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Jake Gyllenhall: Big Action Star

Kim Hollis: Price of Persia: The Sands of Time also opens on Memorial Day weekend. This is probably the big-budget early summer release we've discussed the least. What are your expectations for it? What are your thoughts about the film itself?

Josh Spiegel: My thoughts on the film are that Jake Gyllenhaal just doesn't look like an action hero. He looks like a kid playing dress-up. I've got no interest, not being familiar with the source material. If there's enough marketing, the movie might do well, but I would not be surprised if this movie flops, and flops hard. Gyllenhaal's not a typical hero, the source material isn't (I think) the most popular among video games, and it just looks a bit silly. But this movie could just as easily do Pirates of the Caribbean numbers and surprise me. But I've got zero interest here.

Daron Aldridge: Great. Another video game adaptation that stars Ben Kingsley. The plus side is that this time around, the very talented Mike Newell is directing as opposed to a director that is a favorite critical/commerical black hole. I have high confidence in Newell, who made Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire a fun ride of a film and Donnie Brasco a highly underrated and tense mob film. Gyllenhaal doesn't bother me in this role but I did find it curious that the trailer I have seen sidesteps giving Jake too many lines. The big question for me is if his British (as a substitute for Persian) accent, will rival Costner's Robin Hood? Disney is aiming for another Pirates-esque franchise but I am not buying it with this one. Curse of the Black Pearl had ridiculous legs that its own sequels couldn't match. Given that this one is opening on Memorial Day weekend, my estimate is this one will edge out the Carrie Bradshaw sequel to win the long weekend but not by much. Say $60 million over four days and a $150 million total, which isn't good since that is the reported budget.





Jason Lee: I agree with Daron -- between the the Walt Disney brand name and the wider appeal, this film should win the weekend (especially given SATC's Thurs opening). I do think, however, that between Clash of the Titans and Robin Hood, people might be a little tired of sword-and-sandal (or bow-and-arrow-and-leather-boots) epics by the end of May. I think this could hurt Prince of Persia.

Shalimar Sahota: Having played, and enjoyed, the Sands of Time video game, I was expecting awful things from this, but the trailers have me convinced. It has an Indiana Jones/The Mummy kind of rush to it. Daron has already mentioned that Mike Newell is directing, which should hopefully suggest quality. However, also on board is the game's creator, Jordan Mechner, something that just never tends to happen, credited for the story and as a producer. I'm actually quite excited about this and hope it delivers. Hell, Bruckheimer made a blockbuster franchise out of a theme park ride. Whose to say he can't do the same with a video game?

David Mumpower: Like Shalimar, I am speaking as someone who owns a couple of the videogames. I have mixed emotions about this feature, though. The concept of the current games (not the 1980s ones) lends itself well to a movie adaptation, because the ability to slightly alter fate makes for great special effects opportunities. I notice that the trailer does incorporate some of the best stylistic visuals from the game. What jumps out at me, however, is how little Jake Gyllenhaal is allowed to talk. That's probably not a good sign about his performance and I agree that it's right to question his capabilities as a potential action hero. The odd aspect is that he was going to be handed the keys to Spider-Man, the Rolls Royce of movie franchises once upon a time, meaning that studio execs have more confidence in his appeal than we do.

When I start trying to gauge the potential of this, I'm all over the place. The tone of the trailers mirrors the first two titles in The Mummy franchise, particularly the "I hate you and cannot wait to sex you up" quarreling between the two leads. I just don't think that Gyllenhaal has anywhere near the charisma of Brendan Fraser and I say that as one of the few people in this world who loves the movie Bubble Boy. I do believe Gemma Arterton can match Rachel Weisz since Weisz wasn't exactly a strong female character in the first Mummy film, but there are just too many question marks here for me to feel confident about the film breaking out. Honestly, if this were not a Disney release and a Jerry Bruckheimer production, I would be expecting it to bomb. Since that talent is behind the project, I think it will wind up making enough in worldwide box office to justify its lofty $150 million production cost. I just don't think it will be very good. My most significant concern here is that if I am a fan of Prince of Persia as a videogame and someone who likes Gyllenhaal well enough and Arterton more than I want my wife to know and I'm still not sold on the movie, why would a casual movie goer be excited about it? The marketing campaign for this needs to find a good angle over the next month if they're going to push this one into the Win column.

Kim Hollis: Like Robin Hood, something just feels off about this one to me. I think it could be fun - maybe silly fun, but this feels like a movie in search of an audience. And I'm in complete agreement that Gyllenhaals seems very out of place here. I like him a lot (in movies like Bubby Boy, Donnie Darko and even Brokeback Mountain to a degree), but he does not inspire confidence in Prince of Persia.

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