Review: 'The Princess' is a fun mix of medieval armor and martial arts, with Joey King as a feisty young fighter

The damsel in the tower of “The Princess” isn’t as distressed as is traditionally depicted, but is a feisty and fleet-footed fighter in this intermittently satisfying mix of medieval hierarchy and bloody martial arts.

Joey King plays the title character, who wakes up in a white satin wedding dress, shackles binding her wrists, and locked in the top of a tall tower. She’s also nursing a hangover, from whatever drug the deranged nobleman Julius (Dominic Cooper) forced down her throat when she refused to participate in the wedding her father, the king (Ed Stoppard), arranged so the kingdom would have a male heir.

While the princess is piecing together what happened, she also sees Julius is holding the king, the queen (Alex Reid) and the younger princess, Violet (Katelyn Rose Downey), hostage until the princess agrees to the marriage.

The princess, however, chooses to fight. First she has to get of her handcuffs and kill her guards, in methods that are surprisingly bloody and make clear why this R-rated movie is debuting on Hulu and not Disney+. From there, the princess (we never hear her name spoken) has to get down the many levels of the tower, fighting more guards as she goes — sort of like the Indonesian martial-arts masterpiece “The Raid,” except we’re going down the building, not up.

The fighting sequences aren’t nearly as imaginative as “The Raid,” either. There’s a sameness to the fight scenes, though King (who has graduated from “Ramona & Beezus” to Netflix’s “The Kissing Booth” movies) shows she’s game to learn her fight choreography and wield a medium-weight sword. The movie also has some interesting fight moments from the princess’ longtime friend and trainer, Linh (Veronica Ngo), and Julius’ nasty henchman, the whip-cracking Moira (Olga Kurylenko, from “Black Widow”).

“The Princess” isn’t a great action movie, but it’s sometimes a fun one. Besides, any medieval action movie where the princess is smashing the patriarchy along with guards’ skulls is worth a look.

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‘The Princess’

★★★

Streaming, starting Friday, July 1, on Hulu. Rated R for strong/bloody violence and some language. Running time: 94 minutes.