Prince of Persia : When Being Too Faithful Gives Nothing

Game-based movie is always a dilemma. Most of them ended up failing, with the hard protest from the original game players. Those gamers (me included ;p ) protested the depiction of the character and the inconsistent storyline. Final Fantasy, for example. The gamers expected to see Cloud or Squall in the silver screen, but Square Enix gave us unmemorable female cast, and not even summon monster made any single appearance (save for the Leviathan-like monster). Or Death or Alive which was turn into a cheap rip off of crossover between Power Rangers and Sailor Moon, together with Ayane's purple hair. Uh-oh, that is one hell of a living proof that you cannot translate gaming stuff literary to the real world. Well, FF : Advent Children is one exception, though.

The most recent game-based movie comes from Jordan Merchner's masterpiece, Prince of Persia. A platformer. When I saw the trailer, I was screaming within. Everything was translated literally, with no awkward feeling. The costumes of Dastan are all alike with the game version. The depiction, the action. Well, the movie was adapted from the latest trilogy of Prince of Persia, not the original one.

Watching the movie in its first minute, I felt like playing the game. It shows the platforming action, jumping between roofs, gliding, hanging, and all the stunts. The shape of the houses are faithful to the original game. Hell, Jake Gylenhaal even looked like being prompted directly from the game.

A very faithful adaptation to the game. In fact, it is too faithful. Thus, you will encounter gaming branches and side quest here. Game storyline is made for the sake of exploring various levels and stages, showcasing the beauty of rendering. It's quite normal for a game version to keep losing the sacred dagger, and going to various stages and missions to retrieve it back and lose it again. Gamer will not complain, because they enjoy their involvement. Hell, this is a platformer, not RPG. So, the action speaks first, not the storyline. And this is the point where the movie falls. No storyline adjustment. And due to the fact that Prince of Persia's strength is in the action not the storyline, it became very annoying to watch Dastan kept losing the dagger. Not once, not twice, but many times! Sorry Disney, this time Dreamworks kicked your ass with their How to Train Your Dragon.

Talking about the action itself, I should have not complained. It's quite nice, but too shallow for Prince of Persia. It should be more spectacular! Instead, all the actions here are just too "usual".

Apart of that, the brotherhood thingy is a nice saying. "It takes the strength of brotherhood to keep the kingdom united!"