The Age of Commercialism

Let's be realistic.

Lack of good storyline.

A Masterpiece!

Prince of Persia is trying to be the new Pirates of the Caribbean, but it fails. It doesn't feel like a video game adaptation, but, honestly, playing the video game is much more fun than watching this movie. It's adventurous, but it's bland and cliched. I was expecting more from this movie.

If you are not adventurous or have a love of the Morrocan feel, then you shouldn't watch this movie. Jake is magnanimous in his acting skills. It starts out with loads of action and ends the same. It is a warming love story as well as a heart warming show of love between brothers and a father. I wish they would ask these greatly talented actors to come back for the movie trilogy. I so want to be sent back into that era to be amidst the people of that time. Wonderful film. I have rewatched it over and over again

This movie seems to be based on a computer game, which I never tried and didn't know until I watched the movie. Past in the late period of the Persian Empire, with absolutely fictional characters, its not a historical film and has no relation with historical truth. It's all an invention, a fantasy. The script is interesting, promising entertainment and fulfilling this promise in a very positive way. Jake Gyllenhaal gives life to the film in the lead role, standing out in well-constructed action scenes. Ben Kingsley is a convincing and well-built villain, though it's a bit obvious he's, or will be, the film's big antagonist. Gemma Arterton was OK in her role, which mixes a bit of "Xena, Warrior Princess" and "lady in distress". The remaining actors are in supporting characters but they do their work well enough. The ending, however, is a bit sudden and unsettled from what was happening as if, in the middle of the movie, the protagonist became Indiana Jones and everything turned into a game of deadly, utterly boring, mazes and traps. Either way, this movie is good enough to entertain the audience, it's fun, it has very good action scenes, good CGI and a regular cinematography.

When you convert a story to a different medium, the most difficult, but nonetheless most important aspect to get right is preserving the tone, the atmosphere of the original piece. That is something that this film almost entirely fails to do. If you were a fan of the the original game, you will remember what it felt like to play. It was the first game, for me, that elicited a kind of reverence from me. The way your footsteps echoed through the empty halls, dust hanging in the air, listening to the narrator (the main character) recant his story as you slowly worked your way through these decrepit ruins which, despite their condition, still had a certain beauty and grandeur. Apart from the enemies and occasional NPC's, it was just you, alone, trying to find your way home. It was a solemn experience. The film, however, with it's Mummy-esque, jarringly juxtaposed slap-stick comedy, it's lively marketplaces full of people, and it's romantic tension-infused banter, bares almost no resemblance whatsoever to the game which it is based on. It's a film that can't decide if it wants to be Indiana Jones or The Mummy Returns, but one thing it certainly isn't is a true representation of The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.