Review - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Gyllenhaal edition)
Tue, October 12, 2010 at 4:36 PM ;)
The pool of movies which take their source material from video games is one that is stagnant, tepid, and largely disgusting. Perhaps you could better visualize the general effectiveness of these types of films by picturing said pool green with unknown fungus, smelling of decay and dead things, and perhaps bubbling revoltingly with that little “glop” noise you always hear in movies set in swamps. Throw in a few dead squirrels floating on the surface for good measure if you feel like it.
Video game movies aren’t good, is what I’m trying to say.
By smashing together two entertainment worlds so different, and so much at odds, films such as these shoot for box office glory but inevitably end up with a mess that ends up pleasing neither movie fans nor game lovers. Whether it’s slavish devotion to the source material, abandonment of the source material, a misguided quest to bring the lowly medium of video games into the “respectable” and clearly superior realm of film, or plain old bad storytelling, these movies are destined to please no one.
And rightfully so. I can’t think of one video game movie that I would call legitimately enjoyable. The only entertainment films like these bring is the kind that comes with a couple of adult beverages and a group of friends to make fun of how terrible they are. A worthy sort of entertainment, sure, but not, I’m guessing, what the writers were hoping for.
Well, except for Dead or Alive, maybe, but that’s a different article.
Against all odds, after much waiting, countless hours of suffering in stuffy movie theaters with sticky floors, and innumerable weekly allowances blown on films that do nothing but tarnish the source material’s good name, one movie might finally have broken the mold. Using a delicate balancing act that weaves conceptual source material with originality, a script that fuses nods to its gaming roots with plenty of accessible Hollywood traditions, and a budget high enough to give the crazy idea a shot at actually working, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time might just be the best adaptation of a video game into a movie yet.
Not that the bar has been set stunningly high, mind you.