This movie was pretty bad.
Random cutting of scenes was really confusing.
Plot holes: very large.
Why were Jake and that lady princess screaming at each other the entire time?
Did the director tell them that British accent = SCREAMING
the we hate each other but fall in love ploy was heavyhanded
I thought it was okay. Not great, but definitely one of the better video game movies.
The only thing that really took me out of the movie was
the slaver not immediately taking Dastan and the princess back into custody after the snake attack.
I get that Dast just saved his life and all, but Dastan was preserving himself, too, and this is the persian prince that literally ruined the slaver's livelihood, and is also worth $$$$$$$$. That the slaver doesn't club Dastan over the head post-attack - or at least slap the manacles back on him - made me go "buh?" That he just tags along behind the prince and princess for miles also seemed very strange.
Would have made much more sense if the slaver had tried to take them back into his custody, and the black thrower man stopped him. "They saved our lives," he could say. "We are indebted to them."
Since the black dudes apparently take this stuff very seriously, the slaver would have no choice but to either tag along, hoping for an opportunity to recapture Dastan, or part with his private bodyguard and friend.
Edit: Also, yes, the cutting of scenes was at times jarring. Pretty bad job, there.
I thought it was okay. Not great, but definitely one of the better video game movies.
The only thing that really took me out of the movie was
the slaver not immediately taking Dastan and the princess back into custody after the snake attack.
I get that Dast just saved his life and all, but Dastan was preserving himself, too, and this is the persian prince that literally ruined the slaver's livelihood, and is also worth $$$$$$$$. That the slaver doesn't club Dastan over the head post-attack - or at least slap the manacles back on him - made me go "buh?" That he just tags along behind the prince and princess for miles also seemed very strange.
Would have made much more sense if the slaver had tried to take them back into his custody, and the black thrower man stopped him. "They saved our lives," he could say. "We are indebted to them."
Since the black dudes apparently take this stuff very seriously, the slaver would have no choice but to either tag along, hoping for an opportunity to recapture Dastan, or part with his private bodyguard and friend.
Edit: Also, yes, the cutting of scenes was at times jarring. Pretty bad job, there.
Didn't they just say that there was lots of gold at the place they were going?
I thought it was okay. Not great, but definitely one of the better video game movies.
The only thing that really took me out of the movie was
the slaver not immediately taking Dastan and the princess back into custody after the snake attack.
I get that Dast just saved his life and all, but Dastan was preserving himself, too, and this is the persian prince that literally ruined the slaver's livelihood, and is also worth $$$$$$$$. That the slaver doesn't club Dastan over the head post-attack - or at least slap the manacles back on him - made me go "buh?" That he just tags along behind the prince and princess for miles also seemed very strange.
Would have made much more sense if the slaver had tried to take them back into his custody, and the black thrower man stopped him. "They saved our lives," he could say. "We are indebted to them."
Since the black dudes apparently take this stuff very seriously, the slaver would have no choice but to either tag along, hoping for an opportunity to recapture Dastan, or part with his private bodyguard and friend.
Edit: Also, yes, the cutting of scenes was at times jarring. Pretty bad job, there.
I think he simply decided that the bounty wasn't worth fighting magical snakes and was going to simply run the other way as fast as possible.
HamHamJ on
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
I thought it was okay. Not great, but definitely one of the better video game movies.
The only thing that really took me out of the movie was
the slaver not immediately taking Dastan and the princess back into custody after the snake attack.
I get that Dast just saved his life and all, but Dastan was preserving himself, too, and this is the persian prince that literally ruined the slaver's livelihood, and is also worth $$$$$$$$. That the slaver doesn't club Dastan over the head post-attack - or at least slap the manacles back on him - made me go "buh?" That he just tags along behind the prince and princess for miles also seemed very strange.
Would have made much more sense if the slaver had tried to take them back into his custody, and the black thrower man stopped him. "They saved our lives," he could say. "We are indebted to them."
Since the black dudes apparently take this stuff very seriously, the slaver would have no choice but to either tag along, hoping for an opportunity to recapture Dastan, or part with his private bodyguard and friend.
Edit: Also, yes, the cutting of scenes was at times jarring. Pretty bad job, there.
Didn't they just say that there was lots of gold at the place they were going?
IIRC, that is stated in the mountains, correct? Many hours after the attack on the camp at night (because it's like mid-day)? The slaver should have slapped the manacles back on them hours before. He has literally no reason to tag along into the mountains following their lead.
Haven't seen the movie, but everything about the trailer tells me not to. It just couldn't appear more generic. Am I wrong in thinking the plot is basically the same as Lord of the Rings, minus the armies? There's a super powerful item, a bad guy wants it, so the good guy has to take it to a special place to have it destroyed. Also, there's a romantic subplot... who could have seen that one coming?
Really, I try not to be a bummer when it comes to movies. I enjoyed Transformers even though there was pretty much no depth there. This movie just looks boring as hell.
You are wrong.
From what I know of the PoP games, most of which comes from watching an LP of Sands of Time, HamHam is correct: LotR and PoP are not very similar at all.
To whomever said that the trailers were good: you must have seen different trailers than me.
Based on the trailers and the usual treatment of video game IPs, the movie should have been absolutely terrible. I watched it to see some pretty effects and to geek out to gaming references. It was much better than I expected, which helped my enjoyment.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
Haven't seen the movie, but everything about the trailer tells me not to. It just couldn't appear more generic. Am I wrong in thinking the plot is basically the same as Lord of the Rings, minus the armies? There's a super powerful item, a bad guy wants it, so the good guy has to take it to a special place to have it destroyed. Also, there's a romantic subplot... who could have seen that one coming?
Really, I try not to be a bummer when it comes to movies. I enjoyed Transformers even though there was pretty much no depth there. This movie just looks boring as hell.
You are wrong.
From what I know of the PoP games, most of which comes from watching an LP of Sands of Time, HamHam is correct: LotR and PoP are not very similar at all.
Based on having seen the actual movie as well, they really aren't even close. They both involve journeys and magical artifacts, and that's about the end of it. You may as well say Seven and The Usual Suspects are the same movie because they both involve cops and star Kevin Spacey.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
I am kind of sad they didn't make the cast muslim. They had the Hassashin a muslim sect. Make the sands of time djinn based instead something created by the gods. Throw in a few muslim phrases and refrences and you would been good.
It didn't have to be historically accurate, because lets face it what Hollywood movie is?
Guess the desire not to let the terrorists win got the best of them.
Kipling217 on
The sky was full of stars, every star an exploding ship. One of ours.
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
I'm surprised too many people can find much to enjoy in this film. Like El Jefe says, it's not bad, but it is a film that doesn't even attempt to be more than 2 hours of fluff. There's not one frame of this movie that seems like anyone, cast or crew, has anything riding on this film other than a paycheck.
First of all, Mike Newell is a hack. Yes, he used to make some watchable films twenty years ago, but he's mostly been doing mercenary big-budget work lately. And I'm sure the studios like him; he wrangles big productions, keeps egos in check, delivers on time, and most importantly delivers on budget. So basically, he's the British Brett Ratner: a gun for hire, nothing more.
The film itself is uninteresting. The actors never gel because no one is actually reacting or in the same moment with the other people onscreen, they're all just saying lines at each other. Characters serve their role as plot devices without much fanfare or investment, and the story just plods on, almost so determinedly you begin to think the movie would go on without them. As for why a film about Persians, Indians, and Arabs contains only Caucasian Brits and Americans, your guess is as good as mine.
The CGI alternates between very good and very distracting, the latter never moreso than when wide panoramas are taken and the objects in the distance look like they're ripped from a late nineties copy of Age of Empires. Slo-mo shots are rendered in post-production instead of being shot at high speed, so many of the scenes look only as good as someone using Final Cut on a home PC. Given the wealth of rugged environs in the world, why so many exteriors needed to be filmed on sound stages and against greenscreens is a total mystery, and it gives the whole production a cheap boxed-in feel.
There are many times in the movie that I felt utterly detached from a logical timeframe or code of physics. Characters seemingly traverse hundreds of miles on horseback in a matter of hours, and often scenes are cut from one castle interior to the next without any context, so you're never really sure where a character is or what the stakes are. And the final action scene seems to exists solely because the script says so; caverns crumble, rock disintegrates, worlds are destroyed . . . because? Nothing is ever said to explain why simply arriving at the Well of the Sands would cause a vortex of magical destruction, but I'm not sure at any part of the production anyone cared that much.
Disney was hoping that Jerry Bruckheimer would repeat his Pirates of the Caribbean mojo here, but that won't come to pass. Gore Verbinski was smart enough to know that while Orlando Bloom was the lead, Johnny Depp was the heart of the film and the reason people came to watch. So imagine Prince of Persia as Pirates of the Caribbean, but without Jack Sparrow.
That's exactly how I saw the movie: Trying to be PotC, but lacking the humour and charm that made that movie successful. The prince needed more Johnny Depp in him.
RMS Oceanic on
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
That's exactly how I saw the movie: Trying to be PotC, but lacking the humour and charm that made that movie successful. The prince needed more Johnny Depp in him.
It's a formula that's worked quite often in stories that follow the Campbellian "hero's journey" archetype, and by either adding a charming rogue or making the protagonist more morally ambiguous you give much greater depth and flavor to the story. Han Solo and Indiana Jones both meet these descriptions, as does characters like Jack Sparrow.
But when you start throwing that "destiny" bullshit around, the depth grinds to a halt and the movie begins to run on rails. It means the hero will always be good and a happy ending is assured.
Newell and the writers of Prince of Persia seemed to forget that the reason that the Hero's Journey is an archetype is because people instinctively know that tale, and have for hundreds of years since Beowulf and Gilgamesh. Meaning, people are bored by that shit. You know why Superman is a hard character to write for? Because he always does the right thing.
I am kind of sad they didn't make the cast muslim. They had the Hassashin a muslim sect. Make the sands of time djinn based instead something created by the gods. Throw in a few muslim phrases and refrences and you would been good.
It didn't have to be historically accurate, because lets face it what Hollywood movie is?
Guess the desire not to let the terrorists win got the best of them.
While it never explicitly said they were Muslim, it was pretty clear that the Persians were monotheists while the people from the city were pantheists. Given the setting it seems a simple deduction that the Persians were Muslim.
HamHamJ on
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
Can't bring myself to see this movie for the same reason I'll pass on The Last Airbender:
Were there no suitable Persian or Arab actors for the part??? Hell, I'd even take Naveen Andrews as the lead (even though he's of Indian descent).
Plus, it's a video game movie... I've found only one to be watchable so far, even with it's ridiculous plot (Hitman).
It really isn't a big deal watching it. Hell they could have even explained it a bit by saying that his parents moved from Europe to Persia before they died. But it doesn't take away enjoyment from the film just because his skin isn't a darker shade.
Avicus on
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MrVyngaardLive From New EtoileStraight Outta SosariaRegistered Userregular
I am kind of sad they didn't make the cast muslim. They had the Hassashin a muslim sect. Make the sands of time djinn based instead something created by the gods. Throw in a few muslim phrases and refrences and you would been good.
It didn't have to be historically accurate, because lets face it what Hollywood movie is?
Guess the desire not to let the terrorists win got the best of them.
While it never explicitly said they were Muslim, it was pretty clear that the Persians were monotheists while the people from the city were pantheists. Given the setting it seems a simple deduction that the Persians were Muslim.
Wouldn't the Persians be Zoroastrian? The Hassashin had Sufi dervishes in one scene. The uncle makes a comment about the assassins' ways being strange or foreign to him, seemed to be in regard to the practices in the scene behind them. From that I took that perhaps the Persians were not necessarily Muslim themselves.
MrVyngaard on
"now I've got this mental image of caucuses as cafeteria tables in prison, and new congressmen having to beat someone up on inauguration day." - Raiden333
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
I am kind of sad they didn't make the cast muslim. They had the Hassashin a muslim sect. Make the sands of time djinn based instead something created by the gods. Throw in a few muslim phrases and refrences and you would been good.
It didn't have to be historically accurate, because lets face it what Hollywood movie is?
Guess the desire not to let the terrorists win got the best of them.
While it never explicitly said they were Muslim, it was pretty clear that the Persians were monotheists while the people from the city were pantheists. Given the setting it seems a simple deduction that the Persians were Muslim.
Wouldn't the Persians be Zoroastrian? The Hassashin had Sufi dervishes in one scene. The uncle makes a comment about the assassins' ways being strange or foreign to him, seemed to be in regard to the practices in the scene behind them. From that I took that perhaps the Persians were not necessarily Muslim themselves.
Did it say when the movie took place? If it was before the 7th century, we can be virtually assured no one was Muslim.
Again, another bit of texture that could have easily been added in that the film needlessly ignores. All the audience gets is that Persians and the Avrati have different religions. The names, details, and structure of which are completely ignored.
I never cared for the game series, platform puzzles not really my thing. Think I got to a point where birds kept killing me and stopped playing.
My main interest is that if this does well, it may improve the chances of the ME movie not sucking.
Also; Tomb Raider.
I seemed to be one of the few people who actually bought the first game and thought it was okay; didn't play the rest. Didn't blow my mind honestly (too short) but it was decent.
I'm still aching to see this flick. I just find it ironic that the people who are most interested in catching this are the casual crowd, and the gamers seem to be snubbing this for some reason (?)
Completely bizarre.
I'm assuming this is based off the later games, and not the original?
I never cared for the game series, platform puzzles not really my thing. Think I got to a point where birds kept killing me and stopped playing.
My main interest is that if this does well, it may improve the chances of the ME movie not sucking.
Also; Tomb Raider.
I seemed to be one of the few people who actually bought the first game and thought it was okay; didn't play the rest. Didn't blow my mind honestly (too short) but it was decent.
I'm still aching to see this flick. I just find it ironic that the people who are most interested in catching this are the casual crowd, and the gamers seem to be snubbing this for some reason (?)
Completely bizarre.
I'm assuming this is based off the later games, and not the original?
Can't bring myself to see this movie for the same reason I'll pass on The Last Airbender:
Were there no suitable Persian or Arab actors for the part??? Hell, I'd even take Naveen Andrews as the lead (even though he's of Indian descent).
Plus, it's a video game movie... I've found only one to be watchable so far, even with it's ridiculous plot (Hitman).
When have the games ever used voice actors/designed the characters like you'd find in the region? They have always used British or American voices from what I could remember.
Infact hasn't it been kind of a film-making tradition when you're setting something in the middle east or the Indian subcontinent the actors are generally British?
Bryse Eayo on
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
Infact hasn't it been kind of a film-making tradition when you're setting something in the middle east or the Indian subcontinent the actors are generally British?
Well, way back when, yeah, but everyone was White back then. Charton Heston and Rod Steiger played Mexicans. Yul Brenner played an Asian. Christopher Lee and Sean Connery played Spaniards.
We live in a post-Slumdog world though. Brown people are even allowed on golf courses, and not just as staff!
Atomika on
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Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
A lot of Persians are pretty fair skinned, though, aren't they? I mean, the Aryan race (Not blonde hair, blue eyed, though, as Hitler didn't know what he was talking about) is Persian.
A lot of Persians are pretty fair skinned, though, aren't they? I mean, the Aryan race (Not blonde hair, blue eyed, though, as Hitler didn't know what he was talking about) is Persian.
Eh... Iran has a lot of different ethnicities. In the Northwest, it's a lot of Azeris/Armenians (a lot of the girls there look like Kim Kardashian). A lot of Arabs in the Southwest. A lot of Turkmens in the Northeast (who look similar to Uzbeks & Kazakhs, owing to the interbreeding with Mongol raiders). In the Southwest, the Balochs look Pakistani. Ethnic Persians have dark hair, dark eyes, slightly dusky skin. I love the long noses on the women.
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Wait, what? That's fucked up.
The only thing that really took me out of the movie was
I get that Dast just saved his life and all, but Dastan was preserving himself, too, and this is the persian prince that literally ruined the slaver's livelihood, and is also worth $$$$$$$$. That the slaver doesn't club Dastan over the head post-attack - or at least slap the manacles back on him - made me go "buh?" That he just tags along behind the prince and princess for miles also seemed very strange.
Would have made much more sense if the slaver had tried to take them back into his custody, and the black thrower man stopped him. "They saved our lives," he could say. "We are indebted to them."
Since the black dudes apparently take this stuff very seriously, the slaver would have no choice but to either tag along, hoping for an opportunity to recapture Dastan, or part with his private bodyguard and friend.
Edit: Also, yes, the cutting of scenes was at times jarring. Pretty bad job, there.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
Didn't they just say that there was lots of gold at the place they were going?
I think he simply decided that the bounty wasn't worth fighting magical snakes and was going to simply run the other way as fast as possible.
IIRC, that is stated in the mountains, correct? Many hours after the attack on the camp at night (because it's like mid-day)? The slaver should have slapped the manacles back on them hours before. He has literally no reason to tag along into the mountains following their lead.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
From what I know of the PoP games, most of which comes from watching an LP of Sands of Time, HamHam is correct: LotR and PoP are not very similar at all.
Based on the trailers and the usual treatment of video game IPs, the movie should have been absolutely terrible. I watched it to see some pretty effects and to geek out to gaming references. It was much better than I expected, which helped my enjoyment.
Based on having seen the actual movie as well, they really aren't even close. They both involve journeys and magical artifacts, and that's about the end of it. You may as well say Seven and The Usual Suspects are the same movie because they both involve cops and star Kevin Spacey.
Were there no suitable Persian or Arab actors for the part??? Hell, I'd even take Naveen Andrews as the lead (even though he's of Indian descent).
Plus, it's a video game movie... I've found only one to be watchable so far, even with it's ridiculous plot (Hitman).
It didn't have to be historically accurate, because lets face it what Hollywood movie is?
Guess the desire not to let the terrorists win got the best of them.
First of all, Mike Newell is a hack. Yes, he used to make some watchable films twenty years ago, but he's mostly been doing mercenary big-budget work lately. And I'm sure the studios like him; he wrangles big productions, keeps egos in check, delivers on time, and most importantly delivers on budget. So basically, he's the British Brett Ratner: a gun for hire, nothing more.
The film itself is uninteresting. The actors never gel because no one is actually reacting or in the same moment with the other people onscreen, they're all just saying lines at each other. Characters serve their role as plot devices without much fanfare or investment, and the story just plods on, almost so determinedly you begin to think the movie would go on without them. As for why a film about Persians, Indians, and Arabs contains only Caucasian Brits and Americans, your guess is as good as mine.
The CGI alternates between very good and very distracting, the latter never moreso than when wide panoramas are taken and the objects in the distance look like they're ripped from a late nineties copy of Age of Empires. Slo-mo shots are rendered in post-production instead of being shot at high speed, so many of the scenes look only as good as someone using Final Cut on a home PC. Given the wealth of rugged environs in the world, why so many exteriors needed to be filmed on sound stages and against greenscreens is a total mystery, and it gives the whole production a cheap boxed-in feel.
There are many times in the movie that I felt utterly detached from a logical timeframe or code of physics. Characters seemingly traverse hundreds of miles on horseback in a matter of hours, and often scenes are cut from one castle interior to the next without any context, so you're never really sure where a character is or what the stakes are. And the final action scene seems to exists solely because the script says so; caverns crumble, rock disintegrates, worlds are destroyed . . . because? Nothing is ever said to explain why simply arriving at the Well of the Sands would cause a vortex of magical destruction, but I'm not sure at any part of the production anyone cared that much.
Disney was hoping that Jerry Bruckheimer would repeat his Pirates of the Caribbean mojo here, but that won't come to pass. Gore Verbinski was smart enough to know that while Orlando Bloom was the lead, Johnny Depp was the heart of the film and the reason people came to watch. So imagine Prince of Persia as Pirates of the Caribbean, but without Jack Sparrow.
It's a formula that's worked quite often in stories that follow the Campbellian "hero's journey" archetype, and by either adding a charming rogue or making the protagonist more morally ambiguous you give much greater depth and flavor to the story. Han Solo and Indiana Jones both meet these descriptions, as does characters like Jack Sparrow.
But when you start throwing that "destiny" bullshit around, the depth grinds to a halt and the movie begins to run on rails. It means the hero will always be good and a happy ending is assured.
Newell and the writers of Prince of Persia seemed to forget that the reason that the Hero's Journey is an archetype is because people instinctively know that tale, and have for hundreds of years since Beowulf and Gilgamesh. Meaning, people are bored by that shit. You know why Superman is a hard character to write for? Because he always does the right thing.
While it never explicitly said they were Muslim, it was pretty clear that the Persians were monotheists while the people from the city were pantheists. Given the setting it seems a simple deduction that the Persians were Muslim.
It really isn't a big deal watching it. Hell they could have even explained it a bit by saying that his parents moved from Europe to Persia before they died. But it doesn't take away enjoyment from the film just because his skin isn't a darker shade.
Wouldn't the Persians be Zoroastrian? The Hassashin had Sufi dervishes in one scene. The uncle makes a comment about the assassins' ways being strange or foreign to him, seemed to be in regard to the practices in the scene behind them. From that I took that perhaps the Persians were not necessarily Muslim themselves.
Did it say when the movie took place? If it was before the 7th century, we can be virtually assured no one was Muslim.
Again, another bit of texture that could have easily been added in that the film needlessly ignores. All the audience gets is that Persians and the Avrati have different religions. The names, details, and structure of which are completely ignored.
I'm assuming this is based off the later games, and not the original?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Persia_%281989_video_game%29
That's unfortunate, they should have used the original plot and made a 'Crank' type film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Persia:_The_Sands_of_Time
Based of this one
When have the games ever used voice actors/designed the characters like you'd find in the region? They have always used British or American voices from what I could remember.
Infact hasn't it been kind of a film-making tradition when you're setting something in the middle east or the Indian subcontinent the actors are generally British?
Well, way back when, yeah, but everyone was White back then. Charton Heston and Rod Steiger played Mexicans. Yul Brenner played an Asian. Christopher Lee and Sean Connery played Spaniards.
We live in a post-Slumdog world though. Brown people are even allowed on golf courses, and not just as staff!