An Unfortunate Missed Opportunity

Rating: 5/10 (17 September 2010)

I began watching Prince of Persia with a pretty good idea of what to expect, having read some critical reviews of it and seen its dismal box office performance. Nonetheless, I really did want to like it. I immensely enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean and was hoping that this would be in a similar vein.
Alas, I fear I gave producer Jerry Bruckheimer too much credit. The film was a letdown, to say the least. First of all, I should point out that I liked many aspects of the production. Jake and Gemma are attractive leads. The production design and visual effects are top notch; it's quite obvious that 200 million was spent on this. I suppose that's what I enjoyed most.
However, none of this redeems the film. The leads, though capable performers, don't bring much to their characters. I suspect this problem lies mostly in the script, which gives them almost nothing but obligatory exposition-related topics to babble on about. The film seems sort of like I would imagine Pirates of the Caribbean without Johnny Depp. Imagine Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley anchoring that movie... ugh boring.
I've spent much time considering why this movie didn't do well at the box office. The lack of really interesting characters, I as a pointed out above, could be a factor. The real problem, though, seems to be the marketing. Trailers for the film didn't present a strong story and instead focused on the spectacle and CGI. Furthermore, no clear villain was presented in the marketing, which is perhaps one of the most essential elements in the plot for a movie like this. I'm fairly confident that with some better marketing this film could have made twice as much at the box office. It's a shame, really, since they won't be making any sequels now. I would have liked to see a sequel, despite the film's many shortcomings.