Much of the hype surrounding the Jerry Bruckheimer faux-epic Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the Disney adaptation of the blockbuster videogame, has centered on its star, Jake Gyllenhaal, who for the past several months has been the main target of a not-inconsiderable amount of ridicule leveled at the film's trailers, which admittedly range from cheesy to laughable. Surprisingly (to yours truly, at least), Gyllenhaal isn't nearly as unconvincing an action hero in the role of Dastan, Prince of Persia's main protagonist, as the footage seemingly presaged. Granted, the period of adjustment required to take the Donnie Darko and Brokeback Mountain star seriously as a swashbuckling ladies' man is far longer than that of, say, Johnny Depp or Robert Downey Jr., and Gyllenhaal's English accent does have the annoying habit of lapsing into a sort of drunken Cockney during times of stress, but he still proves more than adequate by established popcorn-movie standards.
The film's plot draws primarily from the 2003 iteration of the game. The adopted son of Sharaman (Ronald Pickup), king of the film's ahistorical, non-denominational ninth-century "Persia," former street kid Dastan is raised alongside his father's birth sons Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garciv (Toby Kebbell), and grows up to become a great warrior loved by royalty and commonfolk alike. While helping his brothers conquer the holy city of Alamut, Dastan comes across the Dagger of Time, a magical device that enables its possessor to travel back in time -- provided its hilt is filled with the proper amount of magic sand, of course.
Naturally, such a device could prove a powerful weapon in the wrong hands, and Dastan soon finds himself on the run, accompanied only by Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton), who claims to have been anointed by the gods (whose gods, we're never told) to protect the Dagger from those who covet it -- namely the king's brother Nazam (Ben Kingsley), whose evil machinations are rather obviously telegraphed by his sinister fu manchu.
Tamina plays dual roles, functioning also as the sacred Keeper of the Backstory, serving up portions of the film's mythology during lengthy bits of exposition after each milestone in Dastan's quest. In this sense, Prince of Persia nods conspicuously to its videogame roots, mimicking the structure of a traditional quest game: A period of feverish action is followed by the narrative equivalent of the "Thank you, but the Princess is in another castle" trope from the original Super Mario Bros.
As in the classic Nintendo game, the process grows tiresome, if not boring. And yet, like a lean, swarthy, greasy-haired Mario, Gyllenhaal soldiers on, laboring vainly to overcome the film's narrative deficiencies and Mike Newell's often jarringly mediocre effects work. He loses the battle, but in the process proves himself a worthy action star. Unfortunately for Gyllenhaal, his princess is in another castle.
Hollywood.com rated this film 2 stars.
Network Reviews
Prince of Persia 
Posted by: BRANDI1202 | 8/16/2010 12:27:29 PM
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
Loved this film! Jake was awesome!
pure fantasy 
Posted by: FORBESM36 | 8/15/2010 8:46:01 AM
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
Standard plot but fun to watch.
Entertaining! 
Posted by: TIGRE | 8/5/2010 3:12:57 PM
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
I liked this movie. I've never played the video games but I do know about them and I was pretty entertained throughout the movie. I personally think though their could have been less talking and more action.
If you liked the Mummy movies then you should like this. You don't have to be a gamer in order to get into it.
A Good Flick 
Posted by: Christbrown2 | 7/15/2010 9:26:22 AM
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
I enjoyed this movie. The CGI was very good, and the historical period, costumes and set were presented in a very appealing manner.
Pretty Good Movie 
Posted by: AGGIE01 | 7/10/2010 6:48:11 AM
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
Pretty good movie. Not too bad, not too good. Just a general movie that I could have been shown on Sci-Fi. But it would not have happened with the quality of actors and actresses in it. Special affects were nicely done.
Pretty much Pirates of the Caribbean with Persian words and wardrobe 
Posted by: brewzkee | 7/9/2010 4:56:30 PM
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
It's hard not to compare Hollywood conversions of your favorite, graphic novel, videogame etc and having grown up with the Prince of Persia games I must say these sands are truly forgettable. Pretty much Pirates of the Caribbean with Persian words and wardrobe exchanged.
fyi tom wisdom - the guy who played Astinos in the movie 300 was the character come to life.
ok movie 
Posted by: quierofu | 6/30/2010 8:50:46 AM
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
ok movie
It was a great movie! 
Posted by: amanda_031291 | 6/1/2010 6:04:45 PM
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
I loved it. It was definitely worth seeing in theaters. Would recommend it to friends and will definitely buy when it comes available on DVD.
This movie fails!!! If like to save money then avoid this movie. 
Posted by: sugar_high714 | 6/1/2010 12:00:09 AM
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
I was hoping for the best when coming into this movie yet I was disappointed. The movie was anything but original so you could predict it from a mile away.
best movie 2010 
Posted by: nooraldeen | 5/31/2010 10:54:04 PM
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.
this movie so far in the year of 2010 was the best movie that i watched, i loved it and i would like to incourage everyone who loves action,adventure and romance based movies should go head and see it.
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