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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (film)

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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMike Newell
Written byJordan Mechner
Boaz Yakin
Doug Miro
Carlo Bernard
Produced byJerry Bruckheimer
Chad Oman
Eric Mcleod
Mike Stenson
StarringJake Gyllenhaal
Gemma Arterton
Ben Kingsley
Alfred Molina
CinematographyJohn Seale
Edited byMichael Kahn
Martin Walsh
Music byHarry Gregson-Williams
Production
company
Distributed byWalt Disney Pictures
Release dates
May 9, 2010 (2010-05-09)
(London premiere)
May 21, 2010 (2010-05-21)
(UK release)
May 28, 2010 (2010-05-28)
(US release)
LanguageEnglish
Budget$200 million[1]
Box office$38,500,000[2]

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a 2010 fantasy adventure film written by Jordan Mechner, Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard, directed by Mike Newell, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The film is loosely based on the 2003 video game of the same name, developed and released by Ubisoft Montreal.

The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan, Gemma Arterton as Princess Tamina, Ben Kingsley as Nizam, and Alfred Molina as Sheik Amar, this the first film directed by Mike Newell to be distributed by Disney (though he directed two films by Miramax Films, but that was before Disney bought the company).

Despite the film being primarily based on The Sands of Time, elements from Warrior Within and The Two Thrones are also incorporated.

Plot

The plot follows Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), a street urchin in the Persian Empire in the sixth century. After showing courage in the market place baffel, he is adopted by the king as his third son. The two older brothers are Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell).

15 years later, Persians are about to attack the sacred city of Alamut which was believed to be selling weapons to the enemies of Persia, as revealed by Nizam, the King's brother and advisor (Ben Kingsley). However, Dastan decides to lead an attack with his friend Bis (Reece Ritchie) by using diversion on the eastern gate. He secures the eastern gate of the Alamut. Dastan kills one of the Tamina's guards who was in the possession of the mythical Dagger of Time, ignorant to its true power. The Persians celebrate their victory and Dastan is tricked into presenting the holy robe of Alamut's regent to King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup), which burns and kills the King. Dastan escapes the castle with Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton). Tamina attempts to kill the prince and recover the dagger, Dastan accidentally activates the dagger and learns about its ability to rewind time. Dastan believes that Tus wants to seize the throne by framing him.

In their journey, the duo then meets a group of outcast tax-defaulters, including entrepreneur and Ostrich races organizer Sheik Amar (Alfred Molina) with his friend Seso (Steve Toussaint) who is a master of throwing knives. Dastan and Tamina return to Persia for King Sharaman's funeral. Dastan tries to convince his uncle Nizam on his father's death only to discover the dagger was taken by Tamina. Dastan notices the burns on Nizam's hands and Nizam has set up an ambush for Dastan among the Persian streets. After a conflict with his brother Garsiv, he escapes. Dastan catches up with Tamina and it is revealed that the attack was based on false allegations by Nizam. Nizam intends to obtain Dagger of Time and use it with the massive Sandglass, which is hidden under the city of Alamut. This way Nizam would go back in time before he had saved the King Sharaman from being attacked by a Lion and undo the act, hence securing the throne. However, it will only unleash a massive sandstorm which consumes the world.

Nizam tries to convince king Tus and Garsiv that Dastan is trying to overthrow them and must be killed without trial to avoid a rebellion but failed. Nizam hires the Hassansins, a group of highly skilled warriors that were banished from the kingdom by Sharaman long ago. Dastan and Tamina are then captured by Sheik Amar, Seso and their group. During the night, when everyone is asleep, the Hassansin leader (Gísli Örn Garðarsson) attacks the group by controlling a number of snakes but Dastan uses the dagger to rewind time, and kill all the snakes. The group travels to the secret sanctuary in the mountains by returning it to the Gods but Tamina would have to sacrifice herself. Garsiv's forces arrives and Dastan manages to persuade his brother on his innocence but Garsiv to be killed by a flurry of knives. Just as Tamina and Dastan are about to destroy the dagger, Tamina is knocked unconsious and Dastan has to fight a Hassansin with whips. The Hassansin's leader manages to snatch the Dagger of Time from Tamina using a trained snake. Eventually the whip Hassansin is killed by Garsiv, who then succumbs to his injuries.

The group return to Alamut to reveal the truth about Nizam and the dagger to Tus. Learning that the Dagger is in the temple, Seso fights the Hassansin to get the Dagger. After the fight, both are fatally wounded but Seso manages to throw the dagger out of the window to Dastan. Dastan reveals the truth about the Dagger to Tus by killing himself only to have Tus rewind time with the dagger. Tamina realises that the Hassansin had been a spy priest serving for Nizam inside the city of Alamut. Nizam goes to the Sandglass chamber beneath the earth. Tamina opens a secret gate leading to the chamber and Dastan encounters the leader of Hassansin before throwing him into the chasm. They manage to reach Nizam as he pierces the Sandglass with the dagger. Tamina slips into the bottomless pit. Dastan then activates the Dagger which is piercing the Sandglass and the sandstorm is shown destroying Alamut. Dastan is then able to use the Dagger and turn back the time, just as the Sandglass breaks. The timeline returns to the point when Dastan holds the Dagger for the first time, during the siege of Alamut.

Dastan reveals Nizam's evil plan to his brothers. Nizam then attacks Dastan but was eventually saved by Tus. Dastan returns the Dagger of Time to Tamina. Tamina expresses her surprise about Dastan's sudden change in behavior and hinting that he may have discovered something which control their destiny.

Production

In March 2004, the production company Jerry Bruckheimer Films sought to acquire feature film rights to the 2003 video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time with the film to be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Under John August as executive producer, the series' creator Jordan Mechner was hired to write the script. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer's Pirates of the Caribbean film trilogy served as a touchstone in how a theme park ride was converted into a film franchise. According to Mechner, "Rather than do a straight beat-for-beat adaptation of the new videogame, we're taking some cool elements from the game and using them to craft a new story."[3] Mechner previously considered producing an animated film based on the games, but could not resist Disney and Bruckheimer's offer.[4] In February 2006, Disney hired screenwriter Jeffrey Nachmanoff to write a new script for Prince of Persia.[5]

Early in 2007, Disney announced Prince of Persia as one of its tentpole films and by June had scheduled a release date for July 10, 2009, before having a final script or any actors attached.[6] By November 2007, Disney entered negotiations with Mike Newell to direct the film based on a script by Mechner and Nachmanoff, though the studio held off production until the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike was resolved.[7] Newell was fond of Bruckheimer's films,[8] and loved the "exciting [and] immensely romantic" script, which reminded him of Lost Horizon. His assistant played the video games and gave the director key details.[9] Mechner, in writing the script, re-conceived the storyline to shift the perspective from the interactive one experienced by video gamers to the non-interactive experience by film audiences. The screenwriter left out elements of the Prince of Persia video games Warrior Within and The Two Thrones and did not anticipate including these elements in the film's possible sequels.[4]

When filming began, the film's release date was postponed to May 28, 2010, with the studio seeking enough time for the post-production process in designing the film's special effects. The profit margin on the Pirates of the Caribbean films was compromised by overspending as special effects teams rushed to complete the films for their release dates.[10] Variety also ascribed the postponement to avoiding the potential 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike so the studio could ensure that the film leads to a "mega-franchise" similar to its successful Pirates of the Caribbean series.[11] Other reasons for the release date change were that the film was originally scheduled a week before Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Disney needed more time to co-ordinate its marketing campaign.[10]

Casting

On May 20, 2008, it was announced that Jake Gyllenhaal would portray Dastan, the protagonist of the film. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer explained his choice, "He's a wonderful actor. He's someone I've been watching for a long time and somebody I've always wanted to work with."[12] Gyllenhaal claims he "over-prepared"[13] for the role, gaining five or six pounds of muscle.[13] The actor says, "…I never knew how much they were going to ask me to do, so I just made sure I'd be hopefully able to do anything."[13] Gemma Arterton was announced to play the role of protagonist Tamina,[12] and Arterton reported she practiced horse back riding in Madrid before filming.[14] Sir Ben Kingsley was to portray the film's antagonist, Nizam.[15] Alfred Molina was to portray a character named Sheik Amar, who becomes a mentor to the prince.[16] Toby Kebbell was to play Prince Garsiv, Dastan's brother, and head of the Persian army.[17] The leading characters of the film all speak with a recognisable British English accent, albeit with a slight Middle Eastern colour.

Filming

In March 2008, director Mike Newell selected Morocco as a shooting location for Prince of Persia and also planned to film in Pinewood Studios. Production was scheduled to begin in mid-June 2008.[18] By May 2008, actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton were cast into the lead roles. With a new script by Jordan Mechner, Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard, and Boaz Yakin, filming began in July 2008 in Morocco as well as London.[12] Eight weeks were spent in Morocco before the first unit moved to Pinewood.[13] The film is intended to be the first in a seven film series.[citation needed]

Soundtrack

Untitled

Alanis Morissette composed the theme song for the film, named "I Remain".[19] The score was written by composer Harry Gregson-Williams.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Soundtrack (66:26)
No.TitleLength
1."The Prince of Persia"5:20
2."Raid On Alamut"6:32
3."Tamina Unveiled"2:34
4."The King and His Sons"2:59
5."Dastan and Tamina Escape"4:31
6."Journey Through the Desert"2:55
7."Ostrich Race"0:59
8."Running from Sheikh Amar"3:27
9."Trusting Nizam"4:37
10."Visions of Death"1:46
11."So, You're Going To Help Me?"2:20
12."The Oasis Ambush"1:54
13."Hassansin Attack"2:59
14."Return To Alamut"3:05
15."No Ordinary Dagger"4:39
16."The Passages"3:09
17."The Sands of Time"3:58
18."Destiny"3:38
19."I Remain" (performed by Alanis Morissette, written by Alanis Morissette and Mike Elizondo)4:57

Marketing

Mechner, Gyllenhaal, Bruckheimer, and Newell at a panel promoting the film at WonderCon 2010.

The Prince of Persia poster made its debut as a background prop in a 2009 Bruckheimer production, Confessions of a Shopaholic, similar to how Warner Brothers incorporated poster for various developed but never filmed projects based on their comic-book characters in I Am Legend.[20] The week of Confessions of a Shopaholic’s release, Disney signed a merchandising deal with Lego for the film.[21]

The trailer was released on the internet on November 2, 2009. In the trailer, it is shown that Nizam has released the Sands of Time (via the dagger) to destroy the Kingdom, thus forcing Dastan to take back the dagger and retrieve it to the "Secret Guardian Temple," along with Princess Tamina. It also shows that using the dagger will cause half of the Prince's body to become "flamed," a homage to the element in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (where the Prince is possessed by the Sands of Time). Disney will also release merchandise such as action figures, sets, costumes and a replica Dagger Of Time. It will also release a graphic novel called Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm, which will act as a prequel to the film. Also, a video game is being developed by Ubisoft Montreal titled Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands that will be released alongside the film; however, the game's story is unrelated to the film, and instead serves as a midquel to the first two games in the Sands of Time trilogy.

Release

Disney's marketing strategy included a step by step release of the film. Prince of Persia was released first in Europe, with its world premiere held in Westfield, London, UK on May 9 then premiered on May 19, 2010 in France, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, and on May 20 in Germany.[22] It was released on May 21 in the United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria and Turkey. It was released in Hong Kong, Philippines, and Malaysia on May 27. The film was not released in the United States until May 28 in order to try and profit from the potentially higher audience on Memorial Day weekend. It was also released in India and Nigeria on May 28.

Reception

The film has received generally mixed reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 39% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 151 reviews, with an average score of 5/10. [23]. Another review aggretator, Metacritic, which calculates an average rating based on reviews from mainstream critics, gave a score of 48/100.[24] However the film holds a 9.0/10 among fan users. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four and wrote, "The two leads are not inspired. Jake Gyllenhaal could make the cover of a muscle mag, but he plays Dastan as if harboring Spider-Man's doubts and insecurities." [25]

Box office

As of May 28, 2010, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has earned $38.5 million in foreign countries.[2]

Cultural references

The movie is based on characters and cultural elements of the game, which in turn is loosely based on characters of Persian mythology such as The Shahnameh (a.k.a. "Book of Kings"), and a famous legend involving Malik-Shah I, Nizam al-Mulk, and Hassan-i Sabbah in Persian literature. The name "Dastan" e.g. is derived from Rostam Dastan, a hero in the Shahnameh. So is "Tahmina" (from Tahmina), and "Garsiv" (from Garsivaz). Roger Ebert seems to think that Dastan's character is reminiscient of the character of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves of Baghdad from One Thousand and One Nights, itself another Persian tale.[25] The film's storyline and cultural elements thus seem to be a mixture of different time periods and sources, perhaps in order to paint a more attractive setting for the film's background. For example, while the architecture of the city is that of the Mughal era of India (with particular emphasis on India's Red Fort), the "guardians" of the dagger in the film seem to be wearing Zoroastrian robes.

The name "Alamut" refers to the Alamut fortress, and the name "Hassansins" refers to the Hashshashin cult, led by Hassan-i Sabbah. They practice a dark magic form of mysticism, and with the aid of "Nizam", plan the demise of the Persian Royal family, in the film. "Nizam" refers to Nizam al-Mulk, grand vizier of Malik-Shah I, King of Persia, who like in the movie, was also murdered. The snakes in the robe of the Hassansin leader in the film also has a Shahnameh precedence: The mythical Zahak, whom serpents grow out from his shoulders.

References

  1. ^ Fritz, Ben (May 27, 2010). "Movie Projector: 'Sex and the City' ladies to rule over 'Prince of Persia'". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved May 27, 2010. It appears that "Persia" won't draw enough men, however, to make good on its hefty production budget of about $200 million.
  2. ^ a b ""Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  3. ^ Bing, Jonathan (March 3, 2004). "Jerry preps game plan for 'Sands'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b Vejvoda, Jim (July 25, 2008). "SDCC 08: Mechner Talks Persia Movie". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved August 6, 2008.
  5. ^ Gardner, Chris (February 26, 2006). "Scribe goes into action for Disney". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  6. ^ McNary, Dave (July 13, 2007). "Hollywood films' dating game". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  7. ^ Fleming, Michael (November 7, 2007). "Disney, Bruckheimer talking 'Prince'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  8. ^ "Prince of Persia Movie Update". ReelzChannel. Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation. November 11, 2007. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  9. ^ Topel, Fred (November 12, 2007). "Mike Newell Drops Early Prince of Persia Details!". Rotten Tomatoes. News Corporation. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  10. ^ a b Hill, Jim (August 10, 2008). "Monday Mouse Watch: Why did Disney push back "Prince of Persia"?". Jim Hill Media. LLC. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  11. ^ McClintock, Pamela (July 31, 2008). "Disney pushes 'Persia' to 2010". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
  12. ^ a b c Graser, Marc (May 20, 2008). "Jake Gyllenhaal is Disney's 'Prince'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  13. ^ a b c d "Jake Gyllenhaal as 'the Prince of Persia'". Entertainment Tonight. CBS Television Distribution. November 13, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  14. ^ "Gemma Arterton Interview". MI6.co.uk. L.P. November 12, 2008. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
  15. ^ Graser, Marc (June 5, 2008). "Ben Kingsley joins 'Prince of Persia'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  16. ^ Fleming, Michael (June 2, 2008). "Alfred Molina joins 'Prince of Persia'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  17. ^ Floyd, Bobbie. "Toby Kebbell interview". Little White Lies. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  18. ^ Jaafar, Ali (March 6, 2008). "Newell takes 'Persia' to Morocco". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  19. ^ http://www.cifraclubnews.com.br/noticias/21541-alanis-morissette-grava-musica-para-filme-prince-of-persia-ouca.html
  20. ^ "Jerry Bruckheimer Debuts 'Prince of Persia' Poster Within His Own Film, 'Confessions Of A Shopaholic". MTV Movies Blog. Viacom. January 25, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2009.
  21. ^ "Disney and LEGO Group Announce Strategic Licensing Relationship". PR Newswire. February 15, 2009. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
  22. ^ Prince of Persia on allocine.fr, Prince of Persia on moviepilot.de
  23. ^ "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved May 26, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Times reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 21, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  25. ^ a b Ebert, Roger. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". rogerebert.com. Sun-Time Media Group. Retrieved May 28, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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