This Movie should've been titled 'Prince of Hollywood' & not 'Persia'

Rating: 3/10 (30 May 2010)

Even though I was disappointed with a very bad opening of the movie I kept watching because, well, I am a Persian and had to see the movie about my country. However it was evident from beginning that the 'Prince of Persia' was not much about Persia but more about Hollywood. So here is my take of the movie: 'Prince of Persia' suffers from lack of character and plot development; audience are forced to understand the interaction between characters without prior explanation. It also suffers from incoherent action sequences, for instance in some shots the actor Jack Gyllenhaal jumps in the air in dangerous situations and in the very next shots and without any explanation he is in a safe landing. According to an article in LA Times, the creators of the movie had no idea of what they were working on. The director of the movie, Mike Newell confesses "I didn't know 'Prince of Persia' at all." I would not have expected anything better from someone as clueless about Persia as Newell, but the producers felt Newell was good because he directed English story 'Harry Potter' movie, a subject that was familiar to the British born Newell. Since the movie 'Avatar' I have been comparing other movies and other movie creators to a new standard in movie making called 'Avatar'. While rare people who made 'Avatar' are professional story tellers who are also concerned with the intelligence of their audience, others and majority of movie makers in Hollywood consider their audience bunch of simpleton morons who should be satisfied with any nonsense thrown at them.