An overabundance of ostriches
Elora and I watched Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time the other night, and we were surprised to find that it wasn't nearly as awful as we thought it would be. That's not an unfair assumption to start with, given that most movies based on video games are simply terrible. As it happens, we've played the game the movie is based on (neither of us finished it, but Elora got a lot further than I did), and to me, anyway, the movie was a very loyal adaptation, not so much of the plot of the game, but of the feel -- there's plenty of barely-possible parkour, which is what the Prince of Persia games have always been known for, and the dagger that rewinds time was used effectively, just as it is in the game.
Unfortunately, the movie does suffer from the tendency Hollywood has, when making movies set in the Middle East, of casting English or American leads, and then surrounding them with Arab (or at least Arab-looking) bit characters and extras, which just emphasizes how very white the leads are. Jake Gyllenhaal, while a good-looking guy, isn't even slightly "Persian" in appearance; he just looks like he needs a haircut. One of the other princes looks like he wandered in from the set of Lord of the Rings. Ben Kingsley pulls it off, because, hey, he's Ben Kingsley; the man can look like anything. Alfred Molina almost gets there, playing a disreputable Sheik, although he's trying very, very hard to be Jack Sparrow, for no reason that I can determine.
The plot? Well, I'm pretty sure there was one in there, which gives it an advantage over most video-game movies. There were one or two "didn't see that coming" moments early on, but after that, it becomes fairly paint-by-numbers. It's never a good thing when the audience can see right through the villain's plan, but the hero can't; he loses credibility.
Bottom line: Perfectly acceptable, as swords-and-sandals action movies go. If you have fond memories of the game, you might even like it.
Unfortunately, the movie does suffer from the tendency Hollywood has, when making movies set in the Middle East, of casting English or American leads, and then surrounding them with Arab (or at least Arab-looking) bit characters and extras, which just emphasizes how very white the leads are. Jake Gyllenhaal, while a good-looking guy, isn't even slightly "Persian" in appearance; he just looks like he needs a haircut. One of the other princes looks like he wandered in from the set of Lord of the Rings. Ben Kingsley pulls it off, because, hey, he's Ben Kingsley; the man can look like anything. Alfred Molina almost gets there, playing a disreputable Sheik, although he's trying very, very hard to be Jack Sparrow, for no reason that I can determine.
The plot? Well, I'm pretty sure there was one in there, which gives it an advantage over most video-game movies. There were one or two "didn't see that coming" moments early on, but after that, it becomes fairly paint-by-numbers. It's never a good thing when the audience can see right through the villain's plan, but the hero can't; he loses credibility.
Bottom line: Perfectly acceptable, as swords-and-sandals action movies go. If you have fond memories of the game, you might even like it.