Donnie Darko is . . . The Prince of Persia

My prediction: not good.

Flaw #1: Jerry Bruckheimer
This guy has produced 1 good movie, 2 ok movies, and 40+ POS movies. Not a good track record.

The director has only a Harry Potter movie and "4weddings and a funeral" on the positive side of his track record.

The screenwriters have nothing good to their records, and one of them wrote the 1989 Dolph Lundgren Punisher script.

I expect this to be an eyecandy box-office pleaser, but an otherwise horrible crappy movie.

Unless something bizarre happens, and a monkey falls out of a tree.

 

But the Lego sets look spiffy.

 

Go in with no expectations...it's your only hope.

Every summer for more then a decade now, the gap between my preferences in film and what is released gets wider.

There was a "glimmer" of hope with "Dark Knight" a couple years ago, but that hope was dashed by last summer's slop.

The summer season is becoming increasingly filled with "narrow market" films...the concept of the all-around draw is vanishing. Hollywood's hopes these days is for a narrow market film to catch a wave of buzz and draw curious viewers...recent examples of that would include Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder, The Hangover, Twilight movies, and Avatar.

I'm sure the hope is that video game fans come for the title, movie fans come for the trailers, others might bite on the star recognition (hey...wasn't he in Brokeback Mountain?), but these are marketing strategies, rather then a film built to a wide audience.

Jerry Bruckheimer movies make it as far as the the lead actor takes them. Which is unfortunately why we got 42 sequels to "The Rock" with Nick Cage. He caught lightning in a bottle with "one" Johnny Depp movie, and then lost it on empty sequels. Bad Boys 2 is the only Bruckheimer sequel worth a grain...carried completely on chemistry between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

I like Jake...but he isn't a draw...anymore then his buddy Tobey Maquire is (believe it folks...SPIDERMAN was the draw, not him). More to the point, this film would suggest some sort of "re-invention" of Jake Gyllenhaal's career...except, last I checked, the dude was doing fine. He's not a gilded name, but he has a fanbase, and his movies do well, and he does what he wants.

I can only "hope" he chose to do this because he's a big fan of the games and thought it would be a fun thing to do...and moreover, that it's not being taken too seriously by anyone...because it is an uneasy fit...this project isn't a sure thing...and unlike superhero movies...there's no mask here...people will remember him if this falls flat.

That said, won't be any worse then most videogame-film abominations. But wait for rental if you are over 22.

 

Even given what my rational brain knows about video game movies, and even given a general lack of interest in the Prince of Persia games, the movie looks like fun. Will it be "good"? Not even close. At best, it'll be as good as The Mummy. More likely, it's going to be terrible. But it may be entertaining.

Really, as long as I'm entertained in the movie theatre, I'm happy with a movie. Prince looks like it'll succeed in that, so I expect that I'll see it.

 

I want to know when we crossed the threshold that held videogames to higher standard in terms of story then their film adaptations.

It's true.

Big titles like Mass Effect or Final Fantasy...even God of War are judged quite harshly on how the story works, how the game works within the story...how well the dialog fits the characters and story, and so on.

Videogame movies are like a punchline most of the time...where fans of movies and fans of the games have to essentially "check out" to get through the thing.

It makes videogame movies seem like a last gasp cash grab...because the films don't usually boost the franchise.

It's a lot like adaptations of popular books, I guess...it's rarely even close to as good as the book...what is it about hollywood and not getting it right?

 

If you're in the UK the June issue of SFX Magazine features the film. I just got my copy of the magazine in the mail today.

 

You got the June issue...in March?

I know magazines have advanced release...but that's CRAZY!

 

Well, it's almost April - only about 3 hours and a bit to go. And I subscribe so I usually get it right before it hits the newsstand unless there's a postal delay.

 

Is it a monthly?

Cause if it's monthly, April even seems early to me...I usually think of a June issue hitting shelves like the 2nd week of May.

Probably just rushing to keep people reading. 2012's issues will be out by September!

 

Yeah, its a monthly. Most UK magazines have a long lead time. I got the new issue of PC Advisor the other day and it's June as well.

 

I think it's interesting that you're basically the complete opposite from me on this one.

I played the game, it was alot of fun and extremely frustrating. And I don't think this movie looks good at all. It looks terrible.

 

See, this is why I don't play modern video games. "Fun" and "Frustrating" are (for me) antithetical. About the 3rd time I hit my head into a brick wall, I try something else. If that fails, I usually find something else to do. "Unchartedrake's Fortune" was supposedly some highly nominated/award winning game. I turned it off after 10 minutes and gave the game away. It may be a technical marvel, but I don't play that way. It wasn't fun. Again, 3rd or 4th time I have to start over, I decide I have better things to do with my time.

 

THANK YOU!

I don't look to videogames to be some test of my finger dexterity, nor do I play to bask in my superiority over the reflexes and connection lag of my fellow gamer.

Not to mention tiring quickly of repetitive gameplay, which Prince of Persia was...you can't even watch someone else play this one.

Solve Puzzle

Fight Group of Bad Guys in button smashing style

Solve Puzzle

Fight Group of Bad Guys in button smashing style

Solve harder Puzzle

Fight Group of Bad Guys in button smashing style

...

 

I generally don't equate the two, but I'm finding in some circumstances there's overlap. Beat Mass Effect 2 on Insanity after I've run out of ammunition, beat Harbinger to death with my bare hands, watch as he drops ammo for the Cain, reload the Cain and use it to destroy the Proto Reaper as it charges up for a blast that's certain to kill me... totally epic. That sort of moment just doesn't happen on normal difficulty settings. To use another example, in World of Warcraft, easy bosses aren't fun. There's no challenge. On the order hand, bosses can be too challenging for me to have fun - Lady Deathwhisper hard mode 25-man while the buff was still at 5% made me cry a little on the inside.

 

2nd, do you play D&D?

Sounds like you have a Dungeon Master's motto.

 

Only one good movie? That's a very...interesting thing to say.

Well, let's disregard Black Hawk Down, Flashdance, and Top Gun for a moment, because they're popular films, but not really films I'm particularly passionate. However, I do love National Treasure and Pirates of the Caribbean, and he's the producer of both. From the clip I saw of Prince of Persia at WonderCon, this movie looks to be following the same vein. That sense of adventure, sharp, witty dialogue, crisp, well-done action scenes, and killer plot. So really, I can't wait.

 

Pirates of the Carribean:Curse of the Black Pearl is the ONE good movie.
You've also mentioned one of the OK movies.
Crimson Tide was the other.

The rest, while some MAY have been popular or blockbusters, were garbage.

 

So you're one of those people who sees Black Pearl, a movie based on a theme park ride, as a good film, and the other two Pirates movies, which had some of the most original plots and onscreen moments that film has seen in a long time, as trash.

Your opinion, friend. The numbers say people liked them.

 

Yes, the first movie (which originally had absolutely NOTHING to do with the ride--scenes were added in once they had disney's conditional backing and name recognition etc) was good.
The sequels were progressively worse. The overall quality was lower. The fight choreography worse (no Bob Anderson). The logic totally absent. Why? look at the special features. The writers pretty much say "we had 10 years invested in writing the first script, they had to come up with two sequels with viturally no notice, and started pulling stuff out of out butts." There are no good ship-to-ship combat scenes, no technological innovations, no intereseting cinematography, and even the CGI becomes less interesting/believable.

So, bluntly, as far as I'm concerned, the PotC sequels were substatially worse than and pointless compared to the original, in true hollywood sequelitus.

10 billion ants CAN all be wrong.
REDS was the 198? nominee for 13 academy awards, and is my #1 most hated movie/worst movie of all time.

 

I'm loathe to make this thread about Pirates, so in the best interest of ending my portion of the discussion, all I'm going to say is compare, scene-by-scene, the first and third movies. There's a massive, unmistakable difference.

 

So, getting back to the subject, Lego has license for PoP sets. They've had to make an Ostrich and some other custom animals (I think a camel). Any other thoughts?