The Prince (2014)
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| Pic by http://hollywoodreporter.com |
Director: Brian A Miller
Writers: Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore
Cast: Jason Patric (Paul), Bruce Willis (Omar), John Cusack (Sam), Jessica Lowndes (Angela), Gia Mantegna (Beth), Rain (Mark as Jung Ji-Hoon), 50 Cent (The Pharmacy), Don Harvey (Riley), Jesse Pruett (Wilson), Didi Costine (Rachael as Adriana), Bonnie Somerville (Susan)
The film begins with Paul (Jason Patric) closing up his shop for the day, he is a mechanic, his daughter is off to college in another State. The music kicks in, credits are pretty much over, and Paul sits down, a hard day's work over. Picks up his laptop, his daughter Beth (Gia Mantegna) pops up on the screen, a bit of concern is noticed while he addresses Beth, their talk was very brief, she will be picked up at the airport the next day. Paul noticed she was rushing to be done with their talk. Beth was looking at something to her left, a man had said something from the other side, she quickly told her dad, that she loved him, she quickly signed off.
Paul (Patric) was bothered by that, but he brushed it off as the age; What made him rethink his steps, and the conversation they had was the letter he received in the mail. Beth hasn't been in school, but in their conversation she had told him of her finals coming up. The Mechanic from a small town discovered something was off, and his gut feeling told to investigate, contact the Dean, and simply ask of her whereabouts, something told him his daughter was missing. Beth's trail brought him to his old stomping grounds, New Orleans. The man he used to be was dead, he now has strong commitments to his daughter, she is his hope for never returning to his old ways. But, in the town of New Orleans, anything can happen, unfortunately for the people who abducted his daughter, those old ways will have to come out of the shadows, because here, in New Orleans the Prince's turf will be forever his.
Review: Whatever happened to action films back in the day? Remember the non-stop filled action, a car jumping a flight of stairs, one hundred of them, and the car lands perfectly on all wheels, without being damaged. What about the way the good guy landed ten punches to the bad guy, it was almost to funny. The editing was horrible, a punch was thrown and it was like they stop, and the actor threw the punch again, repeatedly; It looked almost as if the film was in fast forward. When everything was set and done, imagine one edit being cut at mid point of the throw, then whenever the punch hits the chest it looks like the actor had delivered ten full punches, which wasn't the case. The edit looks choppy, and to me if i were the one making a film like that, personally i would rethink the whole action sequence. Sometimes taking your time in shots, make for a great story, and flow of action. The film Prince didn't film like a normal action flick, it was choppy, and some of the action was almost like a bad B movie.
Editing: Imagine watching a boxing match, the men are in their stances, they move to deliver a hard punch, you could feel the impact from their hits to each other. The punch is direct, clean, smooth, and the impact is noticed. The same thing works for a film, each actor has to deliver those kicks, punches, smoothly. Choreographed fight scenes are just as important as the story itself, like the special effects, it must work with the story. An example of good editing is the Matrix (1999) film. The Wachowskis did a wonderful job with their movie, Woo-Ping Yuen choreographed the fight scenes his way, the actors trained for six months and shot 4 days of filming, extreme but necessary. The editor, Zach Staenberg did an awesome job, because the film had so much content, and scenes, it was amazing it was all fit in 136 minutes of screen time. That is my example because the film had jumps, kicks, bullets, and the bullet time shots developed by the Wachowskis was a sight to see, and a step forward for film making; Without their hard work, the Matrix would be just another action movie with a bland story. You see action, movements, body language tells a story as well. Take a look at the old Chaplin films, they were silent, but his body language, movements had to tell the story in order for audiences to understand what was going on. Bad action can lead to a dead end, even with a steller story. Another example is the film Braveheart. The film was amazing visually, and the dialog was superb; But with if that film had bad edits, and action, the build up would not be the same, it would be considered a flop at the box office.
Good: The Prince film did have really good moments, and i just want to shed some light on that a bit, because to me this film was a step up in action films, the acting and dialog was really good, a step up in a world of kicks and punches. It was like Chuggington on the Disney channel, the train that keeps on trying. The film tried to be more than it was. Anyway the story was good, it kept you there, and i don't mean the cast, it was the story that really pulled me in. Jason Patric you may know him as the Doctor from that Fox series, Wayward Pines. He was best known for his vampire like qualities in Lost Boys (1987). "Look, this isn't a comic book, Sam, these guys are brutal killers." Michael Emerson in the hit film back in the day, all vampires and the Frog brothers. Next up is Bruce Willis, you might know him in the Die Hard films, an action series that will always keep you watching. And last, but not least we got John Cusack, Serendipity (2001), High Fidelity (2000). Cusack is known for filming these types of movies, good stuff, great actor. These actors but did not turn you away from the plot, they were simply in it. Sometimes films have so much in them, and especially the big names, that they take from the film, it's all about them. The film did not do that, Omar played by Bruce Willis looked like a mob boss, he did his job, did not over act, just did his part in the overall story, which to me makes a film good. John Cusack, and Jason Patric played friends in the film, one was a small time crime lord, the other was a assassin turned mechanic. Pretty good deal, the connections were all there, each character had a reason for their issues and like i said it was good enough for me, it's an action film not a Shakespeare play.
Bad: This one is hard because the film had no real action scene except the very first one, with Paul at the club. He gets out of the vehicle, looking for a contact, and alas the first action scene. Breaks some arms, roughs up some guys, makes for a good scene. the editing was sharp, on the way to becoming a decent action movie. Moving on we enter the really bad car scene, with a 4x4 racing like a Bugatti, it swerves left and right, the car chasing them is two guys that recognized him, in the club, some dudes from Paul's past, Omar knows he's in town, so killing him would be an advantage. The issue i have with the car chase, is that the editing was off, the bullets hitting the car was not accurate, the bad guys were hitmen, and all their bullets landed incorrectly. One scene i think the glass shattered, and when the scene continues, the glass is intact. As a director, filmmaker, those issues should've been resolved. The actors in the cars were not even moving the right way, it was if they just said go with it. A great film with a good story, and they messed up a perfect action sequences, it felt like a bad B movie.
Ugly: The worst part of the film is the main action sequence in Sam's place, and unfortunately the last sequence with Omar. It was bad, i mean really bad. The gunshots were placed all over, Jason Patric's aiming was so off, not his fault, just the way it was filmed. Sorry even for a action film, 18 million isn't enough budget for a film. Even with the great story, the cheese started after the horrible car chase, and the bad editing continues throughout the film till the end. Paul is an assassin who killed Omar's wife and kid by accident, it was intended for Omar, but yet he sends two guys to take out the Prince aka Paul. Instead of sending his men to the other drug lord played by 50 cent, he leaves Beth with him to handle the Prince, which didn't end well. That particular scene would've been amazing, but the bad B movie editing kill what could've been an emotional scene. Here is an example of a low budget, that had high price actors, and most of the money went to them, because of the time they had in the film. The studio used the budget to cut corners, and it's obvious, almost to much to handle at some points.
The Boss, Omar would've been looking for him for years, it was until Paul came back to New Orleans that Omar caught wind of him. Also i would've loved Omar to have more scenes in the film, showing the extent of his power. Sam (John Cusack) should've helped Paul more, instead you get the noisy, Angela (Jessica Lowndes) girl, in which the beginning she was useful but who really in their right mind would go with Paul, i guess after giving her 500.00 he meant business. Also i really hate the senseless car chatter, not really pertaining to the story. The fact that a young woman went with a middle age man, traveling to find his daughter, i guess the money was the mover and shaker. Angela was the girl that knew Beth, so Paul gives her 500.00 to take him to Beth. The issue i have with that scene is that the girl takes the money, goes with a stranger, tells him where the drug dealer does his transactions, and after a fight scene, she still stays with him.
Ok i get it, hang with the guy who could potentially get you killed, classic action movie storyline, it worked so i had no issues with that. Just go get the bad guys, and find your daughter. Prince takes you to a very different place, a murky world of violence of an underworld network of crime. The assassin is back in town, go kill him, while i hold his drugged out daughter. Remember the old Steven Seagal films? They were those plot lines, someone has taken my kid, mother, father, son, uncle, whatever, they worked backed then, but in today's film making these types of storylines won't work, especially without a strong action scenes. The story was good, but again it wasn't written for the live theater, it was an action film, that should've had more, but managed to deliver less. Personally i would've hired only Willis as the Mob boss. Make him your main dude, and make sure the action scenes were done correctly, because as an action flick it doesn't even make it to that category. I would rather watch a bad Mad Max film then watch this film again.
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