“I was gonna wait until I finish Schindler’s List to do my Prince of Persia write up, but Im so \m/ giddy from this movie I hafta do it now.
In short, I _loved_ it. Went in not expecting much, but knowing that if nothing else I’d have some tremendous eye candy. The whole thing (eye candy included) went waaaay beyond expectations.
What I think most impressed me was how much it really did feel like a video game. For those not in the know, yes, this is based on a game. I used to be somewhat of a gamer back in the day. I dropped it ’round junior high or so, but every few months I’ll pick up a game and play obessively for a few days or weeks then drop it again for a while. Come to think of it, Im long overdue for my annual three days of Zelda (Majora’s Mask) that have a tendancy to pop up here and there. Anyways, Im giving ya’ll that bit of backstory to show that yes, I know very well what a game feels like, and Prince of Persia hit that right on. What do I mean? Well, in a lot of the action sequences, particularly some of the early ones, you could actually envision what that level must’ve looked like–where he was jumping to, how the bad guys popped up, etc. Hafta say, incredibly directed (by Mike Newell) in that sense. The potential downside there is that some of the moves were kinda superhuman, more than any parkour master could handle. But thinking of it in video game context suspended that disbelief quite aptly.
Another plus was that it really did have that typical Disney atmosphere of fun. I’d been kinda confused about it being a Disney thing, expecting it to end up being too soft and un-hardcore, but that wasnt the case at all. Think somewhere between National Treasure and Pirates, if that makes any sense.
And now, the obligatory paragraph where I gush about how much I love Jake Gyllenhaal. For those of you who have no interest in that, please feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph break. If you’re sticking around, dont say I didnt warn you….Oh my God, I love Jake Gyllenhaal so \m/ much. I was swooning and mooning (not that definition of the word) over him the whole time. That charming crooked half smile of his (you know the one) is a deadly weapon, and he pulled it out every 10 minutes. Plus the long hair (a well known weakness of mine, however two notches below guyliner) and the newly acquired uber buff physique. Oooh. I wasn’t sold on the accent in the trailers, but damn that did indeed fit him very well. I’d previously held that he was at his hottest in Donnie Darko, but Persia totally blows Darko outta the water. He also gives Bubble Boy a run for his money on charm. Allow me a moment to collect my thoughts before moving on.
Far as the rest of the cast, I do love Gemma Arterton. She’s been on my radar since Quantum of Solace, cause I thought she was the superior Bond girl in that flick. The playful chemistry she had with Gyllenhall this time around was superb. Wonderful, nearly scene stealing (nearly, cause um, did you see Jake? Can’t steal a scene from him. Sorry, I’ll stop) stuff from Alfred Molina. And Ben Kingsley just always rocks.
A few minor gripes, but nothing that will detract from my rating of the movie. The first big gripe is too many snakes, but that’s just cause Im ophidiophobic. Next minor gripe is that it borderline dragged on too much. There was definitely a sense of “”why the \m/ is something else going wrong”” and you coulda done without some of that crap. And real nitpicky complaint is that I couldnt understand what any of their names were. They were unusual and not pronounced with any consistency between actors. But at least they were all different enough from each other than it only caused mild irritation and minimal confusion.
Yeah so def a fun fun movie. Not as stupid as it looked like it had the potential to be. Highly recommended. Winner for the summer so far.
Prince of Persia – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/