Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan in "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time"

Genre:  SciFi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Opens on:  May 28th, 2010, this is an early review

Starring:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina, Ben Kingsley

Directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, Love in the Time of Cholera)

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer

Run Time:  1 hour 56 minutes

"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is a really fun movie, totally implausible yet massively entertaining.  It is based on the video game series "The Prince of Persia" and has enough inside references to the original material (much like the Pirates of the Caribbean) to make fans of both the series as well as newbies equally fulfilled.

Click here for a plot synopsis of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

As in the video games, Prince of Persia the movie finds Prince Dastan (Gyllenhaal) as our main hero, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, swinging, rolling, hanging, and acrobatically avoiding obstacles and enemy fire along the way.  Gyllenhaal is surprisingly great in this kind of role, and may have opened doors for himself as the next swash-buckling action-hero.  The movie portrays much of this in a fresh and exciting way, and has enough action throughout to sustain even the shortest of attention spans.

Speaking of attention, not much at all was given to the plot.  Prince of Persia's main plot-line is not complicated (although a basic understanding of time-travel will help...sorry mom), but is totally ludicrous.  The magical dagger, which is the basis of all of the conflict in the movie, must be brought to a sanctuary as this is the only place where it can be kept safe, which begs the question:  why wasn't it in this place to begin the movie?  Because the dagger exists in the movie simply because without it, well, there is no movie (a true film buff would call such a thing a MacGuffin, but not me...)

The fact that the entire last 20 minutes of the movie makes absolutely no sense whatsoever is forgotten completely because the entire movie is so darned entertaining.  Those of you out there who complain that critics need to just "enjoy movies once in a while", this is your film.

The tone is spot-on, pitch-perfect, mixing action and adventure with those all-important comedic moments peppered throughout.  Think about it, all the "great" action/adventure movies have those laugh-out-loud comedic moments:  Star Wars (think Harrison Ford), Indiana Jones (think Harrison Ford), and Pirates of the Caribbean (think Johnny Depp).  Without these moments, the movie becomes too important and takes itself way too seriously.  Prince of Persia has a brilliant sense of when to lighten it up, and when to ramp up the excitement.

It is no coincidence that I've mentioned Pirates of the Caribbean a few times, as Prince of Persia will most definitely draw comparisons.  Both are produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, famous for action-packed classics over the last 30 years (Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop, the Pirate & National Treasure movies to name a few).  They both involve beautiful over-the-top action sequences and thrill-enducing moments.  They both look incredible, from the costumes to the sets, to the computer-animated action.  They both include incredibly memorable performances...Where Pirates had Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, Prince of Persia has Alfred Molina's Sheik Amar.

photo by aceshowbiz.com

Speaking of Sheik Amar, this is the stand-out performance of the movie, only dampened by the fact that we have basically already seen this character in Pirates of the Caribbean.  Sheik Amar looks, acts, and is motivated by the same things as Captain Jack Sparrow, almost to a point where it has you thinking out loud how obvious it is that they are trying to mimic the now-famous character.  With that said, this should take nothing away from the small yet brilliant performance by Alfred Molina, who was also great recently in the very small indy movie, The Little Traitor.  His Sheik Amar is made funny not only from the great lines he is given, but by Molina's deadpan delivery.  His very modern issues (he is a recluse living in 9th-century Persia because he feels he is over-taxed and under-appreciated as a small-business entrepreneur) made the audience I saw the movie with explode with laughter nearly every time he spoke.

The on-screen relationship between Gyllenhaal and the Princess (Arterton) is also very cliched (gee, they've been bickering the whole movie, I wonder if they will kiss before the end?), yet the chemistry between the two sells it.  We accept as an audience the short-comings of the plot, and the moments on screen that feel rushed, because we see the movie not taking itself too seriously...so why should we?  Arterton is not Megan Fox here, she gives some depth and adds bits of humor in her facial expressions and the way she delivers lines...truly amazing considering Arterton's horrible, horrible role in Clash of the Titans.  Ben Kingsley (always great) doesn't get to act all that much here, but his presence alone heightens the material.

As for my "5-star" rating, I normally reserve this for what I consider to be the "best" of the year, or those that I believe are worthy of Award-season praise.  Prince of Persia will not be nominated for Best Picture, but for what it is (a summer action-blockbuster), it completely delivers.

So put your thinking cap aside, Prince of Persia is what going to the movies is all about:  pure escapism, pure entertainment.  The plot is thin and almost laughable at times, and in a different movie, with a lesser cast, with a weaker script, could have crippled the film.  Instead, Prince of Persia has the right balance to make this one of the most enjoyable movies to come out of Hollywood in quite a while.

And take note Hollywood...Here is a movie that could have easily been post-poned a la Clash of the Titans (sorry to mention this movie twice...), and re-equipped for 3-D.  Instead, this 2-D adventure is more enthralling than any 3-D movie I've seen this year.  If you want to feel like you're in the movie?  Try sitting closer to the screen, it worked for me!

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