I couldn’t help but perk up when EW.com broke the news this week that Jake Gyllenhaal is starring in a feature-film version of classic computer game Prince of Persia. You see, I loved Prince of Persia way back when. I think I remember covertly playing it during my elementary-school computer class. More recently, I believe I downloaded an Apple II emulator onto my laptop one time in college for the sole purpose of running through Prince of Persia over and over again for a few weeks.
Still, I gotta wonder how they’re going to make a movie out of this. As I recall, there wasn’t much in the way of a plot to develop: Prince fights off menacing dude with scimitar, Prince leaps from one vertiginous ledge to another, Prince gulps down life-saving potion, Prince fights off two menacing dudes with scimitars at the same time… Apparently the big-screen version is going to introduce a quest for "a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world," which sounds a little more like a compelling narrative. But really, at least half the fun of the game was in the gory mishaps, like when Prince would accidentally fall down bottomless shafts to his death or stumble onto a spot where retractable blades shot up from the floor to impale him. I’m presuming neither of those painful fates await Jake G., which is awfully disappointing from a sheer entertainment standpoint. (No offense, Jake.) Furthermore, after typing all that, it occurs to me how much more awesome this movie could be if our hero was played by actual Prince.
Anyway, count me as "guardedly anticipatory." What about you? And are there any other old computer games that you think deserve to become movies — say, an epic Oregon Trail adaptation starring Emile Hirsch?
It sounds like the movie is being based off a more recent PoP game, subtitled “The Sands of Time.” In that one, you got a dagger that would allow you to rewind time for a few seconds if you fell to your death or were killed unexpectedly, and you refilled its abilities by killing enemies made out of the mystic sand. (It also made games you played immediately afterwards frustrating when you had come to rely on the time reversal to fix mistakes.) It will be interesting to see how they flesh it out into a movie.
Simon, you get a “no prize” for not researching the source material a little better.
There were several rehashed versions of Prince of Persia, including the Playstation 2 version which featured that “reverse time” power you just mentioned. So this is nothing new. It’s more like “Jake Gyllenhal does a Uwe Boll styled movie”.
Yo, I’d pay $12 to see a film version of Lemonade Stand starring the girl from “Little Miss Sunshine” and a David Lynch directed “Maniac Mansion” would be badder than a mofo. Finally, how about Mike Tyson as himself in “Mike Tyson’s Punch out?” It’d follow a plot similar to Rocky, and would feature all the beloved eccentric boxers like “Bald Bull” and “Piston Honda”. Lil Mac’s story remains untold…
“I couldn’t help but perk up when EW.com broke the news this week that Jake Gyllenhaal is starring in a feature-film version of classic computer game Prince of Persia.” EW, I’m very dissapointed in you. This story was NOT broken by you, and to take credit for something someone else did is just poor journalism. If you read this article here (http://www.latinoreview.com/news/why-both-variety-and-the-hollywood-reporter-totally-suck-4679) you’d know better and credit the people responsible for this news story. I’m so sick and tired of other people taking credit for “breaking news stories” that are done by other people first and NOT crediting them. Shame on you!
I agree with EP Sato. Simon, you really should have done a search on Prince of Persia before writing this. There have been at least 2 games that were made after the early versions that you mentioned.
I think that the movie will look amazing and have great action (most likely full of parkour stunts), but I am so disappointed (but not suprised) that Hollywood is not casting any Middle Eastern/Persians for the two lead roles. This movie could have catapulted the careers of unknown actors (especially with the rising popularity of Bollywood), but they went with a White actor playing the role of a Persian prince. Sigh.
I also have to agree with Bob Saget. I heard this news at Latino Review close to 2 months ago and now EW and other news outlets are claiming that they “broke the news.” That’s just sad and pathetic.
uh duh! sands of time, dude! Ep Sato is a genius!!! (regardless if he thinks so or not) [and no im not being patronizing or condescending or whatever that word is i have no idea of]
but sadly, i paid to see Milla Jovovich act like an idiot in a stupid little film called Resident Evil…
Oh Simon, as others have mentioned there have been three games since the one you mentioned. All three are fun, although the first and the last are best!
Ahh, “Oregon Trail”. That brings back memories. Namely:
“No!! Not again! I was just trying to ford the river and my stupid oxen died!! I hate this game!!!!”
and
“Man, all I really want to do is hunt.”
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego(best computer game–i thought so when i was a kid-oh those were the good ol days….) Angelina Jolie as Carmen Sandiego(nuff said)
I think some of you are ragging on Simon too hard about bringing up the Prince of Persia movie. From the sound of it, he didn’t know about the film until his workplace reported it. I didn’t know either until reading this (which shows how much I’m regressing as a hardcore gamer). It’s not like he officially stated EW is the FIRST entertainment news outlet that received the story. Although ‘broke the news’ is pretty misleading, saying this makes him pathetic and sad is a bit much.
With that said, Simon should have researched the topic and the franchise before blogging about it. I’m a little surprised he didn’t at least know about the three PS2/Xbox installments that revived the series (i.e., Sands of Time, Warrior Within and Two Thrones). There was also a Dreamcast PoP game, but I heard it sucked and almost killed any chances of a revival until Sands of Time was released.
Um. They could have gotten someone more Persian.
well i guess you havent played the rather newer prince of persia games goggle prince of persia sands of time,prince of persia warrior within and prince of persia the two thrones and youll see theres is more than enoguh narrative
I said this on the business blog, and I’ll say it again, but maybe it’s just an urban legend I’m mindlessly repeating: I always was told Persians are ethnically Caucasian, like the Aryans of India.
And I am on board for a Carmen Sandiego movie with Angelina Jolie.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the greatest game ever! (At least for a certain type of gamer). I’m really not sure how it’ll translate to a movie, but looking forward to seeing it.
BTW, I had the original too.