Predictably Subpar

Rating: 3/10 (16 February 2017)

When you convert a story to a different medium, the most difficult, but nonetheless most important aspect to get right is preserving the tone, the atmosphere of the original piece. That is something that this film almost entirely fails to do.
If you were a fan of the the original game, you will remember what it felt like to play. It was the first game, for me, that elicited a kind of reverence from me. The way your footsteps echoed through the empty halls, dust hanging in the air, listening to the narrator (the main character) recant his story as you slowly worked your way through these decrepit ruins which, despite their condition, still had a certain beauty and grandeur. Apart from the enemies and occasional NPC's, it was just you, alone, trying to find your way home. It was a solemn experience.
The film, however, with it's Mummy-esque, jarringly juxtaposed slap-stick comedy, it's lively marketplaces full of people, and it's romantic tension-infused banter, bares almost no resemblance whatsoever to the game which it is based on. It's a film that can't decide if it wants to be Indiana Jones or The Mummy Returns, but one thing it certainly isn't is a true representation of The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.