Escape to the Movies: Prince of Persia

[The Lawn]

I saw this last night.... and to put this movie any where near Iron Man on a Transformers - Iron Man scale is nothing but BLASPHEMY!!!

This movie was god awful, 2 of the main characters (the princess and one of the brothers) had such awkward and outright terrible line delivery that it made me cringe...

"There's a deamon up there... covered in spikes..."
"I wish we could be together... forever..."

I almost vomited with rage.

This was... with out a doubt... the WORST movie I have seen all year. And I watched Troll 2.
THIS MOVIE IS WORSE THAN TROLL 2!

I am sad to say, that this is the first time I've ever disagreed with one of MovieBob's reviews.
Prince of Persia made me want to burn my brain to rid me of it's taint.

 

[Mosstromo]

You know, in response to all the "whitewashing" complaints, I have to say... get over it. They picked the actors they thought would be best in the roles, race or ethnicity be damned. They could have gotten a middle eastern actor to play the prince, yeah, but that doesn't mean he'd have been necessarily as good an actor in the role. I actually applaud the fact that they didn't focus solely on their appearance and went with acting talent instead. I mean, look at Michael Cera. He keeps getting cast as an awkward teenager because he looks like one, but he's not a good actor in those roles. The casting director picked the actors that would best carry the story of the movie, and that's the important thing.

You don't think the fact that Hollywood can't or won't find any good middle eastern actors is very damning? I think it goes back to Hollywood's bullshit assumptions that minorities can identify with white people but white people can't identify with a minorities. That's why Barbershop is a "black movie" but any john Hughes movie isn't a "white movie."

Why are so many Hollywood movies criticizing the war in Iraq now? It might have done some good six or seven years ago.

I agree with you Pseudonym2 on all accounts. And add: I'm certain there are great middle eastern actors (specifically iranian) that possess at the very least equal acting talents to those chosen for the film.

Having said that, even though I would've enjoy seeing finally some middle-eastern people on middle-eastern adventures, I'm OK with Jake Gyllenhaal on the role, not only because I usually really like this guy's performances, but because he does look a lot like the non-middle-eastern-looking main character of the game itself (specially on the Two Thrones).

To Mr. Movie Bob:
Movie Bob once more an (almost) accurate and eloquent information giver (you know, except for the UK flag thing and that the middle east is not technically asia, but we forgive). Thanks for the advice and opinion.

 

[Rigs83]

I honestly don't understand what everyone's deal is with "whitewashing." I think if you have an actor that is good in a role it shouldn't matter what color he is.

It's about authenticity.
Some (silly) people might claim is has something to do with racism, but really: It's about authenticity.
Ancient Persia would have been populated by Persians, so have a Persian Cast makes it more believable. You can't say Slumdog Millionaire would have been nearly as good is the cast was all Asian. Or that any movie portraying the Yakuza as African guys would be believable. The point of a movie is to tell a story, and you grip people into a story with atmosphere. The proper ethnicity really helps that atmosphere.

It's not a deal breaker, mind you (Not for the sane, or people who have any inkling of an imagination), but it really does help the immersion of the tale unfolding on the big screen in front of you.

Also maybe because of stuff like having the character,Qui Chang Cane, being portrayed by an awesome, but white actor

Spoiler: David Carradine

was suppose to be portrayed by this actor

Spoiler: Bruce Lee

who wrote and created the character to begin with.

 

[duchaked]

definitely watching it this upcoming week =)

altho my friend's going just cuz she thinks Jake is hot...figures

 

[AstylahAthrys]

I just got back from it and I thought it was pretty good. There were some cheesy moments and awkward lines but I thought it was really enjoyable. Not the best move ever, but I liked it a lot.

 

[Broken Orange]

Also, I don't care what anyone says, I liked Mortal Kombat and the first Resident Evil movie. But none of the others

Mortal Kombat kicked butt

I agree with those two, but Mortal Combat did not age well what so ever.

OT:Just saw Prince of Persia, and I gotta say, I was a good action flick. I recommend it for you to give it a try.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I would hardly qualify it as a decent video game movie. Ya, they incorporated the Sands of Time and the Dagger and hour glass well and those were all taken from the game.

But the game also had a COMPLETELY different storyline.

I mean, in the "Game" The sands of time

Spoiler: This contains some minor to major spoilers in the movie. If you're interested in seeing it, then remember you were warned.

The Prince was of Royal Blood
The Prince had no known brothers or sisters
The City containing the Sands of Time was owned by the Maharajahens
The Hour glass does cause a cataclysmic event, but instead of wiping out all life, it turns people into Sand Zombies.
The Prince's name was never given as well.
The entire plot of the game is told by the Prince at the end of the game and when the story is over, you face the final boss.

But all in all, it was a pretty decent flick. Better then Robin Hood in my opinion. It certainly ain't no Iron Man 2 and it certainly isn't as awful as Transformers 2, but overall it's pretty good.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

You know Moviebob, you peaked with your reviews. I actually enjoyed watching them at one point. But this....this....what was this? That wasn't a review, that was bitching mixed with a 'mehs' You failed to mention the whole bit with the side characters. The races? The loud, fast talking fat guy? The wicked cool knife throwing black guy! Sure, I see their point, but found it unnecessary. I mean you actually addressed the whitewashing thing? That was a crock a shit. Come on man! They are actors. THEY ACT PARTS! Who cares what color they are? The play the role they are given. Wah, he's not persian. Well, I think we would have been more offended if they threw him in black face. Alrighy, and you forgot to mention that while they drew a lot from the source material, they only threw one big throwback to the game. And you realllllly had to hunt for it.
Oh and the ending. Have you played the games? *Spoiler country* The first game and the third game end on the same note! That's how it works. Prince goes does fantastic, amazing things, realize what he has done, turns back time to undo the evil that has been cause, and starts all over again from the beginning. Is that what your mad about? If so, you're really nit picking.
Maybe it's because I'm a prince of Persia fan to the core, and just got back from the movie, but I just found this to be complaining more then reviewing. Judge the movie what it is, not what it 'copied' or the actor's race. Judge it for effects, the acting, the direction, the filmography, and that sort of stuff.

Ahem, well I'm done ranting for the night, Good night

 

[Kuchinawa212]

I would hardly qualify it as a decent video game movie. Ya, they incorporated the Sands of Time and the Dagger and hour glass well and those were all taken from the game.

But the game also had a COMPLETELY different storyline.

I mean, in the "Game" The sands of time

Spoiler: This contains some minor to major spoilers in the movie. If you're interested in seeing it, then remember you were warned.

The Prince was of Royal Blood
The Prince had no known brothers or sisters
The City containing the Sands of Time was owned by the Maharajahens
The Hour glass does cause a cataclysmic event, but instead of wiping out all life, it turns people into Sand Zombies.
The Prince's name was never given as well.
The entire plot of the game is told by the Prince at the end of the game and when the story is over, you face the final boss.

Right on dude! Except one part. With the brothers thing I could actually buy. In the making of the game section they mention the Prince "may not be the strongest or greatest warrior of his brothers, but he is the most skillful, balanced, and the most quick thinking of them all" But it has been a forever since I saw that, and the brothers played no part in the game, so...yeah okay.

 

[00slash00]

to everyone saying that the ending of lost made everything that happened in the series irrelevant...i think you misunderstood the ending. how exactly was the ending a cop out?

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I would hardly qualify it as a decent video game movie. Ya, they incorporated the Sands of Time and the Dagger and hour glass well and those were all taken from the game.

But the game also had a COMPLETELY different storyline.

I mean, in the "Game" The sands of time

Spoiler: This contains some minor to major spoilers in the movie. If you're interested in seeing it, then remember you were warned.

The Prince was of Royal Blood
The Prince had no known brothers or sisters
The City containing the Sands of Time was owned by the Maharajahens
The Hour glass does cause a cataclysmic event, but instead of wiping out all life, it turns people into Sand Zombies.
The Prince's name was never given as well.
The entire plot of the game is told by the Prince at the end of the game and when the story is over, you face the final boss.

Right on dude! Except one part. With the brothers thing I could actually buy. In the making of the game section they mention the Prince "may not be the strongest or greatest warrior of his brothers, but he is the most skillful, balanced, and the most quick thinking of them all" But it has been a forever since I saw that, and the brothers played no part in the game, so...yeah okay.

Ah, I did not know that. Honestly, I saw the movie a couple of hours ago with some friends and it was actually a pretty good movie. My friends were actually expecting me to hate it for changing the storyline like Hollywood did with Robin Hood (Robin Hood's origin story would have been fine. There was no need to change it around the way they did.), but I quite enjoyed the new story they created.

I would never call it a video game movie though since it bears very little resemblance to the actual video game of the same name. I could understand the need to change the story (Wandering through a palace by yourself with a few narrations from the Prince and a few lines passed between Farah and the Prince wouldn't have made a good movie.)

 

[WilliamRLBaker]

It was a good-great movie. It was by far the BEST video game movie adaption, and is infact better then quite a few original Hollywood movies....Definately worth a watch, It was definately worth the ticket.

 

[Crapster]

I have to join the throng of people proclaiming this movie as the first good vidoegame adaptation, since it was a very fun movie! If this is a sign of things to come for game based adaptations, then I welcome this new development. I'd rather they not adapt videogames period, but this is the right way to do it.

My only complaint is that the cast did seem very European. I'd like to see skilled Arab actors in these roles, or at least have the actors seem less European (Especially Gemma Arteton, or whatever her name is. She sounded like she could have stepped right out of an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel!) Not the biggest deal, but still a detraction in my book. The actors still gave good performances across the board, I think.

All in all, I wouldn't mind seeing more PoP movies. I'd even rate it above Iron Man 2, so it did something right obviously!

 

[Endocrom]

Power of friendship? sounds like somebody's complaining about shows he doesn't watch [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitlexxpmjrh25rbg]
Also, if you didn't get a little misty when Sawyer and Juliet remembered each other, you, sir, are a communist.


As far as "The first good video game movie". Three words Oneechanbara: The Movie [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1192613/] :Þ . [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1414372/]

 

[OrdinaryGuy]

It's about damn time a movie based off a video game was good. I mean, Resident Evil was okay I guess in some aspects, but never really "good." Meaning that it was really just mildly entertaining. I've got my fingers crossed for the Warcraft movie (and now the Mass Effect movie OMG). Those movies might be able to capture your "good video game movie" spirit. Assuming they're good that is.

 

[jamesworkshop]

Actually it is kind of funny since if Jake is half-jewish and playing a Persian prince considering how the Iranians of today are not particulary fond of the jews

 

[comet5002]

I loved the Resident Evil movie (the first one), so yeah, everything he said after the three minute mark kind of went null and void for me.

Also, people need to stop ragging on the LOST ending. I loved it. I even teared up a little. Yeah, some questions went unanswered and crap, but how much longer were you really expecting it to last, people.

 

[SergejH]

Unfortunatelly this is i think first time i dont agree with bob. Movie was for me totally boring and fight scenes was kind of lame. On the other hand i didnt fall asleep like i did on Terminator: Salvation and Transformers 2