Blu-ray

When his daughter Beth (Gia Mantegna) disappears, Paul (Jason Patric), a former New Orleans crime boss known as ‘The Prince’ sets out to find her, with the help of one of Beth’s friends Angela (Jessica Lowndes) and an old sparring partner called Sam (John Cusack). The bad news is that she has fallen into the clutches of his former rival – drug baron and gangster Omar (Bruce Willis). Both men are bitter enemies after a car bomb that Paul intended for Omar claimed the lives of his wife and child instead. Now riddled with guilt, car mechanic and devoted father Paul constantly relives the ‘accident’ in vivid flashbacks.

Unfortunately, The Prince is another of those ‘lone tough guy in semi-retirement’ movies (think Taken or the entire cinematic output of Jason Statham), who takes down an army of bad guys single-handed. In one scene, for example, he cleans up a seedy brothel managed by a notorious drug dealer called The Pharmacy (Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson) by shooting everything that moves. It makes not a ha’pence of difference that the villains have machine guns, because our kick-ass car mechanic dispatches them one by one with his trusty handgun. 

Willis could easily have phoned in his performance of Omar for this movie. It’s acting by numbers, not that the hokey dialogue he’s given to say probably helped. In contrast, there’s an attempt by the scriptwriters to establish a likeable rogue in the character of anti-hero Paul, but Patric is seriously miscast in the role. A usually competent actor, he seems out of his depth in this movie and doesn’t quite convince us that he’s a man with a violent past looking for retribution. Cusack’s role in the film is almost non-existent and begs the question as to why he even took part (money probably).

There’s no denying that The Prince is an action-packed, leave your brain at the door style of entertainment. Its shoot ‘em up scenes will appeal to the videogame brigade, but if you’re looking for any kind of subtlety steer well clear.

Picture: The Prince’s action scenes benefit from the sharp picture and vibrant palette on this Blu-ray disc release. The car bomb flashbacks, the first of which appears in Chapter 1, are bright and colourful with vivid orange fireballs, while the more pastel colours during the swimming pool assassination (Chapter 5) capture the reality of the daytime scenes. On occasion the colour grading results in some rather sickly yellow looking skintones (see screengrab above), but this is a stylistic issue, rather than a criticism of the encode itself.
Picture rating 4/5

Audio: The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack delivers the necessary volume needed to accompany the numerous shootouts and explosions. It’s also is put to good use when it’s suddenly cranked up in volume to enhance changes of mood or quick edits. Dialogue is also extremely well rendered, remaining clear and pinned to the centre speaker throughout.
Audio rating 4/5

Extras: Nothing except a 10 minute Making of… documentary called Capturing the Prince, which is actually an electronic press kit mixing brief interviews and snippets of behind-the-scenes footage. Disappointing.
Extras rating 1/5

We say: According to its director, The Prince is a contemporary retelling of a Clint Eastwood western, which is probably another way of saying that we’ve seen it all before.

The Prince, Lionsgate, Region B BD, £20 Approx
HCC Verdict: 2.5/5