It came out over here this week, and I actually enjoyed a lot of it. With hindsight I don't understand quite why I enjoyed it so much, but I did.
Gyllenhaal is quite good in the lead role. The accent takes a bit getting used to, as does his immaculately trimmed beard, but I really did like him. Gemma Arterton has little to do except look pretty and make snide remarks to Gyllenhaal, but that mostly worked for me. the chemistry starts off a bit naff but in the end seems pretty solid to me. Ben Kingsley is servicable as the bad guy and in some scenes he is hilariously over the top (when we get introduced to the assassin cult, for example. His facial expressions in that scene are solid gold). Alfred Molina's character worked for me. He's always good, and he makes the annoying comedy sidekick actually funny! the other characters are very light, but decent enough.
The movie looks pretty stunning (the big FX scene near the end which is in all the trailers, the ruins collapsing and the prince sliding along the sand looks better on screen than in the trailer, but it's still a bit Mummy Returns). the cityscapes and landscapes (the latter of which I'm not sure are location shots or CGI) are very beautiful looking. There are some impressive sets on display as well, with a shitload of extra's as well. Very old fashioned (like most of the movie, actually) which works for me. The major problem was that the acrobatics are pretty decent (David Belle is credited for the parkour scenes), but horribly cut: nearly all the fight scenes are badly edited and filmed with way too many close-ups, incredibly cheap looking slow motion (there's some speed ramping, but mostly of it is just not very good looking slow motion). Also, the parkour isn't half as impressive as it was in District 13, or as magical looking as a great wire-fu flick. I was disappointed by it, as Newell's Harry Potter flick had some of the best looking and easy to follow action sequences of recent years. I guess there was a different cinematographer and/or editor on this flick.
The script is all over the place (I'd love to read Jordan Mechner's original screen story. The script is credited to-I think-four different writers, and it shows). It often is meandering and without any sense of urgency. The set pieces are very decent but in between there's an awful lot of awfully boring exposition. I liked the characters and the way it incorporates several elements from the game (the ending especially) and the Dagger Of Time effects is pretty gorgeous and used sparingly enough that it doesn't become boring. It's not a brilliant script by any means with all the poor pacing and general lack of direction, but it still is servicable enough that I (mostly) didn't notice the flaws until after it finished.
Oh yeah, the soundtrack is totally forgettable. Except for the atrocious Alanis Morisette end credits song which I couldn't forget fast enough.
Damn, I made it sound pretty awful, while I actually really did enjoy myself. weird.
Gyllenhaal is quite good in the lead role. The accent takes a bit getting used to, as does his immaculately trimmed beard, but I really did like him. Gemma Arterton has little to do except look pretty and make snide remarks to Gyllenhaal, but that mostly worked for me. the chemistry starts off a bit naff but in the end seems pretty solid to me. Ben Kingsley is servicable as the bad guy and in some scenes he is hilariously over the top (when we get introduced to the assassin cult, for example. His facial expressions in that scene are solid gold). Alfred Molina's character worked for me. He's always good, and he makes the annoying comedy sidekick actually funny! the other characters are very light, but decent enough.
The movie looks pretty stunning (the big FX scene near the end which is in all the trailers, the ruins collapsing and the prince sliding along the sand looks better on screen than in the trailer, but it's still a bit Mummy Returns). the cityscapes and landscapes (the latter of which I'm not sure are location shots or CGI) are very beautiful looking. There are some impressive sets on display as well, with a shitload of extra's as well. Very old fashioned (like most of the movie, actually) which works for me. The major problem was that the acrobatics are pretty decent (David Belle is credited for the parkour scenes), but horribly cut: nearly all the fight scenes are badly edited and filmed with way too many close-ups, incredibly cheap looking slow motion (there's some speed ramping, but mostly of it is just not very good looking slow motion). Also, the parkour isn't half as impressive as it was in District 13, or as magical looking as a great wire-fu flick. I was disappointed by it, as Newell's Harry Potter flick had some of the best looking and easy to follow action sequences of recent years. I guess there was a different cinematographer and/or editor on this flick.
The script is all over the place (I'd love to read Jordan Mechner's original screen story. The script is credited to-I think-four different writers, and it shows). It often is meandering and without any sense of urgency. The set pieces are very decent but in between there's an awful lot of awfully boring exposition. I liked the characters and the way it incorporates several elements from the game (the ending especially) and the Dagger Of Time effects is pretty gorgeous and used sparingly enough that it doesn't become boring. It's not a brilliant script by any means with all the poor pacing and general lack of direction, but it still is servicable enough that I (mostly) didn't notice the flaws until after it finished.
Oh yeah, the soundtrack is totally forgettable. Except for the atrocious Alanis Morisette end credits song which I couldn't forget fast enough.
Damn, I made it sound pretty awful, while I actually really did enjoy myself. weird.
