(Three and a Half Torches out of Five)
Good news! With the release of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the so-called “curse” that movie adaptations of video games must always suck is broken.
Well, sorta.
The movie is a big, splashy, summer fantasy movie and, for the most part, it works.
I’ll go so far as to say that it’s the best live-action fantasy movie of the year so far (but, of course, given the long stream of disasters and disappointments, like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Clash of the Titans, Alice in Wonderland, The Lightning Thief, and The Wolfman, that really isn’t saying much).
The problem with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is that we’ve seen it all before.
Boy, have we seen it all before: the hero whose true nobility isn’t recognized, the plucky princess, the bickering lovers-who-don’t-know-they’re-in-love, the simmering villain motivated by “being evil,” the comic relief side-kick, and the big, explosive, nick-of-time finale.
It all looks great, the movie moves, but storywise, there’s simply nothing new here.
As a boy, the orphan Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) so impresses a king in sixth century Persia that he makes him a prince. Years later, the kingdom is threatened by a rival city, and the king’s princes go to war. But might not the real threat to the king be coming from somewhere closer to the throne?
Soon Dastan discovers a magical item, The Dagger of Time, that, when activated, can turn time back for one minute. But the “guardian” of the dagger, Princess Tamina, warns that someone might want to use the dagger for more nefarious ends.
Still, Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton, who plays Princess Tamina (and who played a similar role in Clash of the Titans), have a real chemistry, and Alfred Molina is pretty funny as the comic relief sick-kick.
(Incidentally, if you watched the brilliant U.K. show Coupling, you’ll recognize the actor who played Jeff, Richard Coyle, in a very different role here.)
For the record, I wasn’t sure why Gyllenhaal (and Arterton) had British-like accents in sixth century Persia, nor why most of the leads are Caucasian, not Arabic, but what the hey. (It’s unintentionally funny when Arterton, who has the darker skin, accuses Gyllenhaal of being a creature of the desert.)
And since the movie has a “turn back time” theme, I expected that to play heavily into the plot. It’s a factor, and the effect looks fantastic, but truthfully, the concept is wasted — not used nearly as cleverly as in the last big time-themed movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azbakan.
I’ve never played Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (the video game), so I can’t comment on how successful an adaptation of the game it is. But I gather it involves a lot of running around on rooftops?
Serhat, it was said from the beggining that the movie would just be loosely based on the sands of time game, it was never meant to be an exact reproduction of the game.
Anyone who played the game knows that the reason this movie won’t do well is because they cut out the best part about the prince: he’s an arrogant dickhead.
If you play through the game, Brent, and I highly recommend that you do you’ll be treated to some of the most spectacular videogame dialogue between a narcissistic spoiled prince with no social skills and the princess of the city he just destroyed who thinks he’s an absolute moron.
It would have been fantastic to see that in the movie but instead they turned Dastan into Alladin. Here are some choice quotes that you’ve been missing:
Dastan (To himself) - *imitating Farah* ‘I’ll meet you at the baths!’ She orders me around as if I was a servant! It’s my own fault. With women, you have to show them you’re in charge right from the start, or they’ll walk all over you! I’ve been too indulgent. Probably because I felt sorry for her. Well, it stops now! From now on, she’ll have to tow the line. (pause) That is, assuming I can find her.
Dastan (to self after concluding that he’s in love with her) - I could marry her! After all, she is a Maharajah’s daughter. A conquered one, but still, her blood is royal. . . . All right, I’ve decided. I will marry her. I’ll tell her the first chance I get.
I found it interesting that one of the most critically acclaimed aspects of the game was changed for the movie.
In the game Dastan the prince is a dick, he’s sarcastic and insufferably arrogant his only redeeming quality is that he’s endearingly (and comically) hopeless when it comes to winning the love of the princess Farah. The game features some of the best and funniest dialogue of any videogame and in choosing to make the main character a hilarious and lovable anti-hero the developers really made it stand out from most typical platformers.
Here are some of the choice quotes:
Dastan to himself while leaping from rooftops “I could marry her! After all, she is a Maharajah’s daughter. A conquered one, but still, her blood is royal. . . . All right, I’ve decided. I will marry her. I’ll tell her the first chance I get.”
Dastan to himself “Finding my way to the baths from here should be easy. I’ll just ask the next sand creature that I come across - ‘Excuse me, could you direct me to the baths please? Thank You!’ ‘Don’t mention it! I used to be a bath attendant back when I was alive!’. *imitating Farah* ‘I’ll meet you at the baths!’ She orders me around as if I was a servant! It’s my own fault. With women, you have to show them you’re in charge right from the start, or they’ll walk all over you! I’ve been too indulgent. Probably because I felt sorry for her. Well, it stops now! From now on, she’ll have to tow the line. (pause) That is, assuming I can find her.”
Sounds interesting — not surprised they changed it! ;-)
I saw the film today. It was enjoyable however the ending was as bad as (not impressive) that you have already told.
Movie only has the dagger about Sands of Time game. The clothes of Prince is from 2nd game Warrior Within, and the body of Prince while reversing the time was looking like Dark Prince from 3rd game the Two Thrones. These make the film not a Sands of Time movie. It was more like a mixture of three games.
And also the story of the movie includes nothing about Sands of Time game. I know there is no movie (except Lord of the Rings Series) that tells all the things exactly from book or game or whatever they take the idea. But I wanted to see some Sands of Time dialogues and concept…
> nor why most of the leads are Caucasian, not Arabic
Er… Persians aren’t Arabs.
Iran is not considered Arabic? I didn’t know that.
I enjoyed the bulk of the film, but I absolutely loathed the ending.
It’s the kind of ending that just absolves any attachment I have for the characters and makes me wish I had a magic dagger to turn back time and retrieve the 2.5 hours I just wasted.
Other than the ending, it was an enjoyable, if standard “cookie cutter” action film. The leads were appealing. The action was exciting. The costumes and sets were exotic. There was a story, if a fairly weak one.
I’ll go and see the sequel (if PoP makes enough money to warrant one), but I won’t be buying the first film on DVD.