Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) - Newell straddles too much in fair action-adventure

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1 Film Excess nomination:

Best Supporting Actor: Alfred Molina (lost to John C. Reilly for The Extra Man) 

 

The colorful, polished poster for Mike Newell's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

 

The illegitimate prince Dastan of Persia launches on a dangerous adventure, when the king gets poisoned, and Dastan and a beautiful woman come to the possession of a magical dagger.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is an adaptation of the Prince of Persia video game franchise first released in 1989, and particularly the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time game released in 2003. The film's plot has many of the right elements, but ultimately the span between computer game style, (Dastan escapes and gets ambushed a number of times as in one of the games), and CGI on the one side and an attempt at a plot about brotherly betrayal with a smack of Shakespeare on the other is too great.

The effects are well-made, but the central time-traveling dagger is some silly nonsense. And it also weighs down that the film's obligatory black character (played by Steve Toussaint (Point Break (2015))) dies right when expected, living up to the old rule that the black character in major action-adventure movies dies.

Gemma Arterton (Byzantium (2012)) is fine if not memorable in any way, and Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko (2001)) has an undeniably nice head of hair here as well as some charisma, - but why does the Persian speak British-accent English? (I understand that this follows the games, but without any explanation for it in the film, it still feels inane.) Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time seems distinctly below Ben Kingsley (Gandhi (1982)), but he does give life to the king, even though it is Alfred Molina (The Truth about Emanuel (2013)) as a funny, ostrich race-arranging scoundrel who is the greatest pearl of the film.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is written by Boaz Yakin (The Punisher (1989)), Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard (The Sorceror's Apprentice (2010), both) and directed by great English director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)). It is an okay cock-and-bull story.

 

Related posts:

 

Mike Newell:  2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Donnie Brasco (1997) - Newell's fantastic, authentic gangster tale

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: Estimated 150-200 mil. $

Box office: 336.3 mil. $

= Uncertainty: Flop or big flop

[Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time premiered May 9 (London) and runs 116 minutes. The film was conceptualized by Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney as 'the new Pirates of the Caribbean.' Filming took place in Morrocco and England (Pinewoods Studios) from July 2008 - January 2009. Gyllenhaal has said that he "over-prepared" for the role by gaining 5-6 pounds of muscle. It is reported that the film suffered from overspending due to a 'rush' to finish its CGI effects for the release, although it had more than a year from end of production to release. The film opened #3 (behind holdover hit Shrek Forever After and newcomer Sex and the City 2) to a 30 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it jumped to #2 for its 2nd week before falling to #4 and out of the top 5 and grossed 90.7 mil. $ (27 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 21.5 mil. $ (6.4 %) and France with 16.6 mil. $ (4.9 %). The film became the highest-grossing video game adaptation, eventually dethroned by Warcraft (2016). It has sold in excess of 1.6 mil. DVDs and Blu-rays, totaling more than 33.9 mil. $. If added to the theatrical gross, this, however, doesn't change the film's flop status. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is rotten at 36 % with a 5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time?