Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      The little-known company disrupting Eskom’s monopoly

      16 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Beijing’s chip champions blacklisted by Taiwan

      16 June 2025

      Chief sub-editor wanted – help shape South African tech media

      16 June 2025
    • World

      Yahoo tries to make its mail service relevant again

      13 June 2025

      Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

      11 June 2025

      Trump tariffs to dim 2025 smartphone shipments

      4 June 2025

      Shrimp Jesus and the AI ad invasion

      4 June 2025

      Apple slams EU rules as ‘flawed and costly’ in major legal pushback

      2 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025

      South Africa unveils big state digital reform programme

      12 May 2025

      Is this the end of Google Search as we know it?

      12 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025

      TCS | Sentiv, and the story behind the buyout of Altron Nexus

      3 June 2025

      TCS | Signal restored: Unpacking the Blue Label and Cell C turnaround

      28 May 2025
    • Opinion

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025

      Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

      29 May 2025

      Solar panic? The truth about SSEG, fines and municipal rules

      14 April 2025

      Data protection must be crypto industry’s top priority

      9 April 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Top » Prince of Persia swashbuckles like it’s 1936

    Prince of Persia swashbuckles like it’s 1936

    By Editor21 May 2010
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp
    A daring escape ... Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton on the run

    Producer Jerry Bruckheimer was perhaps Disney’s safest choice to turn the videogame, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, into a movie. After all, he’s the guy who took a slim premise from a theme park ride and fashioned it into the witty and rousing Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

    Bruckheimer follows much the same formula for Prince of Persia as he did for Pirates and the result is the start of what is destined to become another tent-pole franchise for Disney. Though Prince of Persia isn’t as refreshing as Pirates was at its time, it’s an enjoyable enough way to spend a couple of hours during blockbuster season.

    Many reviewers have described Prince of Persia as “innocuous” and “bloodless”, which are possibly among the kindest words that critics have ever used to describe a film based on a videogame. But I think it’s to its credit that the film doesn’t try to be gritty or dark or complex.

    Beneath all that CGI, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is a self-consciously old-fashioned tale of pantomime villainy and heroic derring-do. It’s a world of monochrome good and evil where people all speak in the impeccably theatrical British tones you’d expect to hear in an Errol Flynn swashbuckler from the 1930s.

    You can almost hear the audience hiss when the wicked relative — eyes accentuated with black eyeliner — slithers onto the screen. About the most contemporary thing about the film is the muddled political subtext, which has become a standard feature of Hollywood blockbusters.

    Prince of Persia isn’t a perfectly accurate translation of the videogame’s plot, though it is true to the classic game’s Arabian Nights atmosphere and matinee movie trappings.

    At the outset of the film, three brothers, the princes of Persia, have besieged a city they believe to be supplying the empire’s enemies with weapons. But in reality, this city is home to free, innocent people and a benevolent princess who is the guardian of an ancient mystical artefact. (See, it’s just like Iraq or Afghanistan.)

    A series of twists and turns leaves the king of Persia dead and his adopted son Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) suspected of his murder.

    Dastan goes on the run with Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton of Clash of the Titans and Quantum of Solace). He begins to understand that the movie’s villain engineered the invasion to get at the artefact, a dagger that gives the bearer the ability to turn back time.

    Prince of Persia movie interviews:

    Some of the film’s appeal lies in its cast. Gyllenhaal, best known for his intense performances in dramas such as Jarhead and Brokeback Mountain, takes on the role of matinee idol with apparent ease. He shares chemistry with Arterton’s feisty, beautiful Tamina that occasionally brings to mind the prickly relationship that Harrison Ford had with Carrie Fisher in the Star Wars movies.

    If the film has an answer to Pirates’ Jack Sparrow, it’s the always-reliable Alfred Molina (Spiderman 2, An Education) as the amoral scoundrel, Sheik Amar. With a gold-capped tooth and a winking eye, Molina channels Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack in a scene-stealing performance. Ben Kingsley is suitably oily as the king’s brother and counsel.

    The film is directed by Mike Newell, a workman-like director responsible for films such as Four Weddings & a Funeral and Donnie Brasco. He handles the big special effects showpieces with the same confidence he displayed in Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire.

    Fans of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia games will probably be pleased with the way their aesthetic has been translated to the cinema screen. The daring, gravity-defying leaps from crumbling pillars to collapsing platforms, the frantic scrambles up walls and the dashes across rooftops have been lovingly recreated in many of the film’s action sequences. One can see the game’s creator, Jordan Mechner, had a hand in the film.

    The biggest weakness of the film lies in its script. Though there are a few good one-liners, Prince of Persia isn’t as consistently funny as Pirates of the Caribbean. The dialogue is often stilted and some of the plot exposition is a little clumsy.

    But its snappy pacing and handsome staging manage to disguise most of its shortcomings. At the risk of damning it with faint praise, it’s the best videogame to movie translation yet.  — Lance Harris, TechCentral

    • Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
    • Follow us on Twitter or on Facebook


    Lance Harris Prince of Persia
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleShowdown looming at SABC over news chief
    Next Article TechCentral TV: the pilot episode

    Related Posts

    TechCentral’s top 10 movies of 2019

    31 December 2019

    TechCentral’s top 10 games of 2019

    23 December 2019

    The best movies of 2018

    31 December 2018
    Company News

    Huawei Watch Fit 4 Series: smarter sensors, sharper design, stronger performance

    13 June 2025

    Change Logic and BankservAfrica set new benchmark with PayShap roll-out

    13 June 2025

    SAPHILA 2025 – transcending with purpose, connection and AI-powered vision

    13 June 2025
    Opinion

    Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

    2 June 2025

    South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

    2 June 2025

    Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

    29 May 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.