THE PRINCE DVD (2014)

SYNOPSIS: JASON PATRIC (My Sister’s Keeper), BRUCE WILLIS (Red 2) and JESSICA LOWNDES (90210) lead a venerable group of veterans and newcomers in The Prince, an unrelenting action film that forces a retired crime boss back into the seedy underworld he’d left behind. For twenty years Paul Brennan (Patric), a retired New Orleans crime boss, has lived a quiet life off the grid, running an auto repair garage in remote Mississippi. When his teenage daughter goes missing, Paul is forced to return to the city and face his former enemies. With the help of his daughter’s friend Angela (Lowndes), Paul comes face to face with Omar (Willis), the city’s most powerful man whose family he mistakenly took out, in an explosive final standoff that may offer redemption for Paul’s past mistakes. Starring alongside Patric, Willis, and Lowndes in The Prince are JOHN CUSACK (2012), RAIN (Ninja Assassin), JOHNATHON SCHAECH (The Legend of Hercules) GIA MANTEGNA (The Frozen Ground), and CURTIS “50 CENT” JACKSON (Escape Plan).

MOVIE REVIEW:

Showbiz is a cruel one. Take the case of Korean superstar Rain, before he left for the army, he was such hot property that he landed a part in Speed Racer and was the leading man in Ninja Assassin. Five years later, we really can’t say much of his appearance in this VOD release called The Prince, which by the way is not referring to Rain.    

Despite the heads of Bruce Willis, John Cusack and Rain popping up on the cover, Jason Patric is the leading actor here. You know the man whose career was sunk by Speed 2: Cruise Control? Patric plays Paul, an ex-crime boss from New Orleans who is now living a recluse life as a mechanic. When his teenage daughter went missing, Paul is forced to go back to the city to look for her. In the meantime, his biggest enemy Omar (Willis) and his right hand man, Mark (Rain) is making plans to have him captured.   

The Prince plays like an economical version of the original Taken even though the combined star wattage here is many times what Liam Neeson alone could possibly ignite. However, this poor version can’t even match any of the intensity displayed in that movie. The action for a start is hopelessly uninspiring. I could count a couple of hammy hand-to-hand combat scenes, a flimsy car chase and a couple of shootouts. Other than that, it’s slow to a crawl with Patric’s character often in a daze interspersed with brief scenes of Willis and Rain just to prove to audiences they are indeed in this movie.

Budget obviously is a concern that the movie has to use the same flashback scene repeatedly just to hammer the fact that Paul and Omar are enemies! Okay we get it, can we move on to something far more exciting? In the end, nothing stands out. The bizarre cameos from 50 Cent and John Cusack only demonstrate how desperate the filmmakers are in getting our attention. All in all, this is straightly a snoozefest. Dump it.  

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The DVD comes with serviceable visual and audio track. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee



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