Friday, August 22, 2014

The Prince: Macho Mayhem As The Male Version Of Maternal Instinct


Yet another entry into the dad rescues endangered kid thriller with Brian Miller's The Prince, that macho mayhem as opposed to maternal instinct scenario is beginning to nearly qualify as a guy genre in its own right on screen. Though in this case just about every guy around is a metaphorically conceived maniac from bad to worst, and it supposedly has something to do with the ancient Romans and rabid royalty under house arrest somewhere in the Scotland wilderness centuries ago.

Updated to the present time and with ensuing anti-heroes galore, The Prince plays out as a longstanding grudge between two gangsters with combo anger management diabolical daddy issues. Paul (Jason Patric) is the title character in question, a soldier who reluctantly chose the military over prison as an option he couldn't refuse, and whose combat experience apparently sent him into post-traumatic assassination mode, bringing home the war for the New Orleans mob. Now a mysterious auto mechanic down in Mississippi, Paul returns to New Orleans to locate his missing runaway teenage daughter.

Likewise interested in finding her is Omar (Bruce Willis), a local mob chief out to seek vengeance against Paul, responsible for the car bomb murder of his wife and daughter that was intended to take down Omar instead. Also tossed into the mix though rather peripherally is 50 Cent's leering lunatic druglord dubbed The Pharmacist, and John Cusack as a retired gangster from Paul's old posse back in the day, who wants none of it but is willing to help out secretly in any way he can. Then there's Omar's peculiar sidekick played by Rain, a skinny, dapper effeminate martial arts hitman favoring designer duds.

Willis rather delicately negotiates getting into his darker side, in a shaky balancing act between a slightly humanized professional psychopath yearning for closure over a longstanding major grievance, and just a really rotten dude. Meanwhile, maximum homicidal pandemonium ensues without astonishingly, a single big city cop in sight for the duration. Along with a remarkably bullet-proof protagonist throughout the proceedings, and the most destruction inflicted instead upon exceedingly defaced property if not highly abused chewed up scenery.

11 comments:

  1. Well, what can I say but "WTF was that?" You told me the story with lots of detail but I've no idea whether I should invest my time to watch the movie. I hate to be sexist but that's a typical female trait, lots of blather but no apparent decision about it's rating...

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    1. Unlike the majority boatload of male critics telling you how to think, how about making up your own mind.

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    2. Amen, Sister. I'm looking forward to seeing Cusack w/ Jacki Weaver and Rachelle Lefevre in Reclaim. I've heard it's really good and even more then that-- honest. I think it comes out in September.

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  2. I'm an nineteen year old male and I loved this movie, because I know you'll just call me a typical male I will also state one of my favorite movies is The Vow. Dubbing the movie as a Macho Man Movie is just making you look bad, address the actual issues like the following. The fact that every gunman other than the main characters couldn't comprehend any form of tactics, all they did was run at the guy and get shot or draw on the guy when they were clearly in a situation where they should have given up. The part of the movie where his gun is out of ammo and then it flashes to him shooting two more bullets? Maybe the part where he collapses to his knees from exhaust and lack of blood but some how gets up and walks to a car just because his daughter is holding him? The crappy hand to hand combat, you could tell the main character had no fighting skills so they were forced to shoot the movie from certain angles so he wouldn't look stupid. Last but not least.... The slow motion parts that popped up for no damn reason. I would like to also address some of the things you said that stood out to me "supposedly has something to do with the ancient Romans and rabid royalty under house arrest somewhere in the Scotland wilderness centuries ago." This is one line in the movie where he describes the main character as a race of Scottish warriors that were so fierce nobody even Rome(The largest kingdom in the area) would dare challenge them, it has no relevance to the story it is simply a metaphor. "a soldier who reluctantly chose the military over prison as an option he couldn't refuse, and whose combat experience apparently sent him into post-traumatic assassination mode" Choosing Military over prison was a very common thing back then. Are you aware how many ex-soldiers turn to organized crime? Answer is a lot, who the hell else is going to pay them? The thing that I disliked the most about your review is you didn't even say anything about the story. You're presented with a man, they tell you that he's a bad person and he's killed so many people for money AND that he's killed a mans wife and little girl. Yet they make you feel bad for him for killing them? The scene where they are both standing across a long hallway, you can't even cheer "SHOOT HIM" because you want neither of them to die despite the fact that they're both people who have done unheard of things. This movie makes you feel bad for the bad guy.

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  3. I read the review and you still don't really say a rating.

    Did you like it or not? from 1 to 10 stars with 1 being bad, how would you rate it?

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