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Red Redding Checks In With An Obscenely Early Review Of Jerry Bruckheimer's PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME!!!
Beaks here...
Wow. Long-time spy Red Redding infiltrated a very, very early test screening of the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME last night, and has reported back a non-spoiler assessment of where the film is at this stage of post-production. And if Mr. Redding is to be trusted... it sounds like the movie could use a little work.
Please keep in mind that this film isn't due out until May 28, 2010. There is plenty of time to address any pacing or tone issues. About the only thing you can't go back and fix right now is the quality of the performances, so it's encouraging to hear that everyone - including non-Persian star Jake Gyllenhaal - is solid in their roles. According to Redding, 30 of the 35 attendees liked the film, so please take that into account as you read his decidedly ambivalent review.
Red Redding here with a very early review of Prince of Persia (based off of the videogame Sands of Time). Me and 34 other people were invited to a screening on September 22nd to Jerry Bruckheimer's personal screening room (where he was in attendance) to see a rough cut (animation instead of people, missing cgi, etc.) of the film.
The first thing that comes to mind after watching PoP is that they were trying very hard to have this be the next Pirates of the Caribbean, and why shouldn't they? Those are three very fun and extremely successful films. Unfortunately, it comes off as a mere imitation of those movies. I won't go into plot, but I can gather (although never completing the sands of time videogame) that this is a mixture between Hamlet and the videogame, so take that as you will.
The problem with this movie isn't the actors (who all speak in a quasi-british accent, but since everyone is doing it, it was fine), the pacing, the macguffin (dagger of time), or the action. The main problem lies with the script. Everything that happens in this movie is very predictable, and it being a Disney movie, you can guess the plot points well before they happen. But the problem really lies with the middle, ultimate conclusion, and the tone of the movie. Without spoiling anything, the middle is very repetitious and introduces us to some characters that really serve no purpose to the story whatsoever (Alfred Molina and crew, Hassasins). Everything that happens when they meet throws off the tone of the movie for some bad humor or mystical aura. Speaking of the humor: remember how the Pirates movies were actually clever and funny? They try that in this movie, but they are all bad one liners that take you out of the serious tone of the film. All of the humor that isn't between Dastan (Gyllenhaal) and Tamina (Arterton) should be cut out along with the slow motion shots. Finally, this movie has an ending that pretty much undoes all of the character development for everyone except Dastan, which gives way to a nice happy package at the end, but just feels like a copout. I realize that most audiences prefer a happy ending, but it actually hurt the tone of this movie
As mentioned above, they did get many things right. The actors are all fine in their roles and there is a nice camaraderie with Dastan and his two brothers, as well as good chemistry between Dastan and Tamina. The movie was a little over two hours and it moved at a very good pace with only a couple of slow spots, but nothing really needs to be cut or added to this movie. The cinematography was good as well with some pretty epic shots that will come together nicely when the cgi is done. The action is very parkour-esque with a lot of running and jumping off of walls, etc. There is quite a lot of action, but some of it is action for action sake and doesn't serve the story, but is interesting and entertaining nonetheless. Finally, we get to the coolest part of the movie, the dagger of time. Every time the dagger is used (about three or four times throughout the film) it becomes the next bright spot of the film. It is a very cool effect and creates some very good scenes. I really wished that they had used it more in the film because it really brought the quality and creativeness up a notch.
After the film, the group was asked to raise their hands to see how many liked it, and of the 35, 30 or so raised their hands. I realize I am in the minority, but there were many families there who really enjoyed this movie. This is a movie with mass appeal, and if edited right could possibly be rated PG (there really is no violence and no swearing whatsoever). Most agreed that an 8 year old could see this film and not be troubled. Some 14 year old said it blew his mind. I just felt that I had seen this movie done better before other times and that they messed up the ending. 6/10
FYI, the film is directed by the dependable Mike Newell (HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, DONNIE BRASCO, FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL), and was written by Doug Miro, Boaz Yakin and PRINCE OF PERSIA video game creator Jordan Mechner. It was shot by John Seale, so I'm at least expecting a sumptuous-looking picture.
The first thing that comes to mind after watching PoP is that they were trying very hard to have this be the next Pirates of the Caribbean, and why shouldn't they? Those are three very fun and extremely successful films. Unfortunately, it comes off as a mere imitation of those movies. I won't go into plot, but I can gather (although never completing the sands of time videogame) that this is a mixture between Hamlet and the videogame, so take that as you will.
The problem with this movie isn't the actors (who all speak in a quasi-british accent, but since everyone is doing it, it was fine), the pacing, the macguffin (dagger of time), or the action. The main problem lies with the script. Everything that happens in this movie is very predictable, and it being a Disney movie, you can guess the plot points well before they happen. But the problem really lies with the middle, ultimate conclusion, and the tone of the movie. Without spoiling anything, the middle is very repetitious and introduces us to some characters that really serve no purpose to the story whatsoever (Alfred Molina and crew, Hassasins). Everything that happens when they meet throws off the tone of the movie for some bad humor or mystical aura. Speaking of the humor: remember how the Pirates movies were actually clever and funny? They try that in this movie, but they are all bad one liners that take you out of the serious tone of the film. All of the humor that isn't between Dastan (Gyllenhaal) and Tamina (Arterton) should be cut out along with the slow motion shots. Finally, this movie has an ending that pretty much undoes all of the character development for everyone except Dastan, which gives way to a nice happy package at the end, but just feels like a copout. I realize that most audiences prefer a happy ending, but it actually hurt the tone of this movie
As mentioned above, they did get many things right. The actors are all fine in their roles and there is a nice camaraderie with Dastan and his two brothers, as well as good chemistry between Dastan and Tamina. The movie was a little over two hours and it moved at a very good pace with only a couple of slow spots, but nothing really needs to be cut or added to this movie. The cinematography was good as well with some pretty epic shots that will come together nicely when the cgi is done. The action is very parkour-esque with a lot of running and jumping off of walls, etc. There is quite a lot of action, but some of it is action for action sake and doesn't serve the story, but is interesting and entertaining nonetheless. Finally, we get to the coolest part of the movie, the dagger of time. Every time the dagger is used (about three or four times throughout the film) it becomes the next bright spot of the film. It is a very cool effect and creates some very good scenes. I really wished that they had used it more in the film because it really brought the quality and creativeness up a notch.
After the film, the group was asked to raise their hands to see how many liked it, and of the 35, 30 or so raised their hands. I realize I am in the minority, but there were many families there who really enjoyed this movie. This is a movie with mass appeal, and if edited right could possibly be rated PG (there really is no violence and no swearing whatsoever). Most agreed that an 8 year old could see this film and not be troubled. Some 14 year old said it blew his mind. I just felt that I had seen this movie done better before other times and that they messed up the ending. 6/10
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+ Expand All
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Do not want this film.
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Are you with me? Can this really turn out any good?
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...well, 'cept for the third, which blew donkeys, the first two are rather entertaining. But as video games go, I'd rather see "Oregon Trail" happen before this thing...
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This is a spy report. Now, it may not be an interesting one, but I don't think we have a right to be picky.
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Can we please move on from white actors putting on brown face?
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...what up wid dat?
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"Three very fun and successful films." The sequels were awful.
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'POP: The Sands of Time" was one of the best-written storyline I had ever encountered in a game, and the game played out like Aladdin meets the Matrix. It would've made an excellent animated-film, and an even better live-action film, but sans a Persian prince, an Indian Farah, and the seminal storyline, I expect this film to be awful.
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Sep 23, 2009 3:00:24 PM CDT
i love pirates 1 and 2, 3 was fucking boring awful trash
by supercowbell5thecowbellhasspoken
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Sep 23, 2009 3:05:30 PM CDT
I assume the Dagger of Time MacGuffin changes everything.
by the reluctant austinite
I've played at least a couple of the Prince of Persia games, but in the games I've played, the Dagger of Time is only good for going back a few seconds in time to correct a single mistake. If the movie expands upon that, you could easily make the Dagger of Time erase all the events of the movie in order to change the ending of the story (ex:Dastan just reverses time and makes it so nothing bad we've seen happen really ever happened). This ending would be almost as unsatisfying as, "It was all just a dream!" Or (even though the film is great) the ending of Richard Donner's "Superman", where the Man of Steel just turns the globe around backwards to reverse time. I hope this is not the case.
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Sep 23, 2009 3:07:00 PM CDT
J. Gyllenhaal finally makes a flick gayer than "Brokeback Mounta
by azultool
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Cuz in the early pics it looked like a bizarre fright wig.
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Sounds like Mike Newell's HARRY POTTER attempt.
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Is pretty clever, and nullifies all character development save for the Prince himself. I assume that's the same ending the reviewer didn't care for. However, I loved it and I'll be pleased if they say faithful to the game's final twist.
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Life.
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On Memorial Day weekend??? Not'n mah country!!!
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Not Mechnor.
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... and complain about how this movie proves Hollywood supports Islamic terrorists and that Obama is brainwashing our kids to become socialist, Nazi, pornography-induced homosexual Muslims... or... er... something.
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...all of you who have commented so far are wrong. All 3 Pirates movies are entertaining.
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Even Pirates had a little. The prince better be shankin some zombies in this. They should do ASSASSIN'S CREED, now that's some violence.
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Sands of Time the videogame did.I suspect this film might not but I'll give it a whirl.
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But I didn't like the priates movies, save for the last one because it was so nutty.
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It's about the right time for test screenings, I've seen some take place way earlier.
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Still should have been Orlando Bloom
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it sounds like they are sticking with that with the movie. In the game, the prince is recounting the story to the princess and she does not believe the story, so at the end he tells her what her secret name or some shit is (which she tells no one, except for the prince in his story to her), so his story has to be true.
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I realize the game undid the whole experience for everyone but the prince, but that was a very dramatic device at the time that left a lot of open potential for his future with or without the girl, and it led to some really interesting events in the sequels. So I'm glad they kept that ending, because that's BALLSY.
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With little flashes whenever Jake falls? That would be cool...
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Yes, Persians are brown. I guess nobody realizes this because Persia is better known as Iran these days.
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...Persians are much whiter than they are now.
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just asking with all this time travel and shit.
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Sounds like a faithful adaptation...repitition in the middle, bad humor, and an ending that undoes the entire story...yup sums up the game all right.
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will anyone give a shit about this movie, considering Iron Man II comes out in May as well?
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You are an idiot....That is all.
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Surrogates looks kinda interesting. Pandorum looks like The Descent on a spacecraft.
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Sep 23, 2009 5:49:46 PM CDT
I'd rather watch THE PRINCE OF PERSIAN CATS
by christian_bale_trashed_my_lights
Those moggies have really long hair and flat faces. I could watch a movie about them.
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...what do the anglo's look like in this movie? Aliens?
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Please don't tell me this movie takes place in the middle east?
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I just knew they'd try and chase down another franchise like POTC, and instead of trying something fresh, just steal back and re-use their own ideas.
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What the fuck is the title referring to? An hourglass? Soap operas?
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Where some guy fucks a bunch of Persian chicks dressed up like Genie from "I dream of Genie" . Seriously though, I like the first Pirates movie and I thought the beginning of the third one was real dark. I though they were going "Empire strikes back" on us but it ended up being a huge cluster fuck of bad idea's. To much going on a one time and to many i'm a bad guy now,no i'm still good,but i'm kind of bad moments. I lost count of how many times certain people turned heel in that one. That being said, I liked the first Natinal Treasure movie, a guilty pleasure of mine. Any word on Sorcerer's Apprentice?
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It seems like a faithful adaptation, which I'm happy for. As a stand alone movie, this ending might seem like a bit of a cop out, but if they also make movies of the game sequels, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones, which really take the concepts of action and consequence to a whole new level, and that really build on the groundwork laid by the first one in such a clever way, I could see this become a great movie trilogy.
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... the fuck cares!!!! The game was fun for about 10 minutes. Why make a movie about a 10 minute plot? Hollysh*t!
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...about Capt. Whitebread as Dastan but I'll watch it as a matinee. I don't know about this "spy" crap. No specifics? Give me a break. The CIA would fire your ass Red. "Oh hey, I hear that one guy with the shoes has the information about the thing." Specifics or GTFO.
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Sounds like the climax of the Sands of Time game to me. Good news, that one had a real neat, folksy story, nicely wrapped up.
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Which does sort of "reset" everything for everyone but the hero but sets in motion the rest of the storyline, specifically the fact that his meddling in the timeline makes him a marked man by the powers that be.
Warrior within took the grunge rock thing too far but I felt like it was a decent addition to the overall storyline of the original trilogy. -
They accidentally use the dagger to release the sands from the hourglass, corrupting the world, and he needs to undo what he's done.
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Sep 23, 2009 7:25:21 PM CDT
Sands of time was a freakin sick game
by supercowbell5thecowbellhasspoken
But the one after that was assmilk...what where they thinking?
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Blows SOT out of the water.
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I find it interesting that with this, an obviously non-plant review, Beaks finds it necessary to defend the film preemptively with the usual 'plenty of time to fix things in post-production' defence, while describing the director as 'dependable' and praising the cinematographer - things you normally find in plant reviews. And Beaks isn't even the one who saw the film! Does AICN really need to kiss Disney's ass so much? Would any of the AICN staff have said "well, the movie might still suck" in their introduction if the review had been a glowingly positive plant review?
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The final villain made SENSE, which was nice.
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the dagger undoes the time effect.
The prince even gets a bit rapey towards the end with it... -
Mike Newell must have actually been TRYING to make the most insipid piece of trite ever put to celluloid with that one. Talk about "garbage time", WOW...it's actually impressively bad! Really, you've got to put in some hard purposeful work to botch something at that level. Was it just a cry for help or was Newell legitimately going for career suicide? Total debacle. Lucky for Mike nobody saw that one I guess.
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Sep 23, 2009 8:30:03 PM CDT
If it's Cutthroat Island good, I'd deem it a resounding success.
by the_genteel_gentile
Speaking of, isn't about time Renny Harlin got out of filmmakers jail? Especially when the film that put him in there was actually pretty good. Sincerly, throw a dog a bone (and a decent script) already!
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ROOTS, with all white people, because there's not a minority role that Bruckheimer wouldn't cast with a white person.
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Sep 23, 2009 9:41:13 PM CDT
I thought the plants are suppose to LOOOVEE the movie!
by theycallmemrtibbs
WTF?
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It'll be like PIRATES 3? You mean the one that OH SO SUBTLY opens with a bunch of anti-government criminals being sent to Guanta- er, Tortuga, pointedly denied "habius corpus" in the actual script dialogue, featuring a group of similar criminals plotting against the government that's led by an oblivious dude with white hair whose whole world crashes around him while he can't do anything but (read MY PET GOAT or) watch as things burn and explode all around him at the end as terro-... er, pirates from China and the Indies do dances and scream in joy? Yeah, uh-huh. Watch it again and think about the real message in that movie. Uh-huh. I'd love to meet the scriptwriter.
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When can you people think for yourselves? What has Obama done since the election? Jack shit
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As many already pointed out the ending does seem to conform to end of first game [Sands of Time] which resets things for everyone but hero.
Game2 is about our hero on the run [literally] from consequences of meddling in time and trying to undo what he did in Game1.
Game3 is about him coming back home to find that all events of Game1 have been undone, including death of the villian. So, this time he tries to fix things without abusing time. -
Sep 24, 2009 1:32:30 AM CDT
I'd watch THE PRINCE OF PERSIAN CATS as long as they're
by cherryvalance
LASERCATS!
biew biew biew -
Seriously, that's exactly it. "So, uh, Lorne ..." "What can I do for you, James Cameron?" "Well, see ... I've got this movie ..." "This isn't another one of those movies with cats, is it?" "No! NO! NO! It's going to revolutionize cinema, and it's in 3-D ..." "Well, all right, but it better not be just a bunch of cats in space ..."
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Action for action sake is the kind of bullshit that is fucking up today's Hollywood. Unfortunatly, there's some mouthbreeders who enjoy that stupid shit and justify the hacks and their fucking action bullshit idioticy.
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now THAT will be AWESOME!!
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can someone get a "Load Runner" movie up in here? That sounds like a porn.
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...some look like Greeks, some have light skin. Iran is a big country with many different ethnic groups. Some even have blue eyes and light brown hair. And they are NOT Arabs! Geez, just look "Iran" or "Persian" up on Wikipedia for crying out loud. Oh and sewiz? Better that you call me an idiot than you say something idiotic... and THAT is all!
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I loved the first Pirates film, the problem with the 2nd and 3rd films is they did them back to back using a continuing adventure. They should have made each sequel a stand alone adventure like the Indiana Jones films, with a couple characters re-appearing. But instead they made an over bloated bore-fest.
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Sep 24, 2009 10:12:24 AM CDT
I don't get the hate, this could actually be fairly good.
by killah_mate
If they cut out the apparently bad jokes, show us some interesting characters (which apparently they are), make the Dagger of Time visually interesting (which apparently they will), and stay true to the Prince (which they seem to be doing, I love that they left in the parkour from the game) this has a legitimate shot. The Prince, by the way, is an orphan from a faraway land who is adopted by the sultan. He's not Persian by birth!
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That's Lode Runner, sorry. You know, like 'motherlode'.
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Goblet really did an amazing job of pacing, and balancing humour and thrills, and making you laugh and cry etc etc. So I know Newall can do it. However, I don't think the Bruck understands all that. His movies are like trailers, where a lot seems to be going on, but somehow it seems that nothing is really happening. Here's to you Mike - hope you win this particular arm-wrestle.
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Now THAT would be awesome. Can't wait for AC II this November.
Oh, and my issues with Jake in this movie is that he's just too whitebread, if you know what I mean. I can't get past that. They should have hired a Persian actor, really. I know that an actors job is to ACT, but really, they would have done just fine without the big name in the staring role. In fact, I think people are drawn to a movie with an unknown because they want to check it out. -
BOO!
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How come Video Game movie's aren't in like Computer CGI like That FF:Advent Children Movie or that Resident Evil one. I think that the fans of whatever game is being made into a movie would like the movie alot more if the director and script writers actually played the game and understand what its about, Instead of using Wikipedia to put together somthing together that ends up being pure shit. That actually goes for everybody that wants to make a movie based on a populer product. Get to know the product you wish to make a movie about
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In what sort of sense? like they hug out thier issues????
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Couldn't stomach the second one though. That fucking Disturbed song "I.... STAND ALONE!!!!" got old REALLY fast in that game. Never played the third. I need to pick it up I guess...
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... this Jerry Butt-pirate movie is probably going to SUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!
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Jordan Mechner, the original creator of Prince of Persia - the ORIGINAL ONE, from 20 years ago, AND the scriptwriter for Sands of Time, is one of the three screenwriters for the movie. So quit the stupid complaints about how they're gonna change everything.
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... have no weapons of any kind?"
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Persians are white people. Arabs are the people you are thinking of, and they're not the same ethnicity. Persians are Iranian, Armenian, Afghani etc... So this is one case where Hollywood got it right with ol' Jake. ( even if they didn't know it )
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Unfortunately though, Disney could't get an adaptation right. They should have done it animated and stuck to the characters from the game (the unnamed Prince, and the Indian princess Farah). Oh well, Gyllenhaal looks like the president of Iran so I guess he can pass for Persian.
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I think they're TRANSFORMERS-horrible. Loads of effects, and loads of action, but somehow at the same time, there's no REAL action and it's all very ineffective. And all that IN-JOKING, like Depp is always winking at us, saying 'isn't this silly, really'. Fuck. Even Roger Moore took his roles more seriously.
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They are still very much Middle Eastern, which Jake is clearly not. Casting a true middle eastern actor would have given this a refresing tinge of authenticity the way that the casting of Banderas did in the late nineties Zorro film. But it's hollywood, we should be used to this type of thing by now. By the way, the categorization of Iranians as aryan/indo-european is actually based more on the origins of their language than of their gene pool. Don't beleive me---go look it up.
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Out of curiousity, why is Beaks apologising for the review?
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Sep 25, 2009 2:04:24 PM CDT
Ahmedinejad complained about this movie at the UN yesterday...
by mrmysteryguest
He ranted that the Americans' depiction of Iran's wall-running, base-jumping princes is inaccurate!
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