Well, this looks… expensive. The first trailer for Jerry Bruckheimer’s forthcoming summer blockbuster/video game adaptation “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” has hit over at IGN, and it’s more or less or what we were expecting. Riffing heavily on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, there’s an attempt at would-be sparkling dialogue between Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Princess Exposition (Gemma Arterton), some swashbuckling action, and an absolute shit-load of CGI.
We’re trying to find some nice things to say about this, and could only come up with: 1) Gyllenhaal’s accent is not as immediately terrible as it could have been (although why Persia is full of white English people is somewhat unclear), 2) Alfred Molina is in it, 3) It doesn’t seem to be as stuffed with parkour, the hot action trend of 2006, as we thought it could be, 4) Toby Kebbell is in the film (although not the trailer, as far as we can tell), and 5) Director Mike Newell made “Donnie Brasco,” a very good movie.
It’s also important to remember that, once placed in context, this could end up being dumb fun — it’s still a strong cast (although we’re not sure about Gemma Arterton’s line readings, but again, context will be the proof), and the first ‘Pirates’ movie is one of the better summer movies of recent times. Unfortunately, “Prince of Persia” seems to be taking its lead from the over-cluttered sequels to that film: can anyone really decipher what’s going on here?
I was optimistic about this, but the trailer just looks terrible. It really does look like the Pirates sequels, and I rolled my eyes when Princess Exposition mentioned 'the secret Guardian Temple'. I really hope that's not dialogue from the film.
The whole thing looks super generic, right down to the Zack Snyder 'ramping'.
Not that I'm defending this in any way, but the expository dialogue is no worse than what's already been evinced in "Avatar." That shit was terrible.
I know the dialogue is terrible, but Gemma Arterton could say 'I'm taking a dump, you fag' in that accent of hers and for some reason i would still like it.
That was horrifyingly awful.
Heh at last I was waiting for it a long time !!!!!!! Thanks for Trailer!!!
The cutesy, winky back and forth dialog between Jake Of Persia and Arterton is godawful.
Well it has something to do with sand, I can tell that.
What the fuck was that? I saw elements cribbed from other action/adventure movies. And why is ancient Persia filled with white people?
Well, from the trailer, it's true this does look pretty bad.
But i will say this in it's favor… Mike Newell is good at making fun and interesting films with stupid plots (See: H. P. and the Globet of fire).
That been said, this is by the dreadful producer Bruckheimer, soooooo… Yeah i'm not holding my breath.
But it could be fun. Maybe a matinee or rental fun, like my guys on the spill page put it.
I don't like the Pirates-like feel of the movie. Those had charm because of a certain Johnny Depp. This feels like the 'Mummy' movies too, which are even worse.
But I do kind of like the way the posters look. It's a nice change from typical sword-and-sandal posters.
Ridley Scott made a serious movie set in the middle east in 2005 with Kingdom of Heaven on a blockbuster budget ($130mil) and it made $47mil domestic (for a $211 mil total).
Bloom was better in that than Gyllenhaal looks in "Prince of Persia".
So serious sword-and-sandal pictures probably won't cut it anymore unless there's mummies, tower demons and time travel. I'm kind of hoping Depp doesn't do Pirates 4.
Ok, I'm just getting to this 10 days late but Holy WTF, Batman. Jake Gyllenhaal's Cockney accent in fucking ancient Persia? Seriously, my number one pet peeve is inexplicable British accents in period films. WHY?? A dagger that turns you into sand and manipulates time? Tired flirty dialogue that not even Errol Flynn could deliver with a straight face? This makes The Mummy look like Citizen Kane. The only way this could be even remotely redeeming is if it's so hilariously god-awful it's awesome.