20 Video Game Movie and TV Moments That INSULTED Fans

The noughties were not the best of times for video game adaptations, and by 2010 we had come to expect nothing great of them. As such, Mike Newell’s Jake Gyllenhaal-led adaptation of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was met with shrugging indifference from critics and fans. But it’s not all that bad.

We drop in with Dastan (Gyllenhaal), a rags-to-riches street urchin-turned-prince, whose rugged good looks are matched only by his parkour skills. Betrayed by his adopted uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley), Dastan goes on the run with Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) and a mystical dagger that can turn back time. And, for the most part, this is a pacey ride through grand set-pieces and well-choreographed action sequences.

However, the whole thing collapses under its own self-confidence at the end. Fans generally don’t take kindly to fake-out endings (ask any level-headed cinemagoer who saw Breaking Dawn – Part 2), and Prince of Persia asks us to stomach one of the most egregious of all time. In a thrilling final sequence, the film boldly has the female lead and love interest sacrifice herself for Dastan, before he battles the villain and… time rewinds to the beginning of the film. Everything we have seen is retconned, and the prince is able to stop the betrayals, killing and sacrifices before they ever happen, leaving us asking: what’s the point?