Another bad video game film (but better than most)

Rating: 4/10 (25 May 2010)

Preface: The new adventure film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is based on a video game of the same name that was released in 2003 for all major platforms. The game is cited as one of the best titles available on multiple counsels (of its time). The title Prince, "the most famous middle easterner in video gaming" was first introduced in 1989 as a PC oriented take on platforming gameplay made popular by Super Mario Bros. a few years earlier. The franchise lay dormant for several years later after a failed foray into 3D on Sega Dreamcast and was reintroduced with the Sands of Time trilogy.
I'm saddened to write another film review discouraging people from seeing a film based on a video game. This may be the best of the lot, occurring nearly twenty years after the genre was introduced by the film adaptation of Super Mario Brothers in 1993. And like many of its cousins, the movie pushes credulity (even for its video game origins) too the point of absurdity. The main attraction of the game was turned into a deus ex machina contrivance in an effort to attain blockbuster clichés. The film version of Sands of Time effectively ignores the first game's placement in a series and throws elements of all three games together in one lumpy mess. It's been edited (expanded) to nothing more than the Prince saving Persia from his traitorous uncle.
Nothing has time to unfold as either moviegoers or fans of the game would like. Those who have not played the game will not like how they are bludgeoned with well-executed but relentless action sequences. Some of these are done in real time without the addition of too many digital effects. They are the most memorable parts, and you'll know which they are. Video game players controlled the Prince through a variety of obstacles as they guided him to an objective. Completing the game did not require all enemies to be defeated, and it was sometimes favorable to leave them be. The film Prince is as cunning as any video game player but too rash. Our hero was determined and fearless yet shrewd. He would disapprove of his representation here.
I did enjoy how the film's fights were staged, even the hallucinogenic CGI ones. The platforming element of the game was replicated very well. We see the prince run along walls, jump from place to place, and use his dagger to reverse the flow of time (see title). Admittedly, the dagger is the worse part of the movie. It grants its holder temporary time travel, and the screenwriters failed to translate it properly into the story. There are two narrative purposes to it that are laughably bad. The film ends with the dagger being corrupted and magically sending the Prince back to the beginning of the movie where he apprehends his uncle and experiences the mandatory happy ending. This is the kind of comedic retailing of a story I would expect out of a youtube or newgrounds parody. I got another chuckle when I read on Wikipedia that the film was delayed due to the 2008 writer's strike.
I was hoping this would finally be the one game-to-film adaptation I could freely recommend to anyone. It's another failure, and I now think the great game film will be a low budget adaptation of a non-mainstream game. I can see a film noir being made of Hotel Dusk: Room 315. Film studios, I beseech you, buy the movie rights to a recently released well-received game that didn't sell very well. Let someone be forced to craft a satisfying film out of it and release it in few locations.
30th of 2010 Not Recommended ):