Z-View: “The Prince” – Mercy is for the Weak

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The Pitch:  “Hey, let’s do a riff on ‘Taken’ with Bruce Willis!”
“Are you nuts?  We can’t afford Bruce Willis.”
“Sure we can if we don’t make him the star.  We put him in a scene or two at the start and end of the movie.  Glorified cameo, but list him first in the credits and put him first and biggest on the poster!”
“Let’s do it!”

The Tagline: “Mercy is for the weak.”

The Overview: When an auto mechanic’s [Jason Patrick] daughter gets caught up with bad men, the mechanic goes to get her.  Oh, and get this, the auto mechanic was once the most feared hit man in the city.

The Good:

  • Way back in 2008, when I first read the synopsis of The Prince and John Carpenter was trying to get it off the ground, I was excited.  Sadly it didn’t pan out with Carpenter.
  • It has a classic set-up: dad goes to rescue daughter and isn’t who/what he seems.
  • I enjoyed the scene in the bar where a guy starts to crack wise with Jason Patrick and the guy’s uncle comes over to set his nephew straight because he recognized Patrick.  Patrick’s response as to why he didn’t kill the uncle years ago is also good.
  • Rain.

The Bad:

  • When the star of the movie is the smallest star featured on the movie poster.
  • The aim of everyone trying to shoot Jason Patrick.

The Ugly:

  • The two guys below featured prominently on the poster have glorified cameos.  Same for 50 Cent and John Cusack.

Rating:  2 of 5 stars