Movie Review – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time or “Why are films based on video games so bad?”

I was lucky enough to get to attend a press screening of Disney’s new film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Mark Kermode was 4 seats away from me. Total geek out.

Coming from Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer, this is hoped to be the start of a new franchise to follow up on Pirates of the Caribbean. Now I’m not a big fan of the Pirates trilogy, but I can’t argue with the massive amount of cash they took at the box office and later at retail.

Based on the more recent Prince of Persia video games, rather than the old school originals, this film follows the adventures of Jake Gyllenhal as Dastan, 3rd in line to the Persian throne. Unwittingly taking a magic dagger as a trophy, Dastan is forced to go on the run for a crime he didn’t commit. A bit like the A-Team, but with baggy silk trousers and no guns. Accompanying him is the Princess Tamina, charged with guarding the macguffin. Gemma Arterton performs a very similar role here as she did in Leterrier’s recent remake of Clash of The Titans.

The film suffers badly from an atrocious script with some very clunky dialogue, needless exposition that treats the audience like idiots and direction that seems deliberately geared toward making the film feel wooden.

The pace is pretty solid, moving from scene to scene fluidly with only minor drag points but some effects let the film down by appearing a bit TOO perfect and therefore seem less real. The sequences when Dastan uses the sands of time are nicely realised, but the face of the time-shifting character looks too obviously CGI. I was pleased that the soundtrack stayed suitably relevant and appropriate to the setting, as opposed to going down the nu-metal road.

One of my biggest issues with the film is that while it’s based on a video game, it shouldn’t feel like I’m watching the video game being played. If it does, then what’s the point? By all means, dramatise the story from the game and recreate one or two iconic action sequences from the game but don’t make it the same. Game these days have so much attention paid to their storylines and cut-scenes, they’re almost interactive films as it is. Making a game into a film can seem like reinventing the wheel.

Still, it’s comforting to see Hollywood continue with the proud tradition of “We need an evil duplicitous villain, get me a British actor” In this case, Sir Ben Kingsley, who puts in a suitable if unspectacular performance as Nizam, the Persian king’s Vizier and brother. Alfred Molina also appears in a semi-Jack Sparrow role as a roguish bandit. He gets some funny lines but they feel out of place in what is otherwise a fairly po’faced film.

I’ll be very surprised if this film does well at the box-office after the reviews I’d expect to see in the press. The story is facile and lacking in surprises, the direction has resulted in some wooden performances from the two leads. It’s going to go over well with kids and those seeking an undemanding bit of fluff, but when you’ve got films like Iron Man 2 coming out, A-Team et al, and you’re hoping to kick-start a franchise, you’ve got to be a bit better than this.