|
|
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
The best video game movie ever?
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has a stupid plot about a dagger filled with sand that controls time. But as a fan of the video game by the same name (do your research, Michael Phillips, before you go around saying that it's adapted from the original Prince of Persia game), I found it to be very fun and a faithful adaptation that I can get behind. There are certainly worse video game movies out there (all of Uwe Boll's films, Super Mario Bros., Doom, Double Dragon, Street Fighter, Silent Hill, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, to name a few) and this is one of my favorites as far as those types of films go.
Like the game, the movie revolves around the aforementioned dagger. But it strays away from the game in a lot of ways. Gone are the numerous puzzles and sand monsters that the game offered, replaced by a poisoned robe and a nefarious plot. In the game, the conspiracy (although different) was caused by the king's vizier; in the film it was his brother. The prince was called simply "The Prince" and in the movie his name is Dastan, the princess was named Farah and in the movie she's Tamina, and the game took place in a city named Azad while the movie takes place in Alamut. Anyway, it's different. And I'm kind of glad. If the movie had followed the game exactly, a) it would be the longest movie ever made and b) it would be the most boring movie ever made. I'm not saying that the story in the game is bad or boring because honestly it's great but watching several hours of pole-hopping, block-pushing, wall-running, and saw-jumping would be unbearable. And if the prince of the movie died as many times as the prince of the game, he would have more lives than Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Freddy Krueger combined. Unfortunately for them, they only had a strong resolve and not a magical dagger. I can see it now: A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Sands of Time starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Freddy with abs.
The cinematography is okay if you like the color orange, which POP: TSOT uses in abundance. It looks as if the entire state of Florida endorsed it. But the shots of "Persia", as the movie calls it, are beautiful from time to time. The desert in particular is astonishing. The action sequences are done well; they're fast and exciting and filled with improbable feats. Of course, they can get a little ridiculous, especially around the hourglass finale. In the scene, I had to blink several times to get the metaphorical sand out of my eyes. You'd be hard-pressed to find better sword-fighting moments though. One battle that stands out in my memory at least that pits two knife-throwers against each other is the absolute flat-out most awesome thing I have seen this year in any movie. And I don't care what anybody says about me saying that.
The acting is not really noteworthy because it doesn't have to be. This type of movie is all about having fun and I could tell that the actors were doing just that. If you've seen the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, you'll know what to expect here. Jake Gyllenhaal doing the silly accent made me laugh several times in a good way. The great Ben Kingsley wearing eyeliner was something to behold. The gorgeous Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, Clash of the Titans), whose work I've never seen, impressed me even when she was being a smart-ass to Gyllenhaal. But the performance that made the movie and made up at least one star of my review comes from Alfred Molina as Sheik Amar. He is so funny, so ludicrous, and so bombastic that I just had to love him. He made my day every time he appeared on-screen. Molina of course is a well-known actor (Doc Ock from Spider-Man 2, anybody?) so he didn't really need this role, but I'm glad he took it.
While imperfect, POP: TSOT is, in my opinion, nonetheless enjoyable. I sat smiling the entire movie which was the point really and I'm sure that Jerry Bruckheimer and Mike Newell would agree. To stray off subject for a moment, Newell directed my least-favorite Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. That movie was decent but I found it to be a bloated and unimaginative adaptation. In the case of POP, he did quite a good job. He hit nearly all the right notes. For movie fans, it will be an escape. For gamers such as myself (and shame on you, Roger Ebert, for not being one), it will be a topic to chat about. Absurd at times and exorbitant at others, it will still go down on my list of the top ten best video game movies ever made. It's just a shame that that list is so short. As a matter of fact, this may just be number one on that list, and I was sad to see the credits roll.
Score: ![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Categories: None
The words you entered did not match the given text. Please try again.
Oops!
Oops, you forgot something.