Prince of Persia

As an avid fan of the video game, I was pumped to see a live action adaptation of Prince of Persia. I was looking forward to packed action sequences, terrific CGI and at least a plausible story. Given the history of video games turned movies, the tides are not in favor for a good adaptation. Remember Doom, Super Mario Brothers and to some extent, Lara Croft? Yes, they murdered our beloved video games.

Still, with Disney at the helm, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, I was hopeful to say the least.

The movie tells the story of a street rat, who on one fateful day is adopted by the king of Persia, making him a prince even without the pure blood. Fast forward to some years later, the protagonist is one swashbuckling warrior who is part of the growing empire of Persia. Through his acrobatic moves, they siege the holy land, and unbeknown to him, he lands the Dagger that can control time. It goes to the predictable route of someone poisoning the king, the blame put on the young prince and he goes on a journey to prove his innocence and save the earth in the process.

While all of the above is predictable and the movie serves nothing new about medieval pieces, prince of Persia puts up a decent effort to adapt a video game. It keeps wary of its pace, gives homage to the video game's stealth moves, and somewhat tries to incorporate the hard to fathom plot of time travel via a dagger into a believable rendition. While Gyllenhaal tries to give his best impersonation of a troubled Prince what comes off is a young kid just learning the ropes of being at the forefront of his destiny, kinda like young Clark Kent discovering that he could fly. As I see it, the prince is a dark reserved character who is an enigma. What comes off is a young Prince eager to charm the crowd and the Princess, more specifically.

Thank god for Alfred Molina who saves the film with his quirky and scene stealing role of a mercenary who is obsessed with birds. His one liners put some humor in the otherwise dull script. Gemma Arterton as the Princess is a sight to behold but I hope in the future that she tries other roles of fear that she might be typecast to these period films (Clash of the Titans being the other).

All in all a good film, not certainly eye popping but serves it purpose and can boast of a film adaptation that is better than its previous predecessors.