Prince of Persia another 300 ?

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Saraamin
by Saraamin
12-Aug-2008
 

Most of you, perhaps have heard about new blockbuster movie coming up carrying name of Persia in the title.

The movie is based on Popular video game series , Prince of Persia since 1989 , created by Jordan Mechner who is the writer of the movie's screen play also .The video game is one of pioneer 3D games with adventure theme and diehard fans across the globe , you may be one of them playing back to 90s.

Seemingly interesting cast  has been arranged Such as famous producer/director  Jerry Bruckheimer(pirates of Caribbean, world's end) ,Mike Newell , British Director(Harry Potter and Goblet of fire), Jake Gyllenhaal(Jar Head) as prince Dastan  , Gemma Arterton (James Bond)as Tamina , of course Sir Ben Kingsly as Nizam, Originally British Actor with a very Iranian Appeal whom starred as  Mr.Behrani in movie House of sand and Fog back to year 2003 , he is famous for his role as Gandhi  .

Casts appears dazzling and the story is  about a prince who is fighting with devil ,a handsome blue eyed prince carrying a sword with arabic verses of holy book on it ,everything appears great to make a tremendous blockbuster akin to 300 (US Box office 210,592,590$). 300 were also based on a video game series and it happened to be targeted  as anti-Iranian and loads of criticism towards Exposing Iranians as barbers versus Greeks as civilized people at ancient time.

As I found out on net , Jordan Mechner  ,More than 20 years ago, sat down and tried to come up with a video game for  a software company , it had to be  something place in the Middle East. Eventually, he struck on the "Arabian Nights" stories, which made me to search about Arabian Nights and I came up with this results in brief I would like to share with you;

Arabian nights or One thousand and one nights is a collection of tales collected over many centuries by various authors, translators and scholars in various countries. These collections of stories trace their roots back to ancient Arabia and Yemen, ancient India, ancient Asia Minor, ancient Persia (especially the Sassanid), ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamian Mythology, ancient Syria, and medieval Arabic folk stories from the Caliphate era. Though the oldest Arabic manuscript dates from the fourteenth century, scholarship generally dates the collection's genesis to somewhere between AD 800–900.Most of you are fully aware of the history of this book ,which is not exactly myths of ancient Persia .My point is in so far as I read , this book had been the inspirational source for Jordan to  put together a narrative about the adventures of a prince and princess that would become "Prince of Persia " , a typical video game .

What makes  me think  about it is when I went through all the names in the project and figure out  that all cast are non-Iranian  which is ok and because it is just  another pop-corny movie  at the same time it may consequent to dissatisfaction among  Iranian community , I remember at the time of releasing 300 , I had a fruity discussion with my boss who is originally American and what he said to me was interesting to mention, that he said it's just Hollywood and loves to exaggerate !

I hope it's not going to be another 300 , I have to add that couple of Jake and Gemma has no chemistry in my view either ,I wonder why they didn’t audition for some talented  Iranian-American actor/actresses , I have read on  internet , an Iranian actor , David.K Zandi , who claims also he is a predecessor of zandi Dynasty , a true prince , had petitioned online to grab the role which was  an unsuccessful  tactic because obviously they cast Jake Gylenhall instead, very interesting approach to get a role anyway .anyhow it is a block buster corny movie with the name of Persia on the title and right now it's not the most important thing going on , however  !Tel l me what do you think ?

it will be another 300 or who cares ?

Gesundheit

 

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Dear John

by Saraamin on

Yupe , its a good idea but not very applicable !its film industry and it cant be done like this.however yes we have a strong communty out there and they have to execute their support not just talking and talking .

by the way gesundheit is German  and Yiddish , means health and yes its being said when you sneeze also when you toast as well !its my signature and of course i can't see you sneezing !

 


John

A solution

by John on

Saraamin, I accept your point.  But I also remember commenting at the time of the "300" debate that instead of complaining about a bad Hollywood movie, Iranian-Americans and Iranian-Canadians should finance or create a film that they can be proud of, whether it be about a historical figure or based on a classic Persian story (Layli & Majnun, or Dear Uncle Napoleon, or ...).  With the number of Iranians living in Tehrangeles, and the number of them that are millionaires, this should be possible to achieve.

By the way, "gesundheit" does mean "bless you", but it is only said in response to someone's sneeze.


Darius Kadivar

I liked Wanted too ;0)

by Darius Kadivar on

Funny you mentioned it cause I also saw it with some jubilation. Not that I liked all the violence but the characters were served by the SFX and not the otherway round. It had a good plot and the entire film experience was unforgettable. The Stunts were meant to be exagerated because of the Plot and that was what made it authentic and believable in an imaginary world. Good Points.


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Dear John

by Saraamin on

Do not underestimate power of media .I mentioned this is not the most important thing going on right now , but these type of movies and video games cover a vast majority from east to west , from movie theaters in Qatar and Dubai to Europe and china , I know Our Gov does the harm in dishonoring iranians , but as a concern Im thinking this type of movies will harm our national and historical face , not in case of this movie exactly but i 'd prefer personally that hollywood comes up with a great story about iran rather BS.

Gesundheit


John

Please, not again!

by John on

I hope and pray (actually I don't pray, because I have the good sense not to include religion and its lies in my life) that we won't have to listen to and read a regurgitation of the same nonsensical criticisms that were made about "300".  The first one was a film adaptation of a comic book, and this one is a film adaptation of a video game.  Let's get real.  There are many problems that merit our concern and consideration, but bad movies aren't among them.


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Dear Dariush

by Saraamin on

I enjoyed your very detailful comment , im a movie geek myself and totally agree with being absolute nonsense of all recent blockbusters !

As I mentioned the only research they did about this movie had been referencing book of 1001 nites , Moreover its not historical at all like 300 , these type of movies suffer from weak screen play , seemingly they just revise games dialouges to movie screen play and mostly its about special digital effects , the point is companies looking for doing risk-free movies , the game sold fine so they think ok now the movie !like stupid sequels of Spiderman and the rest !

the only recent blockbuster i liked almost was Wanted , it's a replica of various movies such as Matrix , but it worths to watch .

finally my point was are we going to get mad about it again because of certain historical malfunction or not .

 


Darius Kadivar

I'm Afraid Not for the Reason's You Mentioned

by Darius Kadivar on

Dear Saraamin,

The Movie may not be about us Persians/Iranians or our History but neither was the Computer Game ( on which the film is based) intended to be a recreation on Ancient Persian History and Culture. As a movie Fan and Critic what matters to me is if the movie is entertaining, Fun to watch but first and foremost if its a good story. Unfortunately such blockbuster films in hollywood have been for the most VERY BORING : Pirates of the Carrebeens, The Mummy 3, and countless other Action Films including the very last Indiana Jones movie have been suffering from an overuse of Special Effects (SFX) and a particularly uninspired movie directoer and unmotivated Cast wondering when they will get their Pay Check.

What has dissapeared at least in the last 10 years eversince we have come to see groundbreaking technological innovations on the Big Screen ( Including 3D ) has been an enchanting movie script. Little is left for improvisation and most characters fail to interact making the entire film look like being a race to include a maximum of effects and little enchantment.

Whatever happened to the wonderful Ray HArryhausen Effects in the 7th Voyage of Sinbad , The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger ? What ever happened to Stop Motion and its visual miracles. Few directors today except maybe Tim Burton today are capable of offering some Fantasy Plots that have this old enchantment but even his talent was not enough to convince his Buddy Johnny Depp to avoid the Pirates Ripp Off and sirens of the Global Market.

Here are two interesting coverages on the destructive effect of Special Effects in recent Productions and how the Old School Did it Better:

Roger Ebert's Journal: Effect of Effects in the Classic film  Thief of Baghdad :
  //blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/08/the_effect_of_effects.html

Are Special Effects becoming Less Special ? : An Excellent nterview on NPR 
  //www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93137790
 
  As for the Prince of Persia, I wish them the best but am a little wary of the result despite a Very good Cast. But if you wish to see History on Screen it won't be any more close to it than in the Dreadful Mummy 3 was about China. You do have a point in that it would be good to see them at least mention the geographical and historical location with accuracy which is a recurrent mistake whenever Persia is mentioned in Hollywood movies.   Best, DK