Movie review – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
For more reviews and watch free : CLICK HERE
Over the years Hollywood and even independent filmmakers have had trouble finding the right balance for a movie based on a video game. The problem is that video games are a lot different than movies, or even your average novel. Because video games generally have goals to accomplish and sometimes even special moves you have to maneuver in order to get to the end of the story, it is difficult to recreate that experience in film. I think that the problem is that it is hard to write a decent story that is centered around achieving goals, as evidenced by the fact that most "choose your own adventure" books are designed for children. This is a problem that they have been working on for years in the video game industry, but in the film industry most of the time it just seems that everyone is completely lost on the concept. Most movies based on video games are best served by ditching the common theme of goals and accomplishments and paving their own path. Unfortunately, this is not what the creators of the film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time decided to do.
No, in this case they decided to literally try to recreate the video game on film as best as they could. What results is an awkwardly told story with very little staying power. Even the action scenes lack punch simply because the story that the action is centered around feels so dull and uninteresting. The way the film starts doesn't really help matters either, as we are essentially shown an opening incredibly similar to that of the Disney animated film Aladdin. Being that Disney was behind both films, this just seems a little too eerily similar to ignore at times. Hell, the only character they don't have in Prince of Persia that they did in Aladdin was the Genie. To be quite honest, Aladdin without the Genie is like toast without butter. That is pretty much what this entire film feels like. Prince of Persia lacks the flavor to make up for the bland bulk that fills up the entirety of the movie.
To be fair, the action scenes were absolutely spectacular. They really went all out to make this film appear dazzling and recreate the feel of the video game. Even the fight scenes heavily resemble what you would expect from the video game that the movie is based on, and as such it's hard to be too disappointed in the film as a whole. That being said, just because you can recreate the action and adventure of what it looks like to play the game doesn't mean you have recreated the feeling of what it is like to control the character. Even though they spend quite a bit of time trying to develop Dastan's character in a weak attempt to recreate the connection the viewer has with the main character, he still ends up falling flat as Jake Gyllenhaal fails to interest the viewer. I'm not saying Gyllenhaal was absolutely horrible as Dastan, because he did a decent job. However, decent simply isn't enough when the filmmaker is trying to recreate both the look and feel of actually playing the video game. The viewer expects to be able to relate or at least envision themselves in the shoes of Dastan, and Gyllenhaal simply doesn't recreate that experience in the film.
This isn't Gyllenhaal's fault really, it's the fault of the filmmakers for trying to do way too much with Prince of Persia. You simply can't recreate the experience of playing a video game in a movie, and for the love of film, you shouldn't try. The two formats are too different to be effective in the same way, and as such you have to take a different approach with a movie than you do with a video game. Apparently Mike Newell and the several writers of Prince of Persia didn't get that memo because this movie probably makes the strongest attempt out of any in recent or past history to completely recreate the video game it is based on. I only reiterate this fact several times to imply just how important it is to understanding why this film does not work very well. The acting is passable, the special effects are mesmerizing, the story is deeper than most and has potential to be interesting, but all of this is meaningless because of how dysfunctional the film is as a whole.
The story, while deep, is unoriginal, uninspired, and entirely predictable. The plot twists in Prince of Persia are so obvious you'll wonder if a ten year old had anything to do with the crafting of the story. This only serves to hurt the film even more as it leaves an uninteresting and dull flavor in your mouth. It doesn't matter how much stuff is going on in the story if it is all boring and pointless. As a matter of fact, I dare say that this movie might have been better had they cut about 15-20 minutes of footage from it. Much of it is entirely unnecessary to the bulk of the story, and it almost feels as if the filmmakers are trying to trick us into thinking that since there is a lot going on in the film it must be deep and therefore meaningful. Unfortunately for them, I'm not that dense. This is another problem with trying to recreate the experience of a video game, as this new format for artistic storytelling has yet to really create any meaningful or important stories. However, even if the story is hokey, you can still enjoy the experience of controlling a video game, whereas with a film you are simply a viewer and have absolutely no control whatsoever.
Another problem with Prince of Persia was the music. I usually don't even bother to mention a film's score unless it is either really bad or really good. This should tell you just how weak the score for this movie was. The music throughout this film really lacks a lot of punch, and is almost nonexistent at times. A little whistle of music here and there does not constitute a musical score. This might seem like a rather pointless thing to complain about, but sometimes a really good musical score can make a bad movie just a bit more enjoyable. When the story you're listening to is lacking and the music only serves to help point this out even more, it's a pretty bad sign. This movie was just a total disaster. They got so much wrong that even the few shimmering points of excellence to be found in the film are overshadowed by the failures. I'm not one to agree with Roger Ebert when he declares that video games are not art, and personally I believe he overstepped his bounds with that statement. However, with films like these it is easy to understand just why he feels that way.
Be that as it may, this is more a failure of the filmmaker than it is of the creator of the video game. The major problem with Prince of Persia is that it tries too hard to be the video game it is based on, and it doesn't try hard enough to actually be a film. While it's obvious that the art of video games has a long way to go before it is as masterful as the written word or even film, it would be ignorant to ignore the fact that this is the next evolution of storytelling and as such it deserves some respect. Unfortunately, making films like this based on video games does nothing to earn the new format any respect, as it ignores the very basic and easily discernible differences between the two formats. This movie may be proof that the storytelling of video games is still far from artistic, but it is more damning of filmmakers for misunderstanding the format than it is of the new format itself.
Final Synopsis: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time tries too hard to be a video game, and since it's a film it fails to be entertaining. Instead of sticking with a formula that has worked for several films in the past, the filmmakers try to do too much and completely miss the point. This movie is a clusterfuck because it isn't a movie, it's a video game trying to be a movie, and that is simply impossible.
Points Lost: -1 for poor musical score, -1 for poor story, -1 for predictable plot, -1 for some bad acting, -1 for being too similar to other Disney movies, -1 for trying to be a video game, -1 for throwing too much into the story, -1 for dull, lifeless characters
Bonus Points: +1 for visual effects, +1 for choreography/stunts
Lesson Learned: A film is a very different monster than a video game, and when you try to recreate one form of art on the other format, this is the kind of disaster that is not only possible, but most likely probable.
Burning Question: Why did they try to do it this way? WRONG!!
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
For more reviews and watch free :
CLICK HERE Movie review Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
By: christinareynold
Discover Treatments For Yeast Infection Reviewed Movie review – Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) Movie review – Leap Year (2010) Tidysongs Review Spending Your Money Wisely TV Noop Review Force Factor Supplement Review Male Enhancers Sterling Male Enhancement Review How to Choose a Rice Cooker Paycheck today advance-Most reliable financial scheme Natural Herbal Male Enhancement Zenerx Review - Do Zenerx Pills Really Work? Surely Long And Accurate Callaway Diablo Edge Irons Review Extremely Forgiving Ping G15 Irons Review