Somewhere in between

Rating: 6/10 (1 June 2010)

I am not a big fan of the Sands of Time trilogy, and the only thing exciting enough for me to catch the movie was the game theme (Prince of Persia was a PC game which I enjoyed thoroughly). Movies based on video games do not have a good track record - Super Mario Brothers, Street Fighter, Tomb Raider (minus the AJ factor).... Prince of Persia had a mighty big hurdle to clear with this, and they found the perfect team to tackle it. Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney (they had already accomplished a similar feat when they brought Pirates of the Caribbean to the big screen).
The biggest plus for the movie is the strategy - only some borrowed elements from the game; but not strictly follow it. The film stands alone, and does not require it's audience to be intimately familiar with the source material. For gaming fans, they would enjoy the 'nods' in relation to the game, but will be able to enjoy this film for what it was, rather than constantly looking for where it deviated from the game. What Iron Man 2 missed and this movie excelled at, is the fast action pace without being over the edge big bang explosions. Also as compared to the latest 'clash of the titans'movie, the makers didn't go overboard to make the sand and desert shots glossy with artificially induced 3D which was a big welcome. A big surprise though is Gemma Arterton's performance as Princess Tamina; it is an improvement from her blunder in "Quantum Of Solace" and "Clash Of The Titans". Ben Kingsley's performance though just didn't match to his standards.
On the down side, the movie feels like typical "sword fight" action flick. Its 'Arabian Nights', Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, Aladdin, all mixed up. And whereas, the ending is supposed to have a 'Deja-vu' feel to it, in the game it is much more explained, whereas in the movie you're just expected to roll with it. There are too many slow-motion sequences, which (although gorgeous to look at in silos) distract too much. The humor was lame and over-used. Whoever will die and whatever will happen later on, you know that it may all be turned around when our hero will push a "button" on a dagger. And there is a lot of pushing button in the movie.
If there's one thing critics and lovers of this movie can agree on, its that the movie is based on borrowing elements from plenty of epics based in the Middle East and fantasy alike, and that it's loads of fun. Another thing no one can agree on is whether that's good or bad – so I guess the movie will never be rated as an 8 nor will it go below 5. In short, a blockbuster video game was only marginally made alive if not insulted by the movie