As a gamer myself, I have always dreamt of seeing big budget adaptations of my favourite video games. Unfortunately, The Legend of Zelda, Fallout or Shadow of the Colossus haven’t made it to the silver screen. Some fans, however, would dread the production of these titles – for good reason too. The general consensus is that film adaptations of video games are poor and unsatisfactory viewing experiences.
Therefore, most of my life I have avoided these films, partly because of the bad reputation, but also because almost every title released so far seemed like a really poor idea or (in the case of Max Payne and Silent Hill) received generally negative criticism. Although, I do have it on good authority that Super Mario Bros is an excellent piece of cinema: adapting the hit title from the Nintendo Entertainment System. But, I digress.
Now another popular, critically acclaimed, video game franchise is getting the movie treatment, with one small difference: it might actually be good. From Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney comes Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, a seemingly loose adaptation of the similarly titled video game. So far, promotion of the film has featured impressive trailers boasting a strong cast and high budget visuals – something that may help it break the stigma associated with video game films.
Having played the game, I was impressed to see Jake Gyllenhaal cast as the protagonist, a highly acrobatic, handsome and fearless prince who becomes the bearer of a mystical dagger, which can turn back time. He suited the character well, while bringing strong talent to a film that could easily have cast B grade actors. Actors Alfred Molina and Sir Ben Kingsley add even more welcome flavour to the proverbial talent pot.
The trailer primarily shows off Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan who sports a characteristic British accent and some attitude. Romantic tension is established with an accompanying female beauty (Gemma Arterton), complete with amusing banter. Chemistry between Arterton and Gyllenhaal remains to be seen, but so far looks promising.
In playing the Sands of Time game, key elements of enjoyment came from the game play (primarily fighting, time travel and acrobatics) as well as the visuals. Thankfully the film seems to borrow heavily from these great elements. The trailer shows off familiar costume and weapon design, parkour acrobatics and swordplay involving the manipulation of time.
Other than focusing on a magic dagger which can manipulate time, the story borrows more from The Lord of the Rings, than the Prince of Persia games. The foreboding narration during the trailer immediately sounds familiar as it describes Dastan’s task to deliver this magic dagger (the one ring) to a “guardian temple” (Mount Doom) to hide it from those that will use it to “destroy the world” (Sauron). There is also a set of evil assassins, which act dubiously like Ring Wraiths. Either way, it shouldn’t matter, because the original game’s story was never that engaging anyway.
With Jerry Bruckheimer producing another action adventure for Disney, sites around the web have drawn a similarity between it and Pirates of the Caribbean (e.g. this from IGN). This is a fair comparison, considering the current trailers advertise it from the “producer of Pirates of the Caribbean” and the film seems just as light hearted. If this formula can be maintained, the film is destined for, at least, moderate success.
The potential for a great adventure movie is definitely there. Well choreographed set pieces and humour are the bread and butter of action adventure movies. The film makers have clearly tried to draw upon the game’s strengths and make the movie worthwhile for fans. Whether the plot has too many shortcomings to be ignored is another matter, but that will be discovered upon release. The biggest success of the production, so far, is that a video game has been transformed into a high budget film that is clearly seeking the top box office position – a welcome move for any video game movie.
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