Prince of Persia:The Sands of Time

[lespaul59]

So I finished the Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm graphic naval yesterday and thought I would review it. So I'll get through the boring stuff first, price was $9.99 at my local Barnes and Noble, 128 pages. It was wrote by Jordan Mechner and each of the six stories have a different artist. The art isn't that great as a whole but one story has pretty good art. The description of the book on both Barnes and Noble's and Amazon's sites make the book seem like it's something it's not. They both have the same description that basicly says six original stories that highlight the characters and the wolrd of the film. While this is true to a point but the book is mainly about Alfred Molina's character and Seso. They get arrested for purchessing good at the market with money that turns out to be a reward from Dastan. So each story has to do with why they might have ended up getting rewarded. I don't think the first story is real but rather Amar(Molina) making up a story as to why Dastan rewarded him, the story wich is kinda Tamina's origan seems to line up with the movie and the last story seem to line up with the movie also. Other than appearing in those three stories Dastan and Tamina aren't in the comic at all. The second story in the book has to do with Seso's origan. All in all it wasn't a bad buy considering it was only $9.99 but if I had it to do over again I would probaly pass on it and would have picked up Prince of Persia: Beneath the Sands of Time. I give Pop: Before the Sandstorm a 3/5. It's a good read but I would have rather read six stories about six characters from the movie or a Dastan and Tamina story insted.

 

[Silver Knight]

If theres a sequel I wanna see

Spoiler

the Dark/Evil Prince Dastan.

I think we will.

 

[Rock Sexton]

They basically merged the very first PoP game that Mechner made along with the Sands of Time. No supernatural creatures, but a supernatural artifact.

No creatures? Bleh, I'll wait for DVD.

 

[Silver Knight]

No creatures? Bleh, I'll wait for DVD.

There should have been creatures since POTC had some. Shame really.

 

[lespaul59]

I want to make a correction to my PoP: Before the Sandstorm review. I actually like the art in two of the stories. I had to go back and look at the GN because I thought I was forgetting something, which I was. The art in the stories is good not great but it has a story book feel to it which I think fits the book way better than the other art.

 

[XxDelta09xX]

I saw this today I'd give it a 7/10.

 

[Tony Stark]

Wow, this movie could have been so much better. The first 30 minutes, up until the King dies were spectacular. Then the film devolves into a "been there done that" fest that was so paint by the numbers it wasn't even funny.

I'll give Jake Gyllenhaal credit, I didn't think he'd be a good leading man for an action film, but he was one of the few bright spots to the movie. Gemma Arterton, is just a horrible actress, but she's pretty hot. She was just as bad in Clash of the Titans. Her big claim to fame was being coated in oil naked in Quantum of Solace as a hommage to Goldfinger.

The cinemetography at the beginning of the movie is spectacular, which is why it's so depressing that it rapidly devloves into bland shots and back lot sound stages that are substandard for a TV movie. Did they burn the budget on the CG? What happened?

It's frustrating, because this is another movie that could have been the biggest suprise of 2010.

As a final note, Ben Kingsley for such an actor of his stature sure ends up in alot of bad movies. Of courst to be fair the same could be said of Sean Connery.

6/10 for me, and that's being generous.

 

[Silver Knight]

Wow, this movie could have been so much better. The first 30 minutes, up until the King dies were spectacular. Then the film devolves into a "been there done that" fest that was so paint by the numbers it wasn't even funny.

I'll give Jake Gyllenhaal credit, I didn't think he'd be a good leading man for an action film, but he was one of the few bright spots to the movie. Gemma Arterton, is just a horrible actress, but she's pretty hot. She was just as bad in Clash of the Titans. Her big claim to fame was being coated in oil naked in Quantum of Solace as a hommage to Goldfinger.

The cinemetography at the beginning of the movie is spectacular, which is why it's so depressing that it rapidly devloves into bland shots and back lot sound stages that are substandard for a TV movie. Did they burn the budget on the CG? What happened?

It's frustrating, because this is another movie that could have been the biggest suprise of 2010.

As a final note, Ben Kingsley for such an actor of his stature sure ends up in alot of bad movies. Of courst to be fair the same could be said of Sean Connery.

6/10 for me, and that's being generous.

May I ask you how you think this movie could have been better?

 

[rashad]

Domestic:$59,452,000 27.5%+
Foreign:$156,400,000 72.5%
=Worldwide:$215,852,000

 

[Asteroid-Man]

So it made 15 million more than its budget? I'll be sure to see it again then, I want a sequel.

 

[DarkKnight88]

It ain't seeing a sequel. It's certainly not a bomb but it's not a big success either This'll be a one off like Van Helsing.

 

[Tony Stark]

May I ask you how you think this movie could have been better?

All I can say is there is a huge disparity between the first 30 minutes of the movie and the last 2/3.

Alot of things just felt jumbled and out of place due to bad script writing. Like how Alfred Molina and his bandits go from kidnapping Dastan to chasing down the girl, and then all of a sudden after they had him kidnapped making the discovery that he's a wanted man out of thin air. Just sloppy writing.

As I said, the girl is a horrible actress. She's drop dead gorgeous, but she couldn't act her way out of a paper bag.

The other thing like I say is it seemed like they wasted the budget on the first 20 minutes of the film and the last 10. The big broad cityscape shots at the begining of the film are just a wonder to behold, but then all of that goes away, and you get close in shots on a sound stage, that looked cheap.

Like I say it's frustrating because this could have been a top 5 film for 2010 and they blew it.

 

[samsnee]

Domestic:$59,452,000 27.5%+
Foreign:$156,400,000 72.5%
=Worldwide:$215,852,000

Blows my mind that this movie's made 3x more overseas.

 

[TheVileOne]

Even with that I doubt we are going to see a sequel.

Overseas gross is not enough to justify a sequel that would cost even more.

 

[xwolverine2]

lol 59mil domestic is pretty laughable

 

[Tony Stark]

Yeah I think you can pretty much call the film a bomb for all intents and purposes. I mean as weak as Shrek opened the prior week it should have been no. 1 over the holiday weekend. And I will say that for it's flaws, PoP was a better movie than Shrek 4, which was nothing more than a direct to video plot thrown up on screen and in 3D to try and extort money out of the public.

This film will be lucky to make back half it's production costs on it's domestic gross.

 

[xwolverine2]

i liked shrek 4 better than PoP

 

[Silver Knight]

Domestic:$59,452,000 27.5%+
Foreign:$156,400,000 72.5%
=Worldwide:$215,852,000

Shame.

 

[matrix_ghost]

At this rate the movie won't even make 100 million. Goodbye sequel.
THe domestic numbers are important for greenlighting the sequel , not the international ones.
And saturday i was forced to watch this one again. I was hoping to liking this better ( similarly to how i went from giving Sherlock Homes a 6/10 on my first veiwing and later on a 8/10 on my 3rd viewing). but alas.
THe movie just was meh.

I think that this movie might become the next Speed Racer in terms of BO bombs.

 

[Downhere]

I think that this movie might become the next Speed Racer in terms of BO bombs.

Which is too bad, as I really enjoyed this one. I also agree that the chances for a sequel are really slim, it most likely needed to hit 400+ million worldwide for that to happen and it will not make that.

 

[Mr. Earle]

Why didnt this movie make a lot of money? Did they not promote it enough? Did the people not care for the cast? Wasnt Jake hot enough for the girls?

I thought the movie was great, certainly better than Pirates 2 and 3 which were rather boring and stupid.

 

[Downhere]

Why didnt this movie make a lot of money?

I think the marketing campaign sucked for this movie but that's just me. Also, maybe a July release would have gone over a bit better. Something similar to the first pirates film. It could have been a good foil to something like Inception. One is a thought provoking, serious drama, whereas the other is a fun popcorn flick. Something like released a week or two after would have been pretty good I think.

Other than that, it's not the only film underperforming. Sex and the City 2 is as well, along with Shrek 4 (although, doing better than previously expected).

 

[Silver Knight]

I thought the movie was great, certainly better than Pirates 2 and 3 which were rather boring and stupid.

Agreed!

I dont know what went wrong with this..

 

[Erundur]

Why didnt this movie make a lot of money? Did they not promote it enough? Did the people not care for the cast? Wasnt Jake hot enough for the girls?

I thought the movie was great, certainly better than Pirates 2 and 3 which were rather boring and stupid.

The movie was jsut not good. It had a very basic storyline mixed in with action scene after action scene, I mean cannot really remember anything rememberable about the film at all. Even with a lack of marketing I believe the hollywood execs knew they probably would not made as much anyways IMO.

If they the writers wanted to do something along the lines of PoTC series they failed. Personally I thought pirates two was better than PoP.

 

[Mr. Earle]

The movie was jsut not good. It had a very basic storyline mixed in with action scene after action scene, I mean cannot really remember anything rememberable about the film at all. Even with a lack of marketing I believe the hollywood execs knew they probably would not made as much anyways IMO.

If they the writers wanted to do something along the lines of PoTC series they failed. Personally I thought pirates two was better than PoP.

But "Revenge of the Fallen" this was any better?