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 by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJohn Seale
Edited byMichael Kahn
Martin Walsh
Music byHarry Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates
May 9, 2010 (2010-05-09) (London)
May 28, 2010 (2010-05-28)
Running time
116 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom and Morocco
LanguageEnglish
Budget$200 million[1]
Box office$262,600,000 [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 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.

The film has the same title as and being primarily based on the video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time; elements from Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, two other titles from the Prince of Persia video game franchise, are also incorporated.

Plot

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time begins as Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), an orphan in the sixth century Persian Empire, commits an act of courage in a public market place, and is adopted by the king because of it. Fifteen years later, Dastan, his royal-blooded foster brothers, Garsiv and Tus, and his uncle, Nizam (Ben Kingsley), are planning an attack on the sacred city of Alamut, following a lead from one of Nizam's spies that the city is selling weapons to their enemies. As Garsiv leads the initial assault, Dastan decides to infiltrate the city to open the gates with his friend Bis (Reece Ritchie), against the orders of his brother. He manages to open the eastern gate of Alamut and prevents further Persian casualties.[3] During the fighting, the government of Alamut, including princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) discuss precautions. Tamina thus allows one of her guards to take a dagger from a shrine and carry it to safety. During the fight in the city, however, Dastan defeats this guard, and steals the dagger. Alamut falls to the Persians, Tamina is captured, but Tus offers to make her one of his wives, which would make the city of Alamut a part of the Persian Empire. Dastan walks into the temple at this moment, and Tamina sees the dagger strapped around his belt, and so accepts the offer of marriage.

During the Persian victory celebration, Prince Dastan is fooled into presenting a poisoned gown, given to him by Tus, to his father, King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup), who dies upon donning it. Prince Dastan is held as the perpetrator of his father's murder, but escapes apprehension and flees Alamut with princess Tamina. Together, they embark on a journey; the Prince wants to prove his innocence, while Tamina wants to safeguard the dagger, which is still in Dastan's possession. In their first camp, Tamina attempts to kill the prince and recover the dagger, but Dastan accidentally activates the dagger's time rewind mechanic and is able to prevent Tamina from attacking. Tamina calls it the Dagger of Time and explains it can only rewind for one minute using the Sands of Time. Dastan believes that Tus knew about the Dagger and framed Dastan for their father's murder in an attempt to seize the throne and the Dagger which he can use in wars to reverse any military mistake, thus becoming a powerful ruler.

During their journey, the duo meet a group of merchant-bandits, including entrepreneur and ostrich racing-organizer Sheik Amar (Alfred Molina) with his friend Seso (Steve Toussaint), who hails from the Ngbaka, masters of the throwing knives. Dastan offers Tamina up as a slave in return for supplies, however, the bandits betray him because they recognize him as the murderer of the king, who has an "obscene" price on his head. Dastan and Tamina again escape, however. They return to Persia for King Sharaman's funeral; here, Dastan attempts to convince his uncle Nizam that he was not the murderer of his father, using the Dagger of Time as proof of its mechanics, and thus proof of Tus' power-seizing motives. When Dastan discovers that Tamina has taken the Dagger, however, Dastan notices burns on Nizam's hands, and begins to question his previous theory about Tus. Nizam, however, posted guards in the vicinity, and Dastan is forced to escape.

Dastan catches up with Tamina and explains that the villainous brother of the King, Nizam,[4] was behind the murder. The attack of Alamut was based on false allegations provided by Nizam and promoted with a motive to attain the 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 Sharaman from being attacked by a lion and undo the act, hence ensuring that he becomes the King of Persia, as well as erasing the existence of Tus and Garsiv and making Dastan an urchin again. However, Tamina reveals that the Sandglass is the vessel holding the Sands of Time, which the Gods conjured to punish humanity for its sins. A pure hearted girl, offering her life, convinced them to seal the sands; should the Dagger of Time be used to pierce the Sandglass, the Sands would be released and destroy the entire world. The pair then put aside their differences and agree to work together to protect the Dagger. Meanwhile, back in Persia, Nizam, aware that Dastan knows the truth, tries to convince the newly-crowned king Tus and Garsiv that Dastan is trying to overthrow them and must be killed without a trial to avoid a rebellion. When this fails, Nizam hires the Hassansins, a group of highly skilled warriors who once served as hired killers for Persian royalty. Nizam had kept the sect hidden for his own ends after Sharaman had them disbanded.

Dastan and Tamina are again captured by Sheik Amar, Seso, Shayer Aziz and their group because of the chaos they caused back at the valley. Sheik intends to claim the reward for turning them in to renew his business. But that night, when everyone is asleep, the Hassansin leader (Gísli Örn Garðarsson) attacks the group in an oasis by controlling a number of vipers. Many of the group die, but Dastan uses the Dagger to rewind time, and, foreseeing the attack, manages to kill all the snakes single-handedly, saving Seso in the process. The Hassansin leader then leaves in a sand dervish. The next day, the pair is accompanied by Sheik and Seso while traveling to the secret sanctuary in the mountains near India, where it's possible to seal away the Dagger by returning it to the stone that it came from. In order to do so, Tamina must sacrifice herself, but it fails as they run into Garsiv's men. Dastan, however, manages to persuade his brother that he is innocent, only for Garsiv to be fatally wounded by a flurry of spike-knives thrown by a Hassansin. The Hassanin attack, killing many of the group, while their leader manages to snatch the Dagger of Time from Tamina. However, Dastan is saved from the last Hassansin by Garsiv, who then dies.

Tamina and Dastan, as well as Sheik Amar and Seso, return to Alamut to reveal the truth about Nizam and the Dagger to Tus. First, they must retrieve the Dagger, which is kept in the sacred temple, guarded by the Hassansin who killed Garsiv. Seso kills the spike-wielding Hassansin, and is killed in the process, but manages to throw the Dagger out a window to Sheik. In order to convince his brother Tus of the Dagger's power, Dastan infiltrates the palace, confronts Tus, explains the Dagger's mechanics to him, then kills himself, in an attempt to make Tus rewind time with the Dagger, which succeeds. Soon after, however, Nizam arrives and kills Tus, leaving his guard to kill Dastan. The Dagger is once again in Nizam's hands, but Dastan manages to defeat the Hassansin with Tamina's help.

Nizam goes to the Sandglass caves beneath Alamut, as Dastan and Tamina take a more secret route. After a short battle with the leader of the Hassansins, Dastan and Tamina kiss passionately. They then reach Nizam before he can pierce the Sandglass with the Dagger, but he knocks Tamina and Dastan over the edge of the chasm, killing Tamina, while Dastan manages to pull himself up. Nizam stabs the Sandglass with the Dagger, but Dastan grabs a hold and opens the Dagger, rather than activating it, causing the Sands of Time to flow through freely, reversing time to when Dastan first obtained the Dagger of Time, fully aware of all that occurred since, but not sure if anybody else is. Dastan stops the siege of Alamut, revealing Nizam's treachery. Nizam attempts to kill Dastan, but is killed by Tus. After apologizing for the ransacking of her city, Tus suggests that perhaps Tamina should become Dastan's wife as a sign of good will. The Prince returns the Dagger of Time to her, and the two take a walk together, and talk about how Dastan has changed. He expresses his feelings for her.

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."[5] Mechner previously considered producing an animated film based on the games, but could not resist Disney and Bruckheimer's offer.[6] In February 2006, Disney hired screenwriter Jeffrey Nachmanoff to write a new script for Prince of Persia.[7]

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.[8] 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.[9] Newell was fond of Bruckheimer's films,[10] 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.[11] 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.[6]

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.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14] Gyllenhaal claims he "over-prepared"[15] for the role, gaining five or six pounds of muscle.[15] 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."[15] Gemma Arterton was announced to play the role of protagonist Tamina,[14] and Arterton reported she practiced horse back riding in Madrid before filming.[16] Sir Ben Kingsley was to portray the film's antagonist, Nizam.[17] Alfred Molina was to portray a character named Sheik Amar, who becomes a mentor to the prince.[18] Toby Kebbell was to play Prince Garsiv, Dastan's brother, and head of the Persian army.[19] 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.[20] 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.[14] Eight weeks were spent in Morocco before the first unit moved to Pinewood.[15]

Soundtrack

Untitled

Alanis Morissette composed the theme song for the film, named "I Remain".[21] 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.[22] The week of Confessions of a Shopaholic’s release, Disney signed a merchandising deal with Lego for the film.[23]

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 Italy, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, and on May 20 in Germany.[24] It was released on May 21 in the United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria and Turkey. It was released in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the Philippines 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 Ghana, India, Romania and Nigeria on May 28.

Reception

The film received generally mixed reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 39% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 193 reviews, with an average score of 5/10.[25] The critical consensus is: It doesn't offer much in the way of substance, but Prince of Persia is a suitably entertaining swashbuckler -- and a substantial improvement over most video game adaptations.[26] Another review aggregate, Metacritic, which calculates an average rating based on reviews from mainstream critics, gave a score of 50/100.[27] 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." [28] On Rotten Tomatoes, Prince of Persia is the highest rated live-action movie based on a video game and it's currently sitting at #2, behind only the animated Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.[29]

Box office

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which, according to Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer, was supposed to be "the new Pirates of the Caribbean", debuted #3 at the box office behind Shrek Forever After and Sex and the City 2 with $30.1 million in its first 3-day weekend of release. It is also the third highest opening for a video game adaptation, behind Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Pokémon: The First Movie. Internationally, the film grossed $18 million in its first week, when it opened in 19 major European countries[30]. Prince of Persia debuted at #1 in these countries, except UK where it lost the top spot to StreetDance 3D. A week later the film was released in the rest of the world and it grossed $59 million in total of 47 countries[31], becoming the leader of worldwide box office, while reaching the #1 spot in 40 of the 47 countries.[32]

As of June 10, 2010, the film has earned $72,300,000 in the United States and $190,300,000 in foreign countries with a total worldwide gross of $262,600,000. [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 reminiscent of the character of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves of Baghdad from One Thousand and One Nights, itself another Persian tale.[28] 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 Indian subcontinent, 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 sect of Islam (Shia), 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 the Seljuq Turks (the last Persian empire dynasty had fallen after the Islamic conquests), who like in the movie, was also murdered. The snakes in the robe of the Hassansin leader in the film also have a Shahnameh precedence in the mythical Zahak from whose shoulders serpents were said to have grown.

Shiek Amar tells Dastan that he spreads false information like a "venereal disease in a Turkish Harem." However, the Ottomans and their harems didn't exist until 1299 AD, while the Persian empire referenced in the film is centuries older. In addition, Harems refer to living quarters of noble women, children, including their relatives and slaves where men are not admitted; they do not refer to a place of only sexual acts.[33]

At one point, Princess Tamina refers to "the Mughals of the Hindu Kush". The Mughal Empire did not arise until nearly a millennium after the events of the film, and was by no means confined to the Hindu Kush.

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. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
  3. ^ Peter Sciretta (May 10, 2009). "Footage from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time". /Film. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
  4. ^ Kit, Borys (May 20, 2008). "Jake Gyllenhaal crowned 'Prince of Persia'". The Hollywood Reporter. Nielsen Company. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  5. ^ 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)
  6. ^ a b Vejvoda, Jim (July 25, 2008). "SDCC 08: Mechner Talks Persia Movie". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved August 6, 2008.
  7. ^ Gardner, Chris (February 26, 2006). "Scribe goes into action for Disney". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  8. ^ McNary, Dave (July 13, 2007). "Hollywood films' dating game". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  9. ^ Fleming, Michael (November 7, 2007). "Disney, Bruckheimer talking 'Prince'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  10. ^ "Prince of Persia Movie Update". ReelzChannel. Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation. November 11, 2007. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  11. ^ Topel, Fred (November 12, 2007). "Mike Newell Drops Early Prince of Persia Details!". Rotten Tomatoes. News Corporation. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  12. ^ Hill, Jim (August 10, 2008). "Monday Mouse Watch: Why did Disney push back "Prince of Persia"?". Jim Hill Media. LLC. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  13. ^ McClintock, Pamela (July 31, 2008). "Disney pushes 'Persia' to 2010". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
  14. ^ a b c Graser, Marc (May 20, 2008). "Jake Gyllenhaal is Disney's 'Prince'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  15. ^ a b c d "Jake Gyllenhaal as 'the Prince of Persia'". Entertainment Tonight. CBS Television Distribution. November 13, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  16. ^ "Gemma Arterton Interview". MI6.co.uk. L.P. November 12, 2008. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
  17. ^ Graser, Marc (June 5, 2008). "Ben Kingsley joins 'Prince of Persia'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  18. ^ Fleming, Michael (June 2, 2008). "Alfred Molina joins 'Prince of Persia'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  19. ^ Floyd, Bobbie. "Toby Kebbell interview". Little White Lies. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  20. ^ Jaafar, Ali (March 6, 2008). "Newell takes 'Persia' to Morocco". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  21. ^ http://www.cifraclubnews.com.br/noticias/21541-alanis-morissette-grava-musica-para-filme-prince-of-persia-ouca.html
  22. ^ "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.
  23. ^ "Disney and LEGO Group Announce Strategic Licensing Relationship". PR Newswire. February 15, 2009. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
  24. ^ Prince of Persia on allocine.fr, Prince of Persia on moviepilot.de
  25. ^ [hhttp://beta.rottentomatoes.com/m/prince_of_persia_sands_of_time/ "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Times reviews at Rotten Tomatoes"]. Rotten Tomatoes. IGN. Retrieved June 9, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. ^ [hhttp://beta.rottentomatoes.com/m/prince_of_persia_sands_of_time/ "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Times reviews at Rotten Tomatoes"]. Rotten Tomatoes. IGN. Retrieved June 9, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ "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)
  28. ^ 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)
  29. ^ Best Video Game Adaptations
  30. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/24/entertainment/la-et-boxoffice-sidebar-20100524
  31. ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3024385220100530
  32. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/prince-reigns-over-sex-and-shrek-worldwide-1987748.html
  33. ^ Goodwin Godfrey. The Private World of Ottoman Women. Saqi Books, London, 1997. ISBN 9780863567513, p 127

External links

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