Prince of Persia, from Video Game to Hit Movie?
Jake Gyllenhall Stars in Ubisoft's Popular Game Turned Disney Film
Nov 11, 2009
Prince of Persia is a popular, multi-platform video game series. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was the first of the series to be available on Playstation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and Gameboy Advance, and was also available for Microsoft Windows. Now, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will soon be available through a new medium — it will be yet another best-selling video game made into a science fiction/fantasy film.
Persia's predecessors have met with mixed box office success and almost universally horrible reviews. Some video games have made fairly decent movies, with Resident Evil and Hitman topping the list but by no means excellent films.
The large majority of the video-games-turned-movies — Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon, two Street Fighter movies, two Mortal Kombat movies, Wing Commander, two Final Fantasy films (both animated), House of the Dead (and its made-for-TV sequel), Alone in the Dark, two Tomb Raider flicks, Doom, Dead or Alive, two awful, awful BloodRayne movies, Silent Hill, the Resident Evil sequels, and Max Payne, to name a few — are just plain terrible. The acting is usually sub-par, the plots are never interesting, and the overall product is generally genuinely sloppy.
Yet, more video game movies are on the horizon. Resident Evil will return, and Tekken will try to break the fighting game curse of movie disasters. Others, like Gears of War and Shadow of the Colossus show promise, if the right people actually put some time into devising a reasonable plot and recruiting a decent cast and crew.
As for Prince of Persia, however, the verdict is still out. Will it be a favorite or a flop?
Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time to be Released in Theaters on May 28, 2010
Like it or not, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is well on its way toward video-game-turned-film fame or infamy. The movie is well into its post-production stage, hoping to be the first 2010 summer blockbuster with its May 28 release date.
There is no doubt that Prince of Persia will draw huge audiences. There is little doubt that Walt Disney Pictures, the film's distributor, will profit immensely from the film. Whether or not Prince of Persia will be any good, now that is in doubt.
However, there is hope. Unlike most of its video game-based film predecessors, Prince of Persia has enlisted some outstanding talent, according to IMDb.com. Most notable is the exceptional Sir Ben Kingsley (Ghandi, Sexy Beast, Shutter Island), who will play Nizam, the film's villain.
Much of the remaining cast members are also highly skilled: Jake Gyllenhall (Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain, Rendition) will star as the film's lead, Prince Dastan; Gemma Arterton (The Disappearance of Alice Creed, Clash of the Titans) will play Princess Tamina; and Alfred Molina (Anna Karenina, Spiderman 2, The Da Vinci Code) will star as Sheik Amar.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer (The Rock, Armageddon, the Pirates of the Caribbean films) lends his summer blockbuster experience to the Prince of Persia, while Walt Disney Pictures insures a high production value. Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco, Mona Lisa Smile, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) will direct.
Can Prince of Persia's Plot and Characters Translate into a Quality Fantasy Film?
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the video game, is a third-person action-adventure (players look over the protagonist's shoulder as he explores and slices and dices). In it, gamers play as the Prince, a hero who must defeat an evil he helped to unleash. A dastardly Vizier stands in his way. In short, players must kill everyone in sight, defeat the villain, get the girl, and save the day.
Can this plot translate into a good movie? It is the plot of many movies far too numerous to count. The film has a historical yet fantastical setting already going for it, filled with magic and exploration. So, the success of Prince of Persia will largely depend on the twists its creators give to this formulaic plot, the crafting of strong dialogue, the beauty of the cinematography, the artfulness of the direction, and the strength of the performances. Is that too much to expect from a game-based film?
Certainly, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has the failures of its predecessors to overcome. With Bruckheimer and Walt Disney Pictures pulling the strings, audiences can probably expect Persia to follow the same lines as the Pirates of the Caribbean series — a wonderful, thoughtful, unique Sands of Time followed by some over-inflated, nonsensical sequels. Still, one out of three (four? five?) isn't bad.
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