Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

PROS: Although, the costume and set designs were flawless. Where creativity lacked in the script, it shows in the design of the sets and costumes. Amazing job. CGI for the most part is enjoyable as well, especially the scenes where characters experience the time-rewinding effect. That about covers it.

CONS: There's no escaping it, most of this movie could fit in this segment, not because of the overall quality of the film, but due to its colossal waste of potential. The cast is FILLED with talented actors, Prince Dastan is played by Jake Gyllenhaal ffs, the antagonist is played by SIR Ben Kingsley, there's also Gemma Arterton (Mommy), Alfred Molina (ngl i did not realize he was in the movie until this very moment) and Toby Kebbell!! Like how can you have a production with all these names and still end up with a JOKE of a story, a script so weak the movie should've just been called Exposition: The Movie, side characters so bland you forget everyone's name...okay i gotta calm down, one step at a time. The characters are HUSKS. They are some of the DRIEST and EMPTIEST characters i've seen in a long time. If it weren't for some actors' innate charisma, everyone in this movie would be an unlikeable, altruistic piece of shit. It seems characters in this movie are written in a way so that they don't think of the repercussions their actions will have on...anything or anyone, for that matter. The dialogue between Dastan and Tamila is boring, dry and so incredibly generic it's almost endearing...like roadkill. Molina's character is the oddest choice for a comic relief since Jar-Jar Binks. He's supposed to be a friendly bazaar owner (or sum like that) who helps Dastan in his quest, but i have the say: the choice of comedy leaves me perplexed. For a movie happening around the 9th Century AD, he sure does make a lot of modern political jokes, which when viewed in context make little to no sense. The plot is inexistent. Seriously, the movie is so lost and nonsensical in any given sequence that, literally after any action sequence, we get a scene of Dastan and Tamila where Dastan SAYS, WORD FOR WORD, what the plot is. There is a subplot concerning the actual antagonist of the film, where it is later revealed to be Ben Kingsley's character. Prince Dastan however, in all his majesty, came to that conclusion before any other could...but he makes such leaps in logic that it would actually be impossible for even Sherlock ****ing Holmes to deduce that much. There are so many conveniences and contrivances in order to make the plot happen that if we stop at any second to figure out how our characters got in the position they are in, we'd be left scratching our heads. Visually, the movie has no style whatsoever. It feels like if a live-action Aladdin adaption with a generic fantasy plot got pregnant from a gangbang with Assassin's Creed, Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. Like, so many elements in this movie have NOTHING to do with each other, it just gets confusing. WORSE YET, there are INTEGRAL elements in the movie which bring NOTHING to the story overall. The main MacGuffin of the story is the Dagger (no mystic name or anything, it's just a Dagger that's not even sharp) with which characters can stop and rewind time by a minute. It's so FRUSTRATING then, that it's actually not used for ANY major event in the movie other than for a disappointing finale. The MacGuffins of the movie are clearly there in order to attach the movie to its IP, but the work is so MEDIOCRE that it serves no purpose whatsoever. We don't even get an explanation as to what Nizam's motivation was (other than Dastan's suspicion) to try and get the MacGuffin, we get no explanation as to how he even became aware of its existence, given that it's supposed to be a highly secret item, Dastan's non-royal upbringing serves literally no purpose whatsoever, Tus is an incoherent character who dies needlessly (and hilariously, might i add) at the end, as is his brother Garsiv. Their deaths were supposed to be emotional beats, but they happen to be the funniest moments in the film. The sheer size of this segment should serve as indication for how upset this movie made me upon rewatch. I'll finish the segment by adding that the music is unremarkable, the camerawork is mediocre at best, the editing is chaotic and too shaky and quickly cut in the action sequences. THE ENDING IS ATROCIOUS OH MY GOD.

PROS: Although, the costume and set designs were flawless. Where creativity lacked in the script, it shows in the design of the sets and costumes. Amazing job. CGI for the most part is enjoyable as well, especially the scenes where characters experience the time-rewinding effect. That about covers it.

CONS: There's no escaping it, most of this movie could fit in this segment, not because of the overall quality of the film, but due to its colossal waste of potential. The cast is FILLED with talented actors, Prince Dastan is played by Jake Gyllenhaal ffs, the antagonist is played by SIR Ben Kingsley, there's also Gemma Arterton (Mommy), Alfred Molina (ngl i did not realize he was in the movie until this very moment) and Toby Kebbell!! Like how can you have a production with all these names and still end up with a JOKE of a story, a script so weak the movie should've just been called Exposition: The Movie, side characters so bland you forget everyone's name...okay i gotta calm down, one step at a time. The characters are HUSKS. They are some of the DRIEST and EMPTIEST characters i've seen in a long time. If it weren't for some actors' innate charisma, everyone in this movie would be an unlikeable, altruistic piece of shit. It seems characters in this movie are written in a way so that they don't think of the repercussions their actions will have on...anything or anyone, for that matter. The dialogue between Dastan and Tamila is boring, dry and so incredibly generic it's almost endearing...like roadkill. Molina's character is the oddest choice for a comic relief since Jar-Jar Binks. He's supposed to be a friendly bazaar owner (or sum like that) who helps Dastan in his quest, but i have the say: the choice of comedy leaves me perplexed. For a movie happening around the 9th Century AD, he sure does make a lot of modern political jokes, which when viewed in context make little to no sense. The plot is inexistent. Seriously, the movie is so lost and nonsensical in any given sequence that, literally after any action sequence, we get a scene of Dastan and Tamila where Dastan SAYS, WORD FOR WORD, what the plot is. There is a subplot concerning the actual antagonist of the film, where it is later revealed to be Ben Kingsley's character. Prince Dastan however, in all his majesty, came to that conclusion before any other could...but he makes such leaps in logic that it would actually be impossible for even Sherlock ****ing Holmes to deduce that much. There are so many conveniences and contrivances in order to make the plot happen that if we stop at any second to figure out how our characters got in the position they are in, we'd be left scratching our heads. Visually, the movie has no style whatsoever. It feels like if a live-action Aladdin adaption with a generic fantasy plot got pregnant from a gangbang with Assassin's Creed, Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. Like, so many elements in this movie have NOTHING to do with each other, it just gets confusing. WORSE YET, there are INTEGRAL elements in the movie which bring NOTHING to the story overall. The main MacGuffin of the story is the Dagger (no mystic name or anything, it's just a Dagger that's not even sharp) with which characters can stop and rewind time by a minute. It's so FRUSTRATING then, that it's actually not used for ANY major event in the movie other than for a disappointing finale. The MacGuffins of the movie are clearly there in order to attach the movie to its IP, but the work is so MEDIOCRE that it serves no purpose whatsoever. We don't even get an explanation as to what Nizam's motivation was (other than Dastan's suspicion) to try and get the MacGuffin, we get no explanation as to how he even became aware of its existence, given that it's supposed to be a highly secret item, Dastan's non-royal upbringing serves literally no purpose whatsoever, Tus is an incoherent character who dies needlessly (and hilariously, might i add) at the end, as is his brother Garsiv. Their deaths were supposed to be emotional beats, but they happen to be the funniest moments in the film. The sheer size of this segment should serve as indication for how upset this movie made me upon rewatch. I'll finish the segment by adding that the music is unremarkable, the camerawork is mediocre at best, the editing is chaotic and too shaky and quickly cut in the action sequences. THE ENDING IS ATROCIOUS OH MY GOD.