Prince of Persia: Cliche, Covered with Trope, with a Sprinkling of Awesomeness

Seldon2639

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To get things rolling honestly, there's nothing here you haven't seen before. If you can imagine an amalgamation of the Princess Bride, Aladdin, and Indiana Jones (with a dash of the power of brotherhood/family from The Mighty Ducks), you've got a fair approximation of this movie. The fact is that you could easily recast Errol Flynn as the male lead, and have released it in the thirties, and it would be roughly the same movie. None of it pushes the envelope, none of the plot elements are novel or surprising, and the big twists will be a shock to absolutely no one who has seen really any action/adventure movie of the last fifty years. The romance subplot is fairly formulaic. Simply put, you will not find anything in this movie that hasn't been done in another movie.

Yes, we know that a la Sam and Diane, Wesley and Buttercup, and as far back as Beatrice and Benedick, the constant sniping and banter of Dastan and Tamina will end up evolving into love once they stop trying to backstab and one-up each other. We all know that the big bad is the big bad (I won't spoil this for anyone who might be surprised at all), and that the entire thing centers around what is essentially a macguffin quest in the grandest tradition of Indiana Jones. There is literally only one moment that may cause the savvy moviegoer to say "oh, wow, that's different", which is right at the end. Up to that point, it's all cliched and safe.

I say all of this in order to give myself leeway when I declare that the movie, despite all of that, is simply damned good. It all works, like a good distillation of the different elements into a cohesive whole. It plays these cliches straight, and without being hamhanded about it, or doing it in a winking, smirking "yes we're being cliched, but we know it" kind of way. No lampshade-hanging, no drawing attention to the fact that they obviously knew it was melodramatic and derivative.

And that makes it good. As I said before, you could recast Errol Flynn as Dastan, and here's the thing: Flynn's movies were really damned good. Aladdin was really damned good, The Princess Bride, Indiana Jones, et al, were really damned good.

It's style, then, over substance, and this has it in spades. The action sequences are well-choreographed and fun to watch, and the combat seems to completely accept the unrealistic natural of theatrical fights, and go for balls-to-the-wall awesomeness, rather than any semblance of realism.

The Macguffin chase works, because it's never about the actual item or threat in that kind of movie. The Maltese Falcon was never about the actual statue (nor was The Ark of the Covenant really about the Ark, ditto for the cup of Christ in The Last Crusade). It's a vehicle to provide drama and to force the characters into their adventure. The drama and story is about the characters themselves.

The dialogue is well-written and punchy, even if a bit overwrought at times. The whole "power of love/brotherhood" angle can be a bit much at times, but that's a bit like complaining about those themes in Lord of the Rings. There are moments of true wit, especially in the deadpan snarking of Dastan (who Gyllenhaal manages to imbue with both a sense of actual humanity, as well as a sort of gallows humor; a bit like a Jack Sparrow if he were played as someone with depth by a better actor), and Tamina (who feels every bit his equal, even when she does end up captured a hell of a lot, and who gets some of the best lines of the movie), and in the commentary of the side characters. Shakespeare it ain't, but damned entertaining it is.

There are a few times when the editing seems somewhat choppy, and it's noticeable that they were trying to get things under two hours. Times when Dastan has recently escaped trouble having been betrayed by Tamina, and then it cuts immediately to him finding her again feel a bit rushed. The special effects were really well-done, and surprisingly subtle given what they had to accomplish.

Whether you'll like the movie kind of depends on how you felt about Avatar. If all you could see from it were the cliches and tropes (Dances with Pocahontas in Furngully), and prided yourself on being able to pick up all of those little elements which were derivative of other movies, you'll miss the forest for the trees. If, however, you can appreciate the movie by itself, and isolated from any other movies out there, it's a good way to spend two hours.

So, let's talk about the racism.

Let's clear up a few things first. Persian (as a language) is dead. The closest thing currently would be Farsi, but that'd be a bit like saying that French is a substitute for Latin. We don't know what Persian as a spoken language sounded like.

But, even if we did, the movie should have been in spoken English. Frankly, the idea of filming a movie meant for American release in a foreign language, and then subtitling it would appeal to only a small minority of Americans. Even the most pretentious advocate of anime subbing rather than dubbing argues that it's simply being more true to the original. Recording in Farsi and subbing it back into English would be like having an anime studio (releasing in Japan) hire out the voice acting to America, and then sub it for domestic release. Needless to say, it'd be insane.

Similarly, it'd be nuts to have them speaking with a middle-eastern/Persian/Indian/any other accent from the region. A native Persian speaker (if such a person still existed) speaking to another native Persian speaker would not sound to the person he's talking to anything like a native Persian speaker speaking English. Given that English is "normal" for the audience it's being released to (at least initially), and that they would be speaking their own "normal" tongue, there'd be no sense in making them sound "middle eastern".

So, why an English accent, then? Well, first, it's in the games, too. So, it's basically being faithful. Dastan was always given an English accent in the games. But, even without that, it's the same reason Latin is portrayed as English with a British accent: it both makes it accessible to American audiences, and makes it sound noticeably "foreign".

But what about the cast?

I'm not sure, since I don't know the details. If what happened was that there was an entire possible cast of people from the right region/descent to play the parts, and that they were equally qualified and good actors and actresses to the cast that got filmed, I'd agree it was whitewashing. But I doubt that happened. I'd bet that Gyllenhaal was simply the best actor who auditioned/accepted the offer to be prince Dastan (incidentally, with respect to Movie Bob, Gyllenhaal is of Ashkenazi descent, not Sephardic, making him only about as "middle eastern" as anyone else of European descent). Gemma Aterton is likely the best actress they could get to play Tamina (and she was damned good at it).

Any other standard is a bit unfair, since it would mean to say that independent of relative merits, some jobs should go to certain ethnicities, which sounds... Well... Racist.
 

AboveUp

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Seldon2639 said:
So, let's talk about the racism.

Let's clear up a few things first. Persian (as a language) is dead. The closest thing currently would be Farsi, but that'd be a bit like saying that French is a substitute for Latin. We don't know what Persian as a spoken language sounded like.

But, even if we did, the movie should have been in spoken English. Frankly, the idea of filming a movie meant for American release in a foreign language, and then subtitling it would appeal to only a small minority of Americans. Even the most pretentious advocate of anime subbing rather than dubbing argues that it's simply being more true to the original. Recording in Farsi and subbing it back into English would be like having an anime studio (releasing in Japan) hire out the voice acting to America, and then sub it for domestic release. Needless to say, it'd be insane.
Sorry for interrupting you here, but you do know that's exactly what happened with all the Resident Evil games, right? Not to mention the Samurai Champloo anime where they hired Dutch voice actors to do the Dutch lines in one episode, adding subs to it later on. From my perspective this felt really odd, seeing English subtitles translate the Japanese subtitles for a language I natively speak.

Anyway, it does happen.

Anyway, I do agree with you when it comes to what language the movie is in, or what accent. It's a movie. A fantasy movie at that. People are looking for a reason to complain. If they did have "middle eastern accents", the movie would be attacked for either doing a poor job at it or worse, having made it hard to understand.

I'm kinda on the fence about seeing this. I'm still unsure whether or not this is for me. I'll probably end up seeing it anyway.
 

sosolidshoe

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If what you say about the editing is true, Ill probably hold off on seeing it until we get the inevitable Extended/Enhanced/Final/Director's Cut DVD which will be with us just in time for Christmas :p
 

Lord Beautiful

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Nicely written review, and I must agree with you on nearly all counts.

Gyllenhaal was surprisingly good as the Prince. Who would have thought we'd get a great swashbuckling performance from the Bubble Boy?

Anyway, my only gripes with this movie are that the camera work is too shaky for my tastes (and the shots in the beginning infiltration scene mimicking sand clairvoyance in the first Sands of Time game were not suited for cinema) and that I wish the ending was a slight bit different.

I was hoping for a bit of a *wink wink* moment with Dastan and Tamina where he hinted at his time travel by saying something special to her. Y'know, something to get them way past Square 1 in a really nice way.
 

Zemalac

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-Zen- said:
Nicely written review, and I must agree with you on nearly all counts.

Gyllenhaal was surprisingly good as the Prince. Who would have thought we'd get a great swashbuckling performance from the Bubble Boy?

Anyway, my only gripes with this movie are that the camera work is too shaky for my tastes (and the shots in the beginning infiltration scene mimicking sand clairvoyance in the first Sands of Time game were not suited for cinema) and that I wish the ending was a slight bit different.

I was hoping for a bit of a *wink wink* moment with Dastan and Tamina where he hinted at his time travel by saying something special to her. Y'know, something to get them way past Square 1 in a really nice way.
I dunno...

I thought the "I'm sure we don't know each other well enough for that" was one of the best lines in the movie. It shows Dastan has matured, a little: at the beginning, he wouldn't have been able to resist an opportunity like that, while at the end he realizes that telling someone you know them very well from a quest to save the world that they don't remember would only make things awkward. Especially once she realizes he knows about all the holy secrets she's dedicated her life to keeping hidden.

That's my take on it, anyway. I'm probably completely off, but whatever.
 

Confidingtripod

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I have to say that the sands of time was the game in the series that deserved a movie I mean that was the one with the original idea (you died,no problem just turn back time) and though I have not yet seen the film your mention of wit kindles hope that theres the wit from the first game.Thank you for a great review of the film.
 

Captain Pirate

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Excellent review, makes me really want to watch it now, since it's like you said entertaining to watch, but no Shakespeare.
 

Xaryn Mar

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Good review and yes, the film is quite entertaining to watch.

Yes it is clichéd but then again so is Indiana Jones and most of us loves that one. Whether or not I will buy "Prince of Persia" is another matter entirely. That will depend on, amongst other things, what bonus material there is (I'm a sucker for bonus material).
 

The Random One

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AboveUp said:
Sorry for interrupting you here, but you do know that's exactly what happened with all the Resident Evil games, right? Not to mention the Samurai Champloo anime where they hired Dutch voice actors to do the Dutch lines in one episode, adding subs to it later on. From my perspective this felt really odd, seeing English subtitles translate the Japanese subtitles for a language I natively speak.
Well, for Samurai Champloo and other shows in which it happens it happens once in every while, to add depth to the fact that a certain setting or group of characters are 'foreign'. I like it as a small thing. 007: Nightfire is not a game anyone would have any strong feelings about, but I remember how in a level in Germany the guards spoke German and if you went the sneaky route they would have long conversations who would be subbed in English if subtitles were on.

That said, I think the main characters' language should be the main intended audience's language, since essentially if you are supposed to follow that character you are supposed to know how he thinks, talks etc. and if he talks in the same language as you that's easier to pull off.

As for the whitewashing, it happens every time Hollywood needs a nonwhite hero (unless it's a black hero, but if that's the case Will Smith'd better be available) and it will continue to happen, because Hollywood is petrified of the idea that a movie will bomb because white people won't watch a movie with a nonwhite protagonist, and probably with good reason.