X
- 2014
- R
- Lionsgate Films
- 1 h 33 m
- 2014
- R
- Lionsgate Films
- 1 h 33 m
Summary A retired assassin is drawn back into the life he gave up when his daughter is kidnapped. To rescue her, he must confront his former rival.
Directed By: Brian A. Miller
Written By: Andre Fabrizio, Jeremy Passmore
- 2014
- R
- Lionsgate Films
- 1 h 33 m
- 2014
- R
- Lionsgate Films
- 1 h 33 m
The Prince
19
3.6
Where to Watch
Summary A retired assassin is drawn back into the life he gave up when his daughter is kidnapped. To rescue her, he must confront his former rival.
Directed By: Brian A. Miller
Written By: Andre Fabrizio, Jeremy Passmore
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Overwhelming Dislike
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
19
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
29% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
71% Negative
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
Metascore
Overwhelming Dislike
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
19
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
29% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
71% Negative
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
Patric’s bullet-scarred killer-gone-clean is a tired character in every sense, and no amount of exploding blood packs can make up for this much banality. At least there’s enough momentum to keep you from checking the timer every two minutes.
Wit is in short supply, but director Miller at least keeps things moving briskly throughout the relatively brief running time.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 31 User Ratings
3.6
19% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
29% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
52% Negative
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 31 User Ratings
3.6
19% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
29% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
52% Negative
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
Paul (Jason Patric) is a mafia hit-man in New Orleans, and with a baby on the way, he wants out. Paul thinks the only way to do that is to kill his boss (Bruce Willis). With a car bomb in place, Paul waits for his boss to leave for the day, but is shocked to see the bosses wife and daughter get into the car instead. After the tragedy, Paul and his family flea and for 18 years, live in peace, but that all changes when his daughter goes down to New Orleans for a weekend getaway and disappears. The dry, emotionless, Jason Patric stars in this film and as it turns out, he's perfect for the role. As The Prince, the heir apparent, Patric has to play both a loving father and a ruthless criminal and does so admirably. While he's listed in the background, he really is the star of the movie, with the other big names making sporadic appearances. It's a shame, because Bruce Willis's boss character seemed to be a really interesting guy, who I'd have loved to see more of and learn more about. The Prince isn't very unique and you can't help but draw parallels to A History of Violence. While not as good, the film still features some intense action and a great story. The one draw back is that the Prince is so focused on this man Paul, and his goals, that they ignore some very compelling side stories. Had I been the writer, I would have utilized flashbacks through out, to show more of the prince and the bosses story, but sadly they didn't. Aside from that I really enjoyed the film, it was a chase, a mystery, and a mafia film rolled into one, with some great cameos, and an unexpected ending. This is the kind of action film I'd love to see more of. It isn't simply about the special effects and the guns, there is a purpose behind all of it, and that makes all the difference.
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A retired assassin is forced to come out of retirement. They kidnap his kid and he's out to make them pay. It's an ok movie.
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The action sequences are competently directed, but exhibit virtually no flair or invention.
All would be forgiven if director Brian A. Miller were the next John Woo, but the shootouts and car chases call to mind adjectives like “requisite” and “obligatory,” and the ready-made New Orleans ambience is nonexistent, probably for budgetary reasons.
So unless you're a fan of yawn-worthy shootouts and showdowns, The Prince is a "Taken" retread hardly indicative of any special set of skills.
The Prince isn't just awful, it's depressing.
Screenwriters Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore fail to conjure a single witty line. Nor is there any finesse to be found in director Brian A. Miller’s inept staging of car chases and shoot-outs.
Director Brian Miller is not exactly a guarantee of quality. Since 2010, he mainly directed straight-to-DVD titles that struggle to reach a mere 5 out of 10 on their Imdb page: action flicks with a half-baked plot and risible acting, often featuring fallen-from-grace stars and shoddy special effects - arguably the equivalent of old style B-movies. Nothing suggests that they will ever gain the same cult-like following as the films that inspired Quentin Tarantino; most of the time, they take themselves way too seriously to be enjoyable trash culture, and end up becoming sheer nothingness, forgotten in the discounted DVD basket at the supermarket. The Prince, however, features the likes of Jason Patric (you might – or might not – remember him from Speed 2), John Cusack and Bruce Willis. It could have been a turning point in Miller’s career; instead, as expected, it’s just another unsuccessful attempt.
After his daughter Beth (Gia Mantegna) stops answering his calls while away at university, Chicago car mechanic Paul (Patric) decides to go on a quest to find her. His search leads him to Angela (Jessica Lowndes), one of his daughter’s friends, who reveals that Beth is less of an angel than her daddy thought. After meddling with drugs and bad company one time too many, she might have been kidnapped and taken to New Orleans. Paul’s resolution to find his beloved darling will bring him face to face with scary drug lords and their thugs, but it won’t take long to understand that he’s not just a mechanic: he has a very particular set of skills that make him a nightmare for the bad guys. You know how this thing plays. The more Paul’s true personality comes to light, the more we learn about his past and his connection with mysterious criminal Omar, played by Bruce Willis. Completing the cast are John Cusack as Paul’s old pal Sam, Korean musician Rain as Omar’s lethal (and slightly awkward) assistant, and 50 Cent as drug lord The Pharmacy.
Despite being set in the colourful New Orleans, The Prince was shot in a flat in unimpressive Mobile, Alabama. The film follows the lead of Taken (which is becoming one of the most influential action features of the last ten years), but it plays like a sloppy western-inspired gangster thriller. There’s also some seriously lousy acting, mainly from Lowndes, who doesn’t have great material to work with in the first place. In a particularly embarrassing exchange, Paul tells her he knows a place where they can crash for the night. “On a scale from one to ten, ten being the Sistine Chapel and one being a steamy pile of **** how nice are we talking?”, she asks. Paul says it’s probably a three, to which she replies: “That’s like two steps away from **** Bruce Willis, too, seems particularly uninspired and not fully comfortable with his role. He’s also the only actor who doesn’t appear in the special content’s interviews; it might be his notorious reluctance to market films, or maybe he’s already trying to distance himself from his part, another low point in his recent career. The same applies to Cusack, who certainly didn’t need another flop after his lucky star left him over ten years ago. The Prince might not end up in the scrap heap, after all. It could even become a small classic: “the film that put another nail in the coffin of two of Hollywood’s brightest careers”.
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When an ex mercenary discovers his daughter has been kidnapped he has to travel to New Orleans to get her back, which brings him back in contact with an old adversary. I'm sure the makers of this were planning on creating their own version of Taken, but boy did they fall short. Hackneyed plot with poor performances, Patric sleepwalks through the lead role, and Willis and Cusack have obviously just turned up for the pay check. A complete waste of time
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This movie is the best example of phoning it in. Not one person is interested in this movie, not the writers, the actors, or the director, not a single care was taken. The "Plot" is the same regurgitated non sense about an ex Black-ops/CIA/Marine/Superman who gets his daughter kidnapped so now he has to go save her. This is also Bruce Willis' worst performance to date as the villain. This better not be shown at any theater or be displayed at any video store, no one should watch this.
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I reviewed Vice, which was godawful, and I talked about The Prince which was godawful. The Prince is a lazy example of low budget filmmaking, at it's ultimate worst. This movie has nothing good to talk about, fact is, it has nothing okay to talk about. The Prince is a ripoff of Taken, and boy it disappoints. The story, well, what was it? Like, Vice, Brian Miller forgets about everything and focuses on the oddly violent action sequences, with the most horrible green screen, you will see in a movie. It's not even a movie, it's a practical joke, played by Miller, on Bruce Willis, who gets framed in this bad thriller with a pay check that is not as deserving. Same goes for Joan Cusack, who makes movies for the extra dollar now, ex. The Bag Man, which had Robert De Niro, who ALSO makes low budget monstrosities like Killing Season. The chain reaction goes on and on and I fear that maybe, actors like Tommy Lee Jones or Tom Cruise might fall under the same demise to earn some bucks. I hope, you haven't watched this movie, it's trailer or even got free tickets to it. It's a shame to Hollywood. Nuff Said.
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Production Company
Hannibal Classics,
Emmett/Furla Oasis Films,
Union Investment Partners,
Aperture Entertainment,
The Fyzz,
Grindstone Entertainment Group
Release Date Aug 22, 2014
Duration 1 h 33 m
Rating R
Tagline Mercy is for the weak.
Awards
Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA
• 1 Nomination
