Film

The Princess

A locked-in-a-tower premise gets upended when the princess turns out to be a ruthless fighter. Joey King carries this stripped-down fantasy action film with feral charm, turning a kidnapping into a siege where she's the real threat. It's lean, bloody, and doesn't waste time on romance or exposition.

TMDb rating3.4

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Red Sonja1985

Brigitte Nielsen as a vengeful sword-wielder in a pulpy, unapologetic fantasy that swaps damsel narratives for pure combat. Same energy: female lead, zero sentimentality, practical violence.

But The 1980s effects and pacing feel glacial now. It's also genuinely silly in ways that undercut the action.

Red Sonja poster

Atomic Blonde2017

Charlize Theron as an MI6 agent in 1980s Berlin, turned loose for fight sequences that rival anything in action cinema. A woman who fights like she has nothing to lose, just like The Princess does.

But The plot is a thin coat of paint over the action sequences. If you need story, this won't satisfy.

Atomic Blonde poster

The Villainess2017

A South Korean action film about a woman weaponized and controlled, fighting her way to autonomy. Visceral, beautifully shot, and genuinely tense in ways that elevate the genre.

But It's in Korean with subtitles. The narrative gets baroque in the second half and loses some momentum.

The Villainess poster

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Delicatessen1991

Both reject naturalistic logic and tone to create something visceral and unclassifiable. Neither cares if you're comfortable.

A French post-apocalyptic dark comedy where a woman and man fall in love in a cannibalistic boarding house. Visually inventive, tonally bizarre, and genuinely transgressive in ways The Princess never attempts—but both share a willingness to be weird without explanation.

But It's in French, deliberately grotesque, and tonal whiplash between comedy and horror will alienate many. It's also paced like a dream, not a thriller.

Delicatessen poster
More like this (8)

Sucker Punch2011

Zack Snyder's fever dream about captive girls who fight their way out using fantasy sequences as metaphor. Wildly ambitious, visually lavish, and unapologetic about its own excess.

But The gender politics are a minefield. Many found it exploitative despite its stated intentions. It's also exhaustingly loud and busy.

Sucker Punch poster

Madame Web2024

Dakota Johnson in a pulpy action-fantasy with a similar tone of unironic B-movie earnestness. It leans into the weird without apologizing, much like The Princess does.

But It's genuinely poorly made in ways that strain patience. Even forgiving its budget, the writing is thin.

Madame Web poster

Gunpowder Milkshake2021

Karen Gillan, Michelle Yeoh, and others in a stylish action film about a woman and her mother taking down criminals. Fun, colorful, and committed to making female violence look cool.

But It mistakes style for substance. The plot is almost entirely decoration, and the humor sometimes undercuts the stakes.

Gunpowder Milkshake poster

Anaconda1997

Jon Voight as a scenery-chewing villain chasing a boat crew down the Amazon. Pure B-movie energy: absurd, committed, fun in the way genre entertainment should be without apology.

But The CGI snake is objectively terrible. The entire premise is ridiculous and the film knows it, which you either love or can't forgive.

Anaconda poster

Mortal Kombat2021

A video-game adaptation that understands its source material's trashy appeal and just commits to elaborate, inventive fight scenes. No pretense, all spectacle.

But The plot is incomprehensible if you've never played the games. The acting is flat and the dialogue often cringeworthy.

Mortal Kombat poster

Prey2022

A Predator prequel with a Comanche woman hunter as protagonist, grounded and tactical. If you want to see the genre done with actual craft and commitment to its protagonist.

But It's streaming-only and the limited budget shows. Some may find the sci-fi elements underexplored compared to earlier films in the series.

Prey poster

The Warrior2001

Both center a woman as an unstoppable force of protection, but this one operates entirely outside the Western action vocabulary.

A Senegalese film about a warrior woman protecting her family against a tyrant, made entirely in a West African language with a completely different visual grammar than Hollywood action. Breathtaking choreography and mythology you've never seen weaponized before.

But It's subtitled, slow-burn in pacing, and assumes no familiarity with its cultural context. Western action audiences may find it frustratingly elliptical.

The Warrior poster

Blue Ruin2014

Both strip action down to pure function—no quips, no glory, just a person doing what they think must be done.

A revenge thriller where an unshowy everyman methodically dismantles a criminal family. Shot like a Western, paced like a board game, brutally funny about how little romance is actually in violence.

But The protagonist is listless and unglamorous. The violence is consequence-heavy, not cathartic. It's slow in ways that punish impatience.

Blue Ruin poster

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