2 out of 5

Directed by: Brian A. Miller

Nope, it’s not any good.  It’s not even DTV good.  It’s bland, the character “arcs” are more like straight lines that suddenly go crooked, and the low budget starts to show in some bare sets and some scriptless “let’s wing it!” style dialogue.  But: if you’re following this batch of Lionsgate flicks Bruce Willis has been walking through, there is some effort here.  And the first, like, fourth of the movie is actually notably human, before succumbing to its Taken tropes.  Yes, it’s the ex-angry-man-father-tracks-down-missing-daughter setup – not a “modern day Western,” as director Miller and the screenwriters keep billing it in the extras – with Jason Patric as the ex-mob enforcer father teaming up with his daughter’s friend (Jessica Lowndes) to find his baby girl, who’s gotten mixed up with both drug dealer 50 Cent and crime boss Bruce Willis.  Big stakes!

Sure.

Before the film allows Jason to become “The Prince” – his mean man alter ego – and the actor is just playing a father on a quest, it’s not bad.  Miller’s a pretty perfunctory director but it’s not sloppy, and Patric’s hushed portrayal of the lead is effective.  And the music (The Nelson Brothers) is actually good, ducking in and out of generic score techniques to give the film’s sound its own identity.  But alas, the shoe must drop: bring out the guns, out with the sense, and any character development is nixed.  Soon John Cusack is showing up, looking rather uninvested, and then I guess Miller caught Bruce on a good day, because he actually delivers a pretty fun crazy man for the final scene.  (Although this portrayal is humorously at odds with his previous appearances in the flick.)

So, no, please, do not mistake these two stars for a better-than-blah recommendation.  The Prince is not a good movie.  But for the general quality of this fare, it’s some iotas more polished here and there.

Blu-ray notes: some cast interviews, a “behind the scenes” which is a combination of the cast interviews, and a commentary with the director and Jason Patric, the two of whom probably have the only interesting things to say through any of the extras, but the commentary is mostly useless, consisting of director Miller constantly saying he was remaking ‘Unforgiven’ and Patric saying something amusingly sarcastic.