My first time in this section - mostly cause I'm quite the bum to be active on multiple forums. But just got back from watching Prince of Persia, and wanted to share some fun aspects! (Also cause I'm having a hard time writing other stuff - my physics paper due for review next week for instant! 😕😆)
Note: I've indicated in Bold Black, all the paragraphs that are likely to divulge information that constitutes spoilers categorically! - Have also made bold stuff to sort of make the read easy - unfortunately, brevity is not among my few virtues! ... that said, read on!
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time - A good weekend watch. For gaming buffs who have played this game from its older '90's version to the PSP one now ... a must watch, at the very least to draw comparisons!
The trailer had not looked bad at all - quoting my brother it was above average (not more, not less) if you've played Sands of Time on PSP.
So Jake, the lead guy, playing Prince Dastan - I daresay I couldn't recall much of him in between PoP and October Sky, the latter of which has been one of my longtime favorites - hasn't done badly for himself. [I personally would prefer a dialect of the sandy zones when watching such a movie (even if that enforces the need of subtitles) for English slang and retorts do sort of inhibit the scope of the entire look of the movie (imagine some heavy duty arabic/persian lingo against a brit tongued 'piss off' 😆)] Still, I can't deny the execution of Jake's alert-in-the-garb -of-a-lazybones character was well accomplished ... he timed both expressions and lines well.
The action sequences meanwhile did look a tad more splendid in the trailers ... not to say they were lame in the movie ... but!
Princess Tamina (Gemma) in a strange way was reminiscent of Catherine Zeta Jones ... or maybe that was just me! 🤔 Again, not bad at all - actually I'd give her a good - my only complaint would be the lack of her resemblance with the game character - somehow I thought Jake's look was far more precise ... then again, games are games, and there is always this need to enhance the sex appeal to femme fatale features for female protagonists I suppose?! - Excused for that much! If screen appearance counts - she definitely called for seconds looks!
The dialogues were not immortal - but I have to give them good timing for the most, and appropriately squeezed in wit/sarcasm every little while - it keeps the viewer entertained through and through - dull moments are next to none which earns PoP special brownie points!
Kingsley is nice. (CAUTION: SPOILER) I don't have more than that to say in his credit, cause somewhere, despite being the bad guy - he wasn't exactly the kind you're even half inclined to curse or whip a lash at! ... Maybe some more snide scenes with him would have done the job - or maybe they wanted to keep this character insinuatingly villainous !
I think Hollywood has a high in terms of side actors more often than not - they are all usually effective in their little (or just more than little) roles and it never ceases to impress me how many times their alacrity of expression, basic histrionic skills far supersedes the lead heroes in Bollywood (no, I'm not whining about Indian cinema at all - in fact, I'm quite the insufferable movie buff and there's very little stuff I absolutely can't watch!!! ) but the difference is unmistakable.
Two of my favorite side actors were were Toby (playing Dastan's brother Garsiv) and Steve Toussaint (playing the 'knife thrower with a conscience' 😆)
Yay factors for the movie:
*no drag moments
*reasonable action - especially with the Hassassins coming into picture - although, quoting my brother yet again, for those who've played the game, the movie somewhat lacks every now and then ... (I tell myself its the way I can never appreciate movies made out of novels enough!)
* good actors - I'd star the over cast skill at 3.5/5 (at least - I'm inclined for a 4)
* Cinematography, editing, effects - mostly they are little strain to the eyes, paced enough but not to far to not be able to follow (Bond movies give me a hard time sometimes - I know what happened at the end of a scene but it can be far too paced for my personal liking)
Yawn factors:
* (CAUTION: SPOILER) Ben's character, like I said, could have unleashed far more potential in my opinion - or perhaps, I just like the bad guys to be really, truly bad!
* (CAUTION: SPOILER) the happy ending is nice (read: sappy) sometimes, it doesn't hurt to kill a main character or two, you know?! - sadistic me at play ... but really!! the climax is this sequence marked with the death of everyone but Dastan (Jake) - literally, and then ... well the sands of time weave magic and lo! all is back! ... erm ...!
* (CAUTION: SPOILER) ill timed romance - I kid you not! the first (and only kiss in the movie if I recall right) made me roll eyes - there's something about kissing in the middle of a collapsing world that kinda ticks my logic really, really bad! 😆 (again, maybe that's just me!)
that's that!!! rating it overall - 3/5 (3.5 wouldn't be entirely prejudiced either - oh heavens, indecisive me!)
(would love to hear back from more people who read this/have or plan to watch the movie!)
cheers,
nj
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