The San Diego comic con is on, so it's time to geek out, Galvatron (feel free to cringe if you wish).
Disney's line-up of films for next year are something of what you'd expect, but largely not.
Pixar's next endeavor is the long awaited three-quel to Toy Story. Cute and cuddly, you know what to expect- and it will in all likelihood be brilliant and make bucketloads of cash. Wam, bam thankyou mam, another 10 points for predictability and playing it safe. More interesting to those of a geekier disposition are two particular films- one a videogame adaptation, the other a sequel to one of the great pioneers of Hollywood's obsession with effects driven films. They are Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and TRON LEGACY respectively.
Prince of Persia is an adaptation of a long running game series based on one of many stories drawn from the Arabian Nights, and started picking up interest from film studios in 2003, after the release of the highly popular game of the same name released in that year. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as the titular prince, Sir Ben Kingsely as the villainous Vizier, and Gemma Arterton in the role of the princess. With a large budget, recognisable star power (Donnie Darko as the Prince, Strawberry Fields from Quantum of Solace and Ghandhi as the villain, yes please) a hugely experienced lead producer of blockbusters (Bruckheimer was responsible for Pirates of the Carribean) and a script penned in force by the game series creator, Prince of Persia is a well invested hope for movie-goers cash as of next year.
What's so special about it then?
Videogame movies universally suck. After decades of atrocious and apallingly bland adaptations of games from the likes of Uwe Boll and other insight-less directors, hopes are resting on this one to finally be the first truly worthwhile videogame movie. The importance of this movie has more to do with the source-material than it's production values or its casting. If done right, it could capture the dream-like qualities of the game's touching fairytale charms and pose for a genuinely compelling experience.
When it was released in 2003, The Sands of Time was critically acclaimed; though videogame journalism is largely complacent and congratulatory of a large number of titles that recycle material from both the interactive and other mediums- space marines, grungy shades of brown colouring the art aesthetics in every 'gritty' action game and ever increasing levels of potty-mouth are small examples. TSoT was derivative in the sense that it borrows its basic premise from the ancient tales of the Arabian nights (or 1001 Nights), but the plot itself is not tied down to any literal interpretations of anyone tale in particular, which allowed them to create characters that appeal to certain exotic archetypes. The result as received by critics was something that proved to be a genuinely involving story of betrayal, love, redemption and beauty- and it had a likeably poncy lead character, not something you see everyday with videogame fiction largely being thematically vapid and shamelessly derivative. Love, loss, betrayal and pontification- things that would generally be set apart from slaying sand-demons and climbing towers, and certainly a cut above talking monkey side-kicks and musical musings from pining street-urchins (ala Disney's Aladdin). Middle-eastern mysticism is rather undersold in Hollywood these days, and could verywell be the upcoming film's greatest draw point- it's more exotic than jive-talking giant robots or deadly virus outbreaks and bland post-apocalyptic visions. But being able to portray a love story in an action game/movie is no mean feat. The plot of the film will differ greatly from the game's, but the original script was written by the game series creator, Jordan Mechner so, all we can really say from here is "fingers crossed".
TRON LEGACY is the sequel to the financially un-succsessful Disney endeavor of 1982. The first film to use computer graphics extensively, was a flop at the box office, and received a lukewarm reception from critics. It's still really hard to find in a videostores these days. It has since managed to spawn a cult following, and a videogame sequel upon that the new film draws its renewed interest from (funny that). TRON followed the adventure of a man who had been digitized into a computer system, and had to compete with various dangers inside the virtual world to survive and uncover a corporate conspiracy organised by a mastermind computer. Very, very geeky- but it had a certain charm about its Neon drenched visuals, which were very much ahead of its time.
[UPDATE]
Here's the TRON LEGACY trailer from the SDCC. Enjoy trippers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AwvuirSEAA
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