Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Fun, escapist film
Cons: Predictable;
almost kisses
The Bottom Line: Persia 's orphan
prince
Saves the day in a popcorn
Film you will enjoy
Sword Wielding Fantasy Equals Fun Flick
Somewhere on my computer, I still have the original Prince
of Persia game. While I haven't gotten
into the many other games in the franchise, I did get a kick out of it. So naturally, I paid attention when they
announced Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
I never did make it to see this one in theaters, but I recently rented
and enjoyed it.
Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) was a poor orphan in ancient Persia until he
was adopted by King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup).
Raised with the other princes, he comes to love his new family dearly.
When the holy city of Alamut
begins selling weapons to the enemy, Dastan and his brothers feel they have no
choice but to invade the city. Even
after taking Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) hostage, they can find no
evidence of those weapons.
Tamina is obsessed with a dagger that Dastan has taken as a
spoil of war. When Dastan is suddenly
accused of murder, the two must flee for their lives. What secret does that dagger hold? Will Dastan clear his name?
Make no mistake about it, this movie has summer block buster
written all over it. There are big
action scenes and plenty of special effects.
At times those did overshadow things, especially in the beginning when I
found myself a couple of steps behind the characters. By the end, I was following everything just
fine.
Unfortunately, the story is predictable. A few things kept me in suspense throughout
the movie, but I predicted most of the twists before they happened. But this isn't a movie that's trying to break
new ground. It just wants to have fun,
and in that it succeeds in spades.
I thought the special effects were quite good. I believed everything I saw, and they never
pulled me out of the film. Likewise, the
acting was great. The actors played it
mostly straight, which made me really care for the main characters. And the sword battles were lots of fun.
Even the first incarnation of the game involved jumping on
pegs and ledges over the ground. I had
to smile at how they worked this into the movie. Fans of the games won't be disappointed.
My biggest irritant was the poorly timed kiss. What do I mean? As the movie progresses, Dastan and Tamina
start to fall for each other (no surprise there). But they chose the worst possible times to
start to move in for a kiss, leading to further plot complications. Not only was I yelling at the screen, but I
was also rolling my eyes that they would really risk everything they were
working toward to kiss right then.
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