Rant de Sara: The Prince of Persia Movie (6/21/10)

Yeah, I know it came out a few weeks ago, but I just saw it so shove it.


This movie was...bland.  And given its source material, that's rather inexcusable.  My mom and I (both gamers who played the Sands trilogy) both came out of there thinking they'd done a mediocre job with something great.



I look at some of the reviews for the film though, and people say that it's good, not great, but at least a good game movie.  Is that where the standard is at for game movies?  Has our expectations for them sunk so low?


Before I get into full on rant-ramble about the film, let me explain where my disgust comes from.  I'm a big fan of the Prince of Persia series in general.  I've been playing it since the first game only skipping over the 3D and the two newest thus far (though, I do plan on checking them out shortly).  The Sands of Time is amongst my top ten favorite games, and for good reason.  It's got a great story, it's got great platforming, and, ok, not that great combat, but it's not horrid.


This movie fucked it up!!!


Let me be a tad more specific so it doesn't seem like I'm hating on it simply because it was a video game movie, and hell, I didn't even notice that most of the characters were as white as the driven snow until after watching some reviews.  No, the reason I strongly dislike this film is because of two reasons.  The acting (not the actors) and the changes in the story.


First off, let's start with the actors.  Jake Gyllenhall did an ok job.  He's a decent actor, he's done some great work, but in this he was just ok.  Ben Kingsley seemed to be phoning it in.  Same with Alfred Molina, who stole the spotlight when he came on screen...though, what was with the ostriches?  Gemma Atkerson bored me to tears...and really fucked up the character she was supposed to be...more on that in a moment.  The princely brothers and the king were a waste of space.  And, ok, yes there was shining player amongst the lot of them, in the form of Steve Touissant, who didn't say much, but made his presence well known, and probably got the best action scene in the whole piece.


Second, the changes.  Granted, the sandglass (supposed to be an actual hourglass) was cool, and the explanation of such was nice.  Also, the addition of the princes and the king were welcome, though I wish more could've been done with it.  Finally, I liked that they brought in Destan's backstory, as that would've been needed in a filmed version.


However, for everything I liked...there were things I didn't and more.  First, where the hell were the sand people?  I know that's kind of confusing, but, come on...how the hell were they planning on getting to Warrior Within's storyline from here (granted, I haven't played Forgotten Sands yet, so it may create a loophole for them to use).


Second major story issue...the Vizier's reason for wanting the sands.  Ok...yes, it makes him more understandable...but I was perfectly fine with him just being a two dimensional villain.  Kingsley very much performed as one, but in their attempts to add further depth to him, they only his character seem arrogant, and a little stupid.  His fall at the end was less than ideal as well.  In the game, it's him and the Prince just after he relates his story to the princess, Farah.  It was a one on one duel over the future of the sands, and it was awesome.  The way it ended up playing out, they robbed Destan of his only truly heroic moment in the entire story.


This kind of brings up my real sticking point with the movie.  The princess.  She's an idiot.  She's useless.  Most importantly, she's not Farah.  What the hell?


This was my first major problem going into the movie.  I knew they'd changed her name, but not her personality and abilities.  Let's look at the two of them combined.  Farah's a badass, fights to protect her people and to ward those who would use the sands away from the hourglass, the medallion, the staff, or the dagger.  She's good at this, shooting arrows into the faces of anyone who would do otherwise.


Tamina isn't a badass.  She's a coward, a pacifist (nothing wrong with that, just not who the character is), and she's weak.  This is a character who was supposed to be sneaky, yes, but she could also hold her own in a fight.  She wasn't ever a damsel in distress.


However, all said and done, I guess it wasn't the worst video game movie (Boll-shit's still hanging around isn't he?), and it could've been far worse.  However, when the game's storytelling is better than a movie's, I think we need to give the game a standing ovation.  It's officially beat another competently made medium's storytelling, and that's impressive.


Let me know what you think.  Was the movie as bad as I though, was it better, or am I just being too harsh on it as a fangirl of the series?


-Sara