Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: Review By Yahzee

It seems there may be a curse on videogame based films. They either are a box office failure, or critical bombs. Most of the time both. This might be the reason why films based on the interactive entertainment aren't given big budgets, or maybe is the other way around.

The last attempt at a big event in this "genre" were the Tomb Raider films that starred Angeline Jolie, but while the first was successful enough, nobody seemed to care the second time around.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who knows how to make a hit, has given the beloved Prince of Persia a chance at success with a strong cast, a big budget, and a proven director, Mike Newell who helmed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Dastan, the titular Prince of Persia, an orphan boy who is taken from the streets by the king Sharaman of Persia after an unusual demonstration of courage. The king rises as one of his own children, Tus and Garsiv, and teaches him and his two other sons that brotherhood must always stay strong.

Years go by and we find a reluctant Dastan fights against the people of Alamut because they suppossedly are making weapons and selling them to Persian enemies. After taking the city he is celebrated as a hero while his brother offers Tamina (Gemma Arterton), the Princess of Alamut, the chance to save her city by marrying him. During the battle Dastan acquires a mysterious dagger who he later knows is the Dagger of Time, an artifact that makes possible to go back in time for a short period.

But during the celebration of the victory the king is murdered and Dastan has to run with Tamina after being accused of the crime.

Suspecting a plot within the royal family itself he starts a journey to ind the truth about the dagger and its real purpose in the events since the attack on the city. But journey is not easy with an always mistrusting Tamina and later a merchant known as Sheikh Amar (Alfred Molina) who is always in search of money.

Fearing that his uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley) might have a bigger role in the king's murder Dastan must find if there's truly a destiny, or we make our own paths.

There was some criticism over the casting of Jake Gyllenhall as the Prince of Persia, but I found his portrayal to be totally engaging. He manages to portray and action-adventurer and also a proud of his own skills hero that feels sometimes like a combination of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. He's character also displays an extraordinary agility and skills to jump from one object to another, climb walls, run, all exactly like a videogame character would do (Duh!)

Gemma Arterton as Princess Tamina is on the other hand the strong female lady. She feels like a mirror of Keira Knightley's character on the Pirates of the Caribbean films, and she is almost not allowed to do more than what that character did, including his relationship with Dastan who is all the time a game of mistrust and deceit to the point where you have to question why, besides her beauty, is what keeps him going after her or caring at all.

Ben Kingsley confidently as always, plays the villanous Nizam. There's truly not much for him to do on a film like this to play the straightforward villain, but he does so strongly.

Alfred Molina is at times dangerous and a comic relief, and like Kingsley he plays his character with the usual quality, although he obviously seems to have a funnier time.

The rest of the cast makes good enough portrayals with the Hassansins feeling a little like a little less mystical form of the Immortals of 300.

The special effects are no doubt one the highlights of the film with the time traveling transitions being specially stunning. For once I didn't feel at any time I was watching a CGI film.

The musical score by Harry Gregson Williams feels like a nice combination of the usual Remote Control sound with typical Middle East musical styles, with synthesizers, electric guitar and all. It only emphasizes the hip touch a videogame movie must have.

The adventure and action are non stopping and Prince of Persia is pure fun from beginning to end, despite some shortcoming in character development Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead proves to be a inspired choice, and luckily away enough from Jack Sparrow drunken looney attitude to avoid him becoming a children's phenomen.

The only big problem I found is with the ending, that was way too convenient and somehow made all but one character's journey meaningless and lost the emotional touch the film seemed to try to achieve.

Mike Newell has finally broken the curse of the videogame film adaptations? That depends on your point of view, but from a purely entertaining side, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time delivers a fun ride, some likeable characters and spectacular visuals.