene. The plot of this film was pretty much the same. I never enjoyed looking over someone’s shoulder as they were playing, which is why I wasn’t all that thrilled about this film either. The main character was....ummm, how shall I put this....not exactly gorgeous (or pretty), and the occasional attempts at jokes were clumsy at best. The only thing left to rely on was the anticipated bloodshed. Well, here's where I ran into another problem. The fight choreography wasn't good, Joey King was really bad at it, and the CGI... The burning tin man was a bad joke. Well, not him, but the fire. Even a fantasy world should follow a certain logic, which it often didn’t. What can I tell you, I wasn't happy, and the crappy version of Billy Idol's hit just topped it all off. / Lesson learned: So you want to live in a tower? Choose one with an elevator. (06.10.2022)

An action-packed fairy tale about a princess who really doesn't need a rescuer on a white horse. Badass is probably the word that best describes this wildly entertaining romp. There are a lot of action scenes, in fact one after another, but not once did I feel that they were repetitive, on the contrary the choreography and direction managed to keep coming up with something new, even better than what they had come up with a while ago. And Joey King in the lead role was a big hit, she's definitely not a bland actress and I had no problem believing her as a bloody savage. (24.07.2022)