Prince of Persia is actually pretty good!

[Sithdarth]

Yeah the games weren't especially historically accurate to begin with. The exposition dumps where no worse than say any of the Terminator exposition dumps. There were basically no computerized special effects which frankly was totally awesome. The plot was about right for something involving time travel and the characters were as passable as basically anything else Hollywood puts out.

This is simply an example of the angry video game nerd. The movie is bad because it was based on a game. If it follows the game too closely it is bad because of that. If it doesn't follow the game really at all then it is bad because of that. These people just seem to want to complain. It's like they don't realize that of course you aren't going to get the same feelings from the movie as the game but that doesn't automatically make the movie bad.

[BloodyMage]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

This is coming from a guy who's never played the games and therefore isn't colored by them. As a standalone movie, it is objectively good. If you're looking for a carbon copy of the first game, from what I know of it, you will be disappointed that it's not.

Maybe it has something to do with this. I've never really played the games, but my friend has, and she didn't like it. I haven't seen it, but having not played the games and the mixed reviews, and not really in any rush to do so. So maybe it's a case of the movie not living up to expectations of the game as a movie, or she's just being an angry video game nerd, though the latter would be quite out of character for her.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Originally Posted by Sithdarth

Yeah the games weren't especially historically accurate to begin with.

The games were atrocious but they didn't have such a specific plot that you couldn't clean it up for a movie. You could at least go for Hollywood history rather than just ignore it completely.

This is simply an example of the angry video game nerd. The movie is bad because it was based on a game. If it follows the game too closely it is bad because of that. If it doesn't follow the game really at all then it is bad because of that. These people just seem to want to complain. It's like they don't realize that of course you aren't going to get the same feelings from the movie as the game but that doesn't automatically make the movie bad.

None of the critics I heard even referred to the game, I doubt many of them have even touched it.
They judging it as a movie with no reference to the game.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

It was a pretty average film. It would have been a whole lot better if they had stuck more closely to the original script. My only real complaints are that the assassin's felt tacked on, we all knew what the hell Kingsley was up to, and it seemed like they were trying to make a parallel with the situation in the middle east.

I never really got into it but that may have been because the sound system in my theater wasn't up to par. Oh, and Gemma Arterton might just be the most beautiful woman in the world.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Smarty McBarrelpants

The games were atrocious

I know several people who would argue with that.

but they didn't have such a specific plot that you couldn't clean it up for a movie. You could at least go for Hollywood history rather than just ignore it completely.

That's kind of what they did? From what basics I know of the first of the Sands of Time trilogy, it's similar in several ways to that. And, uh, what? Hollywood history? It's Persia, and not even any specific region. You have an Aryan there as one of the bad guys above a room with a whirling dervish and swords ranging from falchions to scimitars. There's sand. It's a desert. And cities with shiny domes. Nobody bitched about this with Aladdin. They have the entire Arab world to work with, here. There's not much else you need.

None of the critics I heard even referred to the game, I doubt many of them have even touched it.
They judging it as a movie with no reference to the game.

Well, from that standpoint, it's a swashbuckler and doesn't really pretend to be much else. If critics wanted sophisticated, it's understandable why they were disappointed. It's not going to be the next Pirates, but then Pirates was in itself a total accident made from a theme park ride from a time when Disney was scraping as low as the Country Bears and just happened to work.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

I know several people who would argue with that.

Then they should be writing to historical journals because they would revolutionise that field. Maybe they are right but it would contradict everything we know currentely.

That's kind of what they did? From what basics I know of the first of the Sands of Time trilogy, it's similar in several ways to that. And, uh, what? Hollywood history? It's Persia, and not even any specific region. You have an Aryan there as one of the bad guys above a room with a whirling dervish and swords ranging from falchions to scimitars. There's sand. It's a desert. And cities with shiny domes. Nobody bitched about this with Aladdin. They have the entire Arab world to work with, here. There's not much else you need.

By Hollywood history I mean at least get the names right, at least set it somewhere and somewhen ( they gave a date when they were filming but it doesn't make any sense with everything else in the movie). Skim a high school text book, that's all I'm asking.
A lot of people here would go nuts over say a science-fiction movie with bad science, this movie is to history as Wing Commander is to physics.

Well, from that standpoint, it's a swashbuckler and doesn't really pretend to be much else. If critics wanted sophisticated, it's understandable why they were disappointed. It's not going to be the next Pirates, but then Pirates was in itself a total accident made from a theme park ride from a time when Disney was scraping as low as the Country Bears and just happened to work.

Pirates wasn't rated that well either... it got 7/10 and 70% which is better though.

[stefan]

Best VG film adaptation. Maybe not an absolutely amazing film, but quite enjoyable, and worth a ticket.

also, Smarty, I hate to be a dick but you're an idiot if you expected this to be anything resembling historical accuracy. You're looking at it from a Kingdom of Heaven perspective when you should be looking at it one thousand and one Nights style.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Smarty McBarrelpants

Then they should be writing to historical journals because they would revolutionise that field. Maybe they are right but it would contradict everything we know currentely.

I thought you were speaking in terms of story. Never mind.

By Hollywood history I mean at least get the names right, at least set it somewhere and somewhen ( they gave a date when they were filming but it doesn't make any sense with everything else in the movie). Skim a high school text book, that's all I'm asking.
A lot of people here would go nuts over say a science-fiction movie with bad science, this movie is to history as Wing Commander is to physics.

The difference between retarded history and retarded physics is that everyone knows what gravity is. Most people know jack about history and don't care who happened to be king of the Pygmies in 1077 A.D. as long as the movie is good.

Pirates wasn't rated that well either... it got 7/10 and 70% which is better though.

That just shows that mainstream movie critics are all stuck up their own backsides and need a little joy in life.

The same can be said for critics of all types, I suppose, given the vast chasm between critical and popular ratings of several video games and the fact that both a monkey and a bear have won art contests.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

This has been bothering me for a couple of days and I just want to see if anyone else understands what I'm saying.

EDIT: Spoilers Ahead
Tamina told Dastan that turning back time with the Dagger connected directly to the sands would destroy the world. So he did it. And nothing bad happened! All we saw was that sandstorm rewinding for no damn reason because it showed up out of nowhere for no reason at all.

[RickZarber]

Whoa. Spoilers much?