Prince of Persia : Les sables du temps

Qui, parmi celles et ceux qui ont été gamins dans les années quatre-vingt-dix, n’a pas joué à Prince of Persia ? Mais si ma mémoire est bonne, la princesse constituait la fin et pas le moyen. Et elle était gardée par un méchant sultan et un gros vizir. L’adaptation filmique est visuellement correcte, mais lourdement chargée en images de synthèse et, surtout, tirée en longueur. Puis, ça manque parfois de piquant et l’intrigue est un peu inutilement alambiquée et tout tourne toujours autour d’un poignard… Donc, pour finir, c’est à se demander si ce n’est pas juste – excusez-moi du terme – de la merde ! Sinon, la distribution est honnête et Ben Kingsley ne déçoit pas. (22/09/2013)

Gyllenhaal et Artertonka sont deux raisons pour lesquelles je penche vers une meilleure évaluation. Vous ne trouverez pas de couple plus sympathique dans un spectacle d'aventure. Le film lui-même est porté par une grandiose épopée, une bonne musique et une atmosphère agréablement exotique, mais il se fait du mal avec un minimum d'idées originales, en ne tenant pas compte du potentiel d'acteurs dans les rôles secondaires et aussi avec des scènes d'action étonnamment confuses. Les "Momie" de Sommers et les "Pirates des Caraïbes" de Verbinski étaient tout simplement des pièces plus affûtées. (20/05/2010)

Jerry emptied the golden Persian treasury, exchanged it for dollars, and entrusted two hundred million to an English director of conversational films. The trailers warned us, but I really didn't see this fiasco coming. Newell gives you proof that in Pirates of the Caribbean, Verbinski wasn't just a cheap routinist with a bloated wallet after a few minutes, when he shoots all the scenes in detail so that the action is a confused and cluttered show of people jumping all over the castle walls. Then this repeats after twenty minutes without any significant innovation. The film also severely lacks any mystique, so there is no risk of being drawn into the plot (which is more or less non-existent anyway). I was downright ashamed of Jake, but I admired Gemma immensely for two hours. This type of beautiful and beautifully-sarcastic actress has been missing in Hollywood blockbusters for a long time. I’m giving it two stars just for the fact that Clash of the Titans pissed me off a little more than this. I actually left the movie theater for 5 minutes in the second third, thinking I was going to give up... (19/06/2010)

Surprisingly, it exceeded my (to be honest, very low) expectations. Prince of Persia is a harmless summer blockbuster with a very likeable main couple. The story doesn’t try to be smart (any viewer with at least some experience will guess the ending) and the performances aren’t brilliant, but that would’ve been too much to expect. I had fun, so I’m satisfied. 6/10 (18/08/2010)

Newell is good with actors – the mischievous and sparkly Gyllenhaal / Arterton duet is a pleasure to watch – but Newell is desperate not to do it with epic sauce. Even in Harry Potter, it was noticeable when some of the conversations were the funniest and most impressive things about the film. Prince of Persia is putting on a sterile crown. Futile fancy magic with a "game-like" camera, parkour walled in by the editing, and duels that are wooden and lack anything. Some of the images are unbearably plastic instead of fabulously magical. Nevertheless, I had a very satisfying time with the film. As a fairytale it works (thanks to the actors), only the feeling of plastic harmlessness of the environment limits the fantasy. The Prince of Persia is such a nice Disney figure who doesn't offend. Sometimes he delights, sometimes he jumps around without even plucking out of lethargy. Too bad, the potential was there, and it was considerable. I will miss Jake's veal conception in action fantasy. (01/09/2010)