OXCGN – Xbox Gaming News Reviews Views

by dkpatriarch

© 2009 David Hilton

Movies made from video games suck right?  Even worse than games based on movies.

I'm the Prince of Posers!

That’s the general consensus among both film critics and gamers, though I myself have enjoyed a few of the films like Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Hitman and even Max Payne.

No, they weren’t paragons of classy cinema worthy of deep discussion or jaw-dropping amazement, but they were entertaining enough with at least some vague tributes to the source material they were using.

Soon we have Disney’s Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, based on the last-gen game of the same name, to be released May 2010.

Will this movie amaze us, mildly entertain us, or will it simply be another crappy attempt to cash in on a game’s popularity (though luckily Uwe Boll isn’t involved in this one at least)?

I’d say the fact that it is being made by Disney was already cause for concern, except that Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer also created a number of Pirates of the Caribbean adventure movies based only on a ride at Disneyland.

• Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time Movie

And the first film at least was good fun.  Of course the films have since been made into video games that were a bit less fun, but that’s another story.

Because video games don’t tend to have the narrative depth or characterisations that a good movie needs, the films based on games tend to either deviate dramatically from the source material or suffer terribly from poor storytelling and overly basic plots.

I'm the Princess to tame you young Prince

However, they are best when they replicate the sense of action and atmosphere that the games encapsulate.  This is where the Prince of Persia movie could work.

Already from the trailer we can see that filming in Morocco gives the movie the right atmosphere and there certainly seems like there will be plenty of that Prince of Persia jumping about and even a bit of the humour thrown in.  But there still needs to be plot, deeper characterisation and realistic sets and special effects.

Pirates of the Caribbean and other adventure movies like The Mummy worked because they didn’t take themselves too seriously and aspired only to be good old fashioned escapist action.  They had good dialogue and, especially in Johnny Depp, great characterisation.

That’s what the Prince of Persia movie should be aiming for.

• Prince Of Persia Sands Of Time Dev Discussion

This is what director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) could very well bring; that is if his cast that includes Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) as Prince Dastan, Gemma Arterton (Bond: Quantum of Solace) as Tamina, and Ben Kingsley (‘insert tons of well known fims here’) as Nizam, can bring some refreshing dialogue and depth to their roles.

All too often movies based on games feel stilted or cheap in presentation and have very little sense of drama.

Mind you, the future may see movies based on games able to go beyond the ‘action adventure’ goal. 

WETA's Distric 9 defies critics

District 9, from Peter Jackson and directed by Neill Blomkamp, gave gamers a wishful thought about what a Halo movie could have been like under those two if it had gone ahead.  Could a game inspire such depth and attention to detail in the future?

Also there are the short web-films that Ubisoft are putting together for the Assassin’s Creed 2 game (see my review of the first film here).  The first one is stylistic, authentic-looking, and focuses on both plot and characterisation, even in the few minutes it lasts.  Could it have made a quality full film?  From what I saw it sure looked like it at least was heading in the right direction.

The Prince of Persia movie is focusing on the mystical dagger and time-rewind theme of the game but we will have to see if it has the style, characters and story to match.

I want to hail the movie as a prince among paupers in the game to film genre, but am worried I will instead be mocked with another Prince of Putrid.

What do you think?  Will this movie stink or smell of roses?  Comment below.

List of games made into movies:

• Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen! (July 20, 1986)
• Super Mario Bros. (May 28, 1993)
• Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture (July 16, 1994)
• Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (August 6, 1994)
• Double Dragon (November 4, 1994)
• Street Fighter (December 23, 1994)
• Mortal Kombat (August 18, 1995)
• Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (November 21, 1997)
• Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back (July 18, 1998)
• Wing Commander (March 12, 1999)
• Pokémon: The Movie 2000 – The Power of One (July 17, 1999)
• Pokémon 3: The Movie – Spell of the Unown (July 8, 2000)
• Shenmue: The Movie (January 20, 2001)
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (June 15, 2001)
• Pokémon 4Ever – Celebi, Voice of the Forest (July 7, 2001)
• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (July 21, 2001)
• Resident Evil (March 15, 2002)
• Pokémon Heroes (July 13, 2002)
• Pokémon: Jirachi Wishmaker (July 19, 2003)
• Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (July 25, 2003)
• House of the Dead (October 10, 2003)
• Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys (July 22, 2004)
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse (September 10, 2004)
• Alone in the Dark (January 28, 2005)
• Air (February 5, 2005)
• Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew (July 16, 2005)
• Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (September 14, 2005)
• Doom (October 21, 2005)
• BloodRayne (January 6, 2006)
• Forbidden Siren (February 9, 2006)
• Silent Hill (April 21, 2006)
• Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea (July 15, 2006)
• Dead or Alive (September 15, 2006)
• Dōbutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing) (December 16, 2006)
• Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai (July 14, 2007)
• Clannad (September 15, 2007)
• BloodRayne II: Deliverance (September 18, 2007)
• Resident Evil: Extinction (September 21, 2007)
• Hitman (November 21, 2007)
• In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (January 11, 2008)
• OneChanbara (April 26, 2008)
• Postal (May 23, 2008)
• Like a Dragon (June 23, 2008) aka Ryū ga Gotoku Based on the first Yakuza Video Game
• Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior (July 19, 2008)
• Far Cry (October 2, 2008)
• Max Payne (October 16, 2008)
• Resident Evil: Degeneration (December 17, 2008)
• Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (February 27, 2009)
• Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Platinum the Movie: To the Conquering of Space-Time (July 18, 2009)

Upcoming releases

• Tekken (2009)
• The Legend of Spyro 3D (2009)
• Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva (2009)
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (May 28, 2010)
• The King of Fighters (2010)
• BloodRayne III: Warhammer (2010)
• Clock Tower (2010)
• Mortal Kombat: Devastation (2010)
• Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
• Dead Space (2011)
• Gears of War (2011)
• Army Of Two (2011)
• Uncharted (series) (2011)

© 2009 David Hilton