Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeWho hasn't wished that they could go back in time--even if only for a few seconds--and redo some key moment, changing their fate forever? Well, there's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, where erstwhile street urchin turned adopted royalty, Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), comes into possession of a mystical dagger with a mysterious power to turn back the figurative (and literal) sands of time at the push of a button on the weapon's hilt. Framed for the death of his adoptive father, King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup), he must flee for safety in the reluctant company of the dagger's protector, the lovely Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton).
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Directed by Mike Newell and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Walt Disney Pictures, Prince of Persia was adapted from the video game series of the same name by Ubisoft. For you video game fans out there (like myself), you'd be forgiven to think that there wasn't a fair share of inspiration from the "Assassin's Creed" series here, what with all of the parkour and fantastic action sequences. (Note that both the "Prince of Persia" series and "Assassin's Creed" were made by Ubisoft.) Furthermore, you'd also be forgiven to suspect some relationship with this movie and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, also by Bruckheimer. Well, Prince of Persia (the movie) was developed to capitalize on the success of that Disney series, and...it didn't quite take off, for a few significant reasons. There's a nasty trend when it comes to video game movies, where virtually all of them seem cursed to be either crummy cash-ins, overhyped special effects bonanzas with the thinnest of plots to hold it all together, and sometimes both at once. As both a film and video game buff, it's maddening, but that's just the reality of it, and Prince of Persia is no exception. The story is a mishmash of Middle Eastern fantasy/adventure tropes, including (coincidentally) the story of Aladdin. When a young Dastan (William Foster) chucks an apple to save a peasant boy from an unruly royal guard, I had flashbacks to Disney's Aladdin, the movie and the video game for the Sega Genesis adapted from it. Dastan (the older one) is a good-natured rogue, with a persistent three-day stubble to make him look even more roguish. He has all of the acrobatics and daring do at his disposal of a latter-day Errol Flynn, and also happens to be capable of some truly unrealistic stunts (oft captured in slo-mo). He is a good and moral person, and disagrees with his family (his adoptive father is absent at the time) when it comes time to debate invading the Holy City of Alamut--where Tamina rules--on the basis of a rumor about the city forging weapons for their enemies. So of course Dastan is right, because he's the hero, and it's pretty obvious who's setting him up for the death of his father (slain, admittedly, in a novel way: by a poisoned cloak). Tamina accompanies Dastan, always trying to reclaim her dagger, while warning him of its powers, as the sexual tension between them builds. (But only so far; this is a Disney movie, after all!) And after the requisite number of scenes and set pieces, the adventure builds up to a confrontation with Dastan's uncle, Nizam (Ben Kingsley)--who wears more eyeshadow than anyone else in this movie--in a twist you could see coming miles away. Nobody's reinventing the wheel, here.
I desperately wanted to like Prince of Persia. I remember seeing the trailer for it years ago, wondering if this was "the one": the video game movie that would exorcise that curse of video game movies being crummy once and for all. I was wrong, as the trailer was flashy and exciting, but the movie lacked the substance necessary to keep itself from taking the easy way out, glossing over characterization and story with outlandish stunts and special effects and dialogue that feels formulaic. Take one of the pirates...err, "slavers" who Dastan and Tamina cross paths with in the desert: the Sheik Amar (Alfred Molina). He seems scary at first, but he turns out to be comical, racing ostriches and using his reputation as a front to avoid paying taxes, because...it's funny to joke about paying taxes, right?! (Insert audible groan here.) There are some early insinuations that it was Dastan's brother, Prince Tus (Richard Coyle), who actually betrayed him, because he was vaguely interested in the dagger and visibly gave the cloak to Dastan to present to their father. But, I mean...just one look at how Nizam is portrayed and you know that the only thing difference between him and Jafar (from Disney's Aladdin, again) is the hat. Sure, he plays the nice guy on the surface, but it's pretty clear that he's the one that's been scheming from the start. This is because all of the characters in Prince of Persia are two-dimensional and are written to fit into neat little stereotypes. Prince of Persia is not a "thinking man's" action movie, but even its multitudinous action set pieces lack plausibility. Consider when Dastan--characteristically disobeying orders--infiltrates Alamut and has some allies shoot crossbow bolts into the stone walls of the city's exterior to use as handholds (while he's climbing it, no less). You heard correctly--into the stone walls! Now, I don't know what they used to make cities (or arrowheads) out of in those days, but either those were some brittle walls or diamond-tipped arrows. And then you have all of the overblown, sweeping shots of the landscape from rooftops, numerous characters leaping from above in slow-motion (ad nauseum) and very weird zooms and close ups. The result is a movie that barely feels competent, lacking even an engaging story to tie it all together. So I guess we're still waiting for a "good video game movie", as Prince of Persia is just another Pirates of the Caribbean knock off and cheap attempt at milking a property for money by big studios.
Recommended for: Fans of predictable and uninspired fantasy action movies, with passable special effects, scene-chewing performances by actors punching well below their weight class, and only the faintest attempt to tell a story with even an iota of depth or quality. Really, Prince of Persia doesn't even have that cornball charm of other video game movies to endear it as a cult classic. (I'm looking at you, 1993's Super Mario Bros.)
I desperately wanted to like Prince of Persia. I remember seeing the trailer for it years ago, wondering if this was "the one": the video game movie that would exorcise that curse of video game movies being crummy once and for all. I was wrong, as the trailer was flashy and exciting, but the movie lacked the substance necessary to keep itself from taking the easy way out, glossing over characterization and story with outlandish stunts and special effects and dialogue that feels formulaic. Take one of the pirates...err, "slavers" who Dastan and Tamina cross paths with in the desert: the Sheik Amar (Alfred Molina). He seems scary at first, but he turns out to be comical, racing ostriches and using his reputation as a front to avoid paying taxes, because...it's funny to joke about paying taxes, right?! (Insert audible groan here.) There are some early insinuations that it was Dastan's brother, Prince Tus (Richard Coyle), who actually betrayed him, because he was vaguely interested in the dagger and visibly gave the cloak to Dastan to present to their father. But, I mean...just one look at how Nizam is portrayed and you know that the only thing difference between him and Jafar (from Disney's Aladdin, again) is the hat. Sure, he plays the nice guy on the surface, but it's pretty clear that he's the one that's been scheming from the start. This is because all of the characters in Prince of Persia are two-dimensional and are written to fit into neat little stereotypes. Prince of Persia is not a "thinking man's" action movie, but even its multitudinous action set pieces lack plausibility. Consider when Dastan--characteristically disobeying orders--infiltrates Alamut and has some allies shoot crossbow bolts into the stone walls of the city's exterior to use as handholds (while he's climbing it, no less). You heard correctly--into the stone walls! Now, I don't know what they used to make cities (or arrowheads) out of in those days, but either those were some brittle walls or diamond-tipped arrows. And then you have all of the overblown, sweeping shots of the landscape from rooftops, numerous characters leaping from above in slow-motion (ad nauseum) and very weird zooms and close ups. The result is a movie that barely feels competent, lacking even an engaging story to tie it all together. So I guess we're still waiting for a "good video game movie", as Prince of Persia is just another Pirates of the Caribbean knock off and cheap attempt at milking a property for money by big studios.
Recommended for: Fans of predictable and uninspired fantasy action movies, with passable special effects, scene-chewing performances by actors punching well below their weight class, and only the faintest attempt to tell a story with even an iota of depth or quality. Really, Prince of Persia doesn't even have that cornball charm of other video game movies to endear it as a cult classic. (I'm looking at you, 1993's Super Mario Bros.)