When I was younger there would be a couple of computer games I would be so eager to load up on my 300mb hard drive and play before the days of Doom. Prince of Persia was one of them. Compared to modern day video games it was total shit, but I like to look back at it with some fond memories.
I mean, I could do that first level in under 30 seconds. Seriously. I was that addicted to the game. Though my computer couldn't really handle it till I upgraded (holy shit, I'm a nerd) so I would play this at my uncle's house all the time. Either way, I was a die hard fun of the game.
Thanks to the people who brought us a theme park ride made into a film franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean, we now get Prince of Persia as an action packed Disney movie..
My first reaction was. What? I suppose it does make sense. I have to be perfectly honest, I didn't play the video game on this one till way later. I'm a little meh on the next generation of gaming systems. I may just not have the same amount of time to invest in them, I don't know how to explain it any other way. I'm just not into Video games like I once was but even without that, my interest is still peaked on this project.
The original script was written by Jordan Mechner, who wrote the original story for the Sands of Time video game. But he takes it old school as well since he's the designer of the original Prince of Persia games! How much more straight to the roots can you get with this franchise? Considering I work in the film industry and have script experience, it's no question that the script doctors have mess with his original script. It's only a matter of asking by how much.
Then there's Ben Kingsley... At one point in time he was a great actor. What happened to him? His role in this actually cheapens it all. Lately I've seen him as a guy who will jump into any old shit movie just for the hell of it. It's amazing how Kingsley's career seems to be a complete inverse from where it started or where it was early on. I hope he's getting paid well, because I cringe when I think that the only roles the man who played Ghandi can do these days are for shitty video game based movies.
And now to talk about the big issue. Jake Gyllenhall's portrayal of the Prince of Persia. Now this is a touche subject but I recently played the Xbox 360 game which ha a similar sassy prince, so maybe that's swayed me towards my feeling that I like him as the prince. It does seem like Jake is trying to sound like the voice actor from Sands of Time, and does a pretty good job at it.
Welp, I may be called Donnie Darko-look-a-like, but I certainly wont be mistaken for Jake now...
Yeah, sure. on the inside I'm sort of giggling at the fact that they have a Jewish man play a Prince of Persia, but that's because I'm actually into world news and know the relationship between the two nations. I'm sure it'll break records in Iran.... ha! And as for him not being Arab looking.. here's a hint, Persians are NOT Arabs.
As for Gemma Arterton, she seems more out of place. She's like Keira Knightley's stunt-double or something. The poor man's Keira Knightley when she has a conflicting project. Women never get that much interesting to say or do in these films anyway. If she's given something above damsel/sidekick/love interest, it would be a pleasant change.
The whole film reminds me of Pirates of the Carribean in that kind of Disney-adventure-romp style. Should be a fun little film when it's all said and done. The real kicker is if they kept the same ending as the game. The Prince uses the sands of time to reverse everything that happened to before the start of the game.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to this film. It should be a good time and it just tosses more films based on Video games and comic books out there. Which can't be a bad thing, right? Now I'm either going to have to hit the gym because as much as people say I remind them of Donnie Darko and Bubble Boy, there's NO WAY I'm going to get confused with Jake now. I mean.. look at this!
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