Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina, Steve Toussaint, Toby Kebbell, Richard Coyle
Directed by: Mike Newell
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure
2010

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), an adopted prince of Persia suddenly becomes a fugitive when he is framed for murdering the King. Now, he must team with an enemy princess (Gemma Arterton) to protect the legendary dagger holding the sands of time and clear his name.

Review:

Tim: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a monumental failure. This is the kind of movie I should love. It is a big budget action adventure movie, based on a popular video game series. It was similar in tone to Pirates of the Caribbean, and starred one of my favorite young actors. There was absolutely no reason for me to dislike this movie. I should have been easily pleased. Alas, such was not to be the case. This movie is a disappointment and a mess. When I saw this film in theaters, I nearly walked out (and I never, ever do that). When I saw it again, I liked it slightly better, but still consider this a failure.

The biggest problem with this movie is that it is clunky, boring, and too up-and-down. Everything is taken so seriously, but the movie doesn't flow very well. There are too many down moments, too many scenes that are drawn out and slow. The movie is never convincing, and suffers from a series of problems.

I was really excited for this movie to help create an action hero out of Jake Gyllenhaal. I like him a great deal, and I think he could succeed in any kind of role. I love the idea of him as an action star. He is fine as Prince Dastan, but the writing and his dialogue greatly holds him back. I was impressed with his physical appearance and the wide array of stunts he performed. He was mostly good, but suffers because of his cliche-ridden character. He spends much of the movie interacting with Gemma Arterton. Sadly, this was one of the bigger flaws of the film. I am suprised by this. I actually generally enjoy Arterton. I think she is a talented actress. She was easily the best part of Clash of the Titans, but she just doesn't work here. She and Gyllenhaal have almost no chemistry. Their whole relationship felt forced and silly. They are supposed to banter back-and-forth, and yet, I never bought any of this for a second. Their relationship never really materialized on screen. It was one of the worst parts of the film, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes every time they were supposed to be cute in their love-hate relationship. It was awful.

Ben Kingsley was fine, if you consider playing a typically bland villain fine. Kingsley used to be such a talented actor, but I don't understand why he keeps slumming it in these disappointing films. He deserves better roles than this. I was glad to see Alfred Molina, although his character was terrible. I thought the whole "modern businessman in ancient Persia" was ridiculous and stupid. Why was this character complaining about taxes, government conspiracies, and being an entrepreneur in ancient Persia? This completely took me out of the film, and was an awful addition to the script.

The movie itself is a mess of half-baked ideas, all crammed together. The movie feels disjointed and meandering. Director Mike Newell needed to bring more focus to the film. The movie isn't exciting or engaging enough to keep us interested for nearly two hours.

I really wanted to like this movie, but I simply couldn't. I did not buy the forced relationship between Gyllenhaal and Arterton. I thought the story was a bit silly. I never like any plot point that could potentially undo the events of the entire film, making everything that happened seem pointless. I also don't like lazy writing, forced humor that doesn't work, or convenient, quick endings. Unfortunately, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time had all those. It does have some interesting action sequences, but they are shot so close up that it's often difficult to follow what was going on.

I am not the type of movie watcher that automatically hates video game adaptations. I really wanted this movie to work, and I would have loved this to be the first film in a franchise. However, this movie was so bad and so disappointing that I actually wouldn't be upset if this was the only film made. That makes me sad, as does this film's failure.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Zodiac, The Day After Tomorrow