"But I know that's just a sky I don't know where I go"

[nausicaa83]

Today I finally watched Prince of Persia (The Sands Of Time). I had it on my to-see list for some time now, and this morning I was feeling still a bit angry for something that happened yesterday, so I decided it was time for some mindless entertaining.

Now, I have mixed feelings about this movie. The first half an hour is, to put it mildly, horrible. I started thinking all the cast and crew were drunk while making that stuff. Then Alfred Molina came, and the story started being a little more interesting. In the end, I was actually enjoying the movie. My major disappointment was the Prince himself. While I loved him in other movies, here Jake Gyllenhaal seems to be asleep half the time, having only two facial expressions: dumb "I'm so in love now" smile, and dumb "crap, I shouldn't have done that" smile. Half the time I wanted him to die a horrible death, and the other half he was just leaping through buildings.

Another huge flaw in this movie is that everyone is so damn white. For god's sake, it's not the fifties anymore, you can't make a movie set in Persia, and then cast only white actors for the speaking parts! It was so annoying!

The reason why I ended up liking this movie (or at least the second part of it) is that the story actually got interesting, and the ending was a bit surprising. I was expecting them to go for a more straightforward ending, and I'm glad they proved me wrong.

Definitely not a movie that I'll watch again, but it wasn't the train wreck it seemed to be at the start, and in the end it took my mind off things. ^^

Comments

[7veilsphaedra.livejournal.com]

I took in the movie when it went through the repertory circuit, and second your sentiments about everyone being so white. Also, I bristled a bit at the stereotypes, including Molina's 'marketplace' mentality, and his silent, black sidekick? *winces*

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

And when the brothers died, and Dastan didn't even flinch? C'mon, your supposedly beloved brothers just died before you, and you just stand there, and a minute later you're off trying to kiss the princess!

Worst hero ever. O_O

[7veilsphaedra.livejournal.com]

That was the worst. Hello, screenwriters? Director? It's scary because you have to wonder what piece of themselves they're missing to make their lead so cavalier. It's definitely one of those moments where plot drives the character in a way that isn't realistic.

Mind, POP was pure joy next to the flaky drivel that was "Knight and Day", the movie I saw this week.

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, having seen The Gamer a few weeks ago makes every bad movie seem a masterpiece in comparison. That's probably the reason why near the end I was enjoing PoP. :D

[sunshine1112.livejournal.com]

It was OK, i agree with all of your points. The only good bit was Alfred Milena with the ostrich's.

Everybody guessed the baddy from the start, it reminded me of the mark Kermode review where somebody wrote in saying they'd watched the movie with a child who leaned over and said " never trust a man with eyeliner" LOL.

and to have a whole movie where time goes back and those things never happened? What was the point??

Sill love Jake Gyllenhall though.

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

I thought there was going to be something more after he changed the past. I mean, she spent the whole movie telling us that you couldn't use the sandglass to turn back time, end of the world, armageddon and so on, then he just... uses it to turn back time and fix things.

He does exactly what his uncle wanted to do, and yet when he's the one doing it, he just saves the day, no consequences at all. Doesn't make any sense.