So last night I got to see Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the Jerry Bruckheimer film loosely based on the 2003 video game of the same name. Now I have to say, I wasn't very sure how this movie was going to turn out. I am a big fan of the Prince of Persia video games (I own all four games in the "Sands of Time" series, including the newly-released "Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands"), and I've always felt that they were fantastic games but I never really saw them working all that well as a movie. The games, for the most part, stick to a pretty straight formula: do some crazy, gravity-defying acrobatics to get from point A to point B, solve a "push the block, pull the lever" puzzle, fight a huge hoard of bad guys, rinse and repeat. The plots of the games are engaging and interesting (especially the first one on which this movie is based), but for the bulk of the game the plot serves no real purpose but to give you a reason to go from point A to point B, keeping most of the interesting plotting at the beginning and end of the game. While this type of plot structure works great for a video game, where the focus is more on the gameplay itself, it doesn't necessarily translate all that well into a movie.
Luckily, Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Director Mike Newell realized this, and decided that it was better off to use the video game series as more of an inspiration than trying to retell their story exactly. While there are certain elements taken directly from the game (most notably the Dagger of Time), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time features an all new plot written specifically for the movie. While the movie doesn't break new cinematic ground by any stretch of the imagination, it definitely takes its inspiration from the best, and proves itself to be a very entertaining classic example of a summer popcorn flick.
"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" takes place in 6th century Persia (which you may remember from your history books as being filled with white people with British accents who have developed technologies such as crossbows and hand grenades). The movie tells the story of Dastan (Jake Gyllenhall), a street orphan who was adopted by the good-hearted king of Persia when he witnessed him do a good deed for another boy in the streets one day. Though Dastan has no royal blood in him, the king holds him in as high esteem as his other two sons, Garsiv and Tus, and makes Dastan an official member of the royal family. Fast-forward a few years, and the Persian army is getting ready to invade the holy city of Alamut, lead by the legendarily beautiful Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton, who you may remember as Bond girl Strawberry Fields from "Quantum of Solace"). The leaders of Persia believe that Alamut is secretly forging large amounts of weapon (*cough cough* of mass destruction *cough cough*) and selling them to Persia's enemies. During the invasion of the holy city, Prince Dastan stumbles upon the mystical Dagger of Time. He is eventually accused of a crime he didn't commit, and is forced on the run from the Persian army, with Princess Tamina conveniently joining him.
So the plot might not be the most original. But if you walked into a theater expecting a movie titled "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" (which sounds just like a 30s adventure serial) to be a wholly original, artistically-made film, than you're living under a rock. But Bruckheimer (who is no stranger to big-budget blockbusters) and director Mike Newell do a fantastic job keeping the plot moving and keeping it interesting the whole way through. Though you never feel like the heroes are in any real danger in the movie (if all else fails they can just hit the "rewind" button on the dagger), there is never a dull moment in the movie, so you never really have any time to realize that you've probably seen all of this stuff in many other big-budget movies before. The action scenes are incredibly well choreographed and paced, and the movie does a fantastic job of making sure that none of the action scenes overstay their welcome (something that director Michael Bay has yet to learn). The parkour stunts are all very impressive, and people who have played the video games will notice some nice nods to the Prince's move set from the game.
Many people questioned the casting of Jake Gyllenhall as the Prince, saying that he's too white to be playing a Persian prince. While yes, that is true, you have to remember that none of the characters in the video game are all that Persian either, and I think Gyllenhall does a fantastic job of translating the Prince's sometimes-arrogent yet still very likable personality to the big screen. I also think I'm becoming a Gemma Arterton fan--she is definitely beautiful, but she's much more than just Megan Fox-type eye candy, as Arterton is a fantastic actress as well whose performance stands up great next to Gyllenhall. The two are at their best when they're going back and forth exchanging smart quips with each other, but all of the "romance" scenes seem very forced, as I almost felt like many of their exchanges seemed more brother-sisterly rather than that of "lovers". Alfred Molina's character is always a joy to see on screen, as his modern-sounding rants about politics and taxes and his deep held love of ostrich racing are always funny.
I don't think it's fair to judge a movie on something that it's not trying to be. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" doesn't try to be the next landmark movie--it just tries to be an entertaining summer popcorn flick, and in that regard it more than succeeds. It understands the limits of the source material, and constructs a story that is consistently engaging the entire way through. That, combined with some really cool stunts, clever humor, and a fantastic cast, definitely make this a great choice to go see on a Friday or Saturday night with a huge group of friends.
I give it 4/5 stars.
