Prince of Persia film review

I'm not sure what possessed me to watch this film to be honest. I'll go with the production design - I wanted to see ancient Persia come to life. Yeah, that will do. *This is no one way reflects any thoughts on the popular video game on which this is based and is no doubt superior in every way).

Lord, though this was an appalling film on many accounts. Shall I list them? For starters, it appeared Mike Newell and Bruckheimer had thrown out storytelling and basic filmmaking 101 out of the window. (Should I be surprised? Newell's version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' was an epic fail). The story was dreadful, the pacing all over the place, the characters were characterless, the whole thing was a mess.

The script appeared to be vomited out by someone and then there we are, listening to Gemma Arterton's insanely annoying whining and 'Persians' all in English accents. Here comes another tirade - Has Hollywood moved on from the times when Cleopatra was played by Elizabeth Taylor or white actors darkened themselves to play black characters? Er no, no it hasn't because we have white people playing Asians. This alone should have caused huge outrage. No amount of ridiculous tan is going to make Jake Gyllenhaal look remotely Persian, nor does putting thick eyeliner on everyone denote Asian-ness. It's so maddening - Arterton couldn't get more European looking, so why cast her at all? Her character was pathetic, any corpse would have done for it. If they had cast an Asian actress, at least it would have smacked of some credibility. Goodness, does no one in Hollywood have any shame? Clearly not and Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina don't get out of the firing line either. I mean, seriously, these two are more than decent actors, they know their craft brilliantly and here they are without any decency, parading as baseless fools. I got the distinct impression that Kingsley knew the material to be below him so committed to one takes, all of which lacked gravitas. Situation on set: Director: 'Great Sir Ben, could you perhaps go again with a little bit more feeling?' Kingsley: 'Nope, I'm off my trailer.' (mutters something about integrity and being tricked by Newell).