Stars: Bruce Willis, John Cusack, Jason Patric, Jessica Lowndes, Gia Mantegna, Jung Ji-Hoon, 50 Cent, Don Harvey, Jesse Pruett, Adriana ‘Didi’ Costine, Bonnie Somerville, Tim Fields, Johnathon Schaech, Andrea Burns | Written by Andre Fabrizio, Jeremy Passmore | Directed by Brian A. Miller
A mechanic’s daughter goes missing in New Orleans. As he searches for her, he is drawn back into his former life as an assassin he has tried so hard to escape. Things get worse as an old rival learns of his return and puts into motion a series of events which will put the Mechanic and more importantly his daughter in a world of danger and violence.
What’s that? A guy’s daughter has been TAKEN? He has a certain set of skills and won’t let anyone stop him from finding her? He is a super badass? *Eyes narrow* Hmm. This all seems a little familiar. Oh wait, it has Bruce Willis in it? Well it’s a completely different film then! Who doesn’t love Bruce Willis?
OK, so I can poke fun at the similarities between Taken and The Prince until the cows come home, but you get the idea and the cows aren’t in any rush so let’s focus on some other points. The one thing that The Prince definitely has going for it is its main character ‘Paul’ played by Jason Patric. There was one moment during the film where he changes from ‘concerned father figure desperately and clumsily searching for his daughter’ to ‘the assassin who everyone looks at and wets themselves’. I felt he did that really well. Even I found myself a bit shocked at the change, even though it was pretty obvious it was coming. The character changed so significantly you can’t help but stare open mouthed at the screen. At the start of the film it does look like a ‘road trip with annoying and pretty stupid college girl Angela’ (who is played by Jessica Lowndes) but after that one moment, you realise just how wrong you are.
Unfortunately, this is where The Prince kind of takes a nose dive. The film might have worked a bit better if Paul had dragged Angela around a bit more instead of dumping her in random places, and it focussed more on their slightly creepy relationship. That would have allowed The Prince to step away more from another film involving Liam Neeson which I said I wouldn’t mention but just did. Instead, it focuses more on Paul and his badass-ness and his ‘history’ with Bruce Willis’s character who occasionally appears to metaphorically shake his fist at Paul and say “Damn you! You have foiled me again!” until their final showdown.
But John Cusack and (for a very brief moment) 50 Cent are in the film too! Omg! Much famous! Actually, to give Cusack credit I did like his character, despite his insistence to whisper so I could barely hear anything he said.
I think you have got a pretty clear idea of The Prince now. A bit of a rip off. A fun rip off, I enjoyed it, but not enough to write many nice things about it apparently.
The Prince is out now on DVD and Blu-ray from Lions Gate Home Entertainment.
