Movie Review: 'The Prince'

'The Prince'
U/A; Action
Director: Brian A. Miller
Cast: Jason Patric, Bruce Willis, John Cusack
Rating:

Action films are ideally expected to be loud and startling but taking these elements for granted can result in an unsavoury experience, which is what The Prince ends up offering its audiences. The film is a botched up attempt in the thriller as well as the action genres. Clueless repetition is just one of the many cinematic sins it commits. The premise is predictable and heavily borrowed from the Liam Neeson-starrer, Taken. Unfortunately, it doesn't make even half the impact made by the 2008 blockbuster. Some films are obviously lousy and this Bruce Willis-starrer is one of them.

Although the film starts with a car bombing sequence that shocks you, the subsequent events don't really add up. A heavily-tattooed mechanic takes the law into his own hands when he is unable to get in touch with his daughter. In her pursuit, he is forced to face his past as a criminal. What unfolds is a series of incidents that leave you saying, ‘Whoa' instead of ‘Wow', which we presume wasn't what the makers were going for.

The main plot is hardly surprising and the film has nothing new to offer. The fight sequences have been shot terribly with the focus on the back instead of limbs. You squirm in your seat trying to figure out who's getting hit and who's falling down. After a point, it becomes a cardinal rule for the legion of antagonists to die while making way for the one-man army. The action scenes in the film border on ridiculous. Let's not even mention bullets, because, much like bad films, they are everywhere!

This apart, the constant beeping out of words by the Censor Board adds to the list of woes. Then again, you aren't missing much.

As far as onscreen performances go, Jason Patric is convincing as a worried father but only when he's not the kill machine he's supposed to be. Bruce Willis is simply wasted as a kingpin while John Cusack is barely there with his I'm-lost-and-I-don't-know-where-I-am expression. A cameo by 50 Cent briefly lifts the tempo.

Instead of getting your eardrums blasted by the sound of gunfire, do something else with your time. For instance, watch Taken again.