Prince

Pretty unbelievable.

'Prince' starts out as a stylistic pastiche of great Hollywood action/sci-fi flicks--particularly 'The Matrix' and James Bond series--and while blatant and slapdash, it's not entirely objectionable. What is objectionable is the awful dialogue and overdone CGI. The film's saving grace, though, is a tried-and-true Hollywood action-thriller plot device: the MacGuffin, as Alfred Hitchcock termed it. The MacGuffin is simply a coveted object, the pursuit of which is the central conflict and source of suspense. In 'North By Northwest' (1959), the MacGuffin is a microfilm containing government secrets. In 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981), it's the Ark of the Covenant. In 'Prince,' the MacGuffin is a gold coin with a microchip inside that can erase human memory and replace it with another version. Although it's counterintuitive, the less detail given about the MacGuffin the more believable it is. In 'Prince,' however, there's far too much detracting explanation of the powers of the gold coin.The choice of the MacGuffin--a gold coin--and the name of the main character--Prince--are nice mythic touches in an otherwise slickly modern movie. Prince (Vivek Oberoi) is a high-tech thief who wakes up one morning in his gorgeous home in South Africa with a gunshot wound and amnesia--but he still has his butt-kicking muscle memory. The premise is less similar to 'The Bourne Identity' (2002) than it sounds. Prince's butler tells him he works for a mobster named Sarang, played by a model-turned-actor known as Isaiah, who has tremendous presence, despite having little to do in the film expect look cool and dangerous. Prince also learns he has a girlfriend named Maya and he encounters three women claiming to be her (Neeru Singh, Nandana Sen, and Aruna Shields), each with a different story about who he is, and he's not sure which one to believe. Sarang and two Indian government agents, Colonel Khanna (Dalip Tahil) and Officer Khan (Sanjay Kapoor), are after Prince because they believe he's in possession of the gold coin, which he must find himself since he doesn't remember what he did with it.Oberoi isn't in top form here. Instead of appearing confused by memory loss, he just seems tired. Perhaps he was weary of his female co-stars, who are nowhere near good enough to appear opposite him, even when he's subpar (Singh is the only one who does a decent job). But as the story progresses, Oberoi settles into his character and finds his groove, and the film, likewise, gels in the second half, helped by the strong (and very sexy) musical number, "Tere Liye."'Prince' is rated Worth Watching.- The Bollywood Ticket: The American guide to Indian movies (Subscribe:  The Bollywood Ticket )

The world's greatest thief known as "Prince" (Vivek Oberoi) finds himself in a seaside house in South Africa ... and he has lost all his memories! Apparently he got involved in a trouble, feeling dizzy and temporarily losing consciousness. And the secret service and a man named Sarang (Isaiah) are very interested in what Prince has recently stolen, while he can remember nothing about it.Prince then meets a young woman named "Maya" (Neeru Singh), who says she is his girlfriend. To his great confusion and perplexity, another girl called "Maya" (Nandana Sen) appears, claiming that she is his girlfriend. Then another "Maya" (Aruna Shields) shows up...."Prince" attempts to be a mindless fun movie, with a silly storyline and cardboard characters. The idea itself is not bad, but the way it was executed is horrible. Action set-pieces are borrowed from other movies like "Matrix," and the effects and acting are amateurish. There are so many twists and turns, but the story never gets interesting. Even the editing by Nicolas Trembasiewicz ("Transporter" "Danny the Dog" cannot save the film from becoming a routine action adventure movie."Prince" looks beautiful, but as an action adventure or a romance, it is forgettable.

The movie's opening sequences inform us of a professional thief at work at a daring diamond heist, and do try to overlook that this dashing criminal's ridiculous name is "Prince." The heist runs its successful course, even if it goes down less than smoothly and Prince and his cohorts are forced to resort to Plan B, which it turns out involves a daring leap off the skyscraper. The central plot doesn't kick off until three months later when Prince wakes up in his swank digs, disoriented, not knowing who he is. He's also got a gunshot wound on his left arm.To add to his really bad day, Prince learns that several keenly interested parties are stalking him - namely, the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and the I-GRIP (Indian Government Research & Intelligence Portfolio), as well as South Africa's most notorious white collar criminal - and they're all looking for the ancient gold coin Prince had recently stolen. Prince learns that recovery of his memory hinges on recovery of the coin, if only he could recall where he'd stashed the damn thing. Until he does, everyone is shadowing him.As intriguingly, Prince is approached separately by three beautiful women - hotties Aruna Shields, Neeru Singh and Nandana Sen - and each one claims to be his girlfriend Maya. Each woman tells him a different tale. Prince doesn't remember any of them. His bout of amnesia reaches distressing levels when he is informed that he has only four days left to him. Those headaches are getting worse and worse.PRINCE gets off on a promising start, and it readily presents any number of intriguing puzzles to unravel. It allows us to play that very fun game of "Who's the real Maya?" What messes up the movie is its second half. You get this good anticipation building at the beginning, and then it all becomes very action heavy, and this is a detriment to the story. Vivek Oberoi is the star of the movie, and I get the feeling he's trying real hard to make PRINCE be his breakout DHOOM or WANTED or even KHAKEE. But Vivek Oberoi doesn't have the star wattage of Baby Bachchan or Salman Khan or Akshay Kumar. Vivek, I think, falls somewhere just below, him and studs like his younger lookalike Shahid Kapoor. Of course, I'm probably talking out my you-know-what. I hear there's already a PRINCE sequel in the works. Goodie goodie.Technically, PRINCE looks very sleek and stylish, lots of flash. It tries to flim flam the audience with tons of plot reversals - except that you see these tired red herrings a mile away - and, if you can trust the subtitles - really corny dialogue. Ultimately, this action thriller is left wanting in those elements that keep you glued to the screen. This picture boasts more folks in black leather than in a bondage production. It asks you to suspend your disbelief as a cast extra casually imparts that medical science has made serious advances in brain mapping and memory transference. We learn the secret behind the mysterious coin, and the revelation is on par with the crazy on a dish being served in, say, a movie like FACE OFF. Except that in FACE OFF we buy its outrageous conceit because it came in a package rife with dynamic performances, John Woo's bravura action sequences, and a story grounded on a strong emotional core. In comparison, what PRINCE has is mostly piffle.The eponymous hero - and I cringe that there is an eponymous hero to a movie that's titled PRINCE - is portrayed as this guy who is aces at everything, and because Oberoi plays him lifelessly and humorlessly, it leaves us with not much to relate to. I don't know if Vivek's performance is flat because he just doesn't have it in him or because the script is giving him buggerall to work with. When he's not flat, then he's overdoing it in those moments when he's enduring those headache assaults. Prince is so damn capable. Prince is what would happen if Neo and Jason Bourne were to have a one night stand. Krrish would be too cowed to take him on. Prince is so badasss that he could, in real time speed, kick an opponent who is travelling in slow motion. Goons react to Prince's punches and kicks by sailing thru the sky like they were shot out of a cannon. The wire work is as subtle as a Bollywood item number. And a sarcastic "Well done" to whoever thought that having a friggin' Batman poster in Prince's secret lair was the way to go.MATRIX just may have ruined the future of action special effects, and that's all I'll say about that. I continue to be concerned about the poor marksmanship of cinematic villains. Dear bad guys, when your target is fleeing from you but running away in a straight, predictable line... well, you just have to do better. But the bad guys' sheer incompetence may be understandable in light of their crime boss being equipped with a cliched mechanical hand, something he'd obviously purchased from the James Bond Villains Haberdashery Shop. What self-respecting henchman would work for a tool like that?Plot SPOILER now, for the next paragraph.I don't know why, but this bit probably bugged me the most. You'd think that once the bad guys learn that the coin Prince hands over is fake, that the treacherous girl would then continue the pretense of being Maya. Instead she points a gun at Prince. I call that a poor strategic course of action.End plot SPOILER.As always with Bollywood DVDs, there is an option to directly access the songs featured in the film ("O Mere Khuda" and "Tere Liye" are worth second looks). There's also the "Making Of the Film" featurette (00:24:03 minutes long, and enough of it in English).I've already mentioned some of the things worth watching in this film. There are others moments. The caveman in me forces me to mention the gorgeous half-British Aruna Shields and the sheer sexy that is Nandana Sen. Huge chunks of the action scenes lack believability and are tritely executed, but Aruna Shield's pulse-pounding, gun-toting introduction is worth noting, as is that spiffy motorcycle chase on the city rooftops. And, okay, Vivek Oberoi does occasionally come up with cool hero moments. And, in a sly nod to Bollywood proprieties, late in the film, the all-important coin is held up for scrutiny by someone, and it's positioned in such a way that it obstructs the view of Prince and his Maya passionately kissing. So, yes, this movie does have some redeeming moments. I wish it had more.