Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review

By: Robert Acosta

Cast:
Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan
Gemma Arterton as Princess Tamina
Ben Kingsley as Nizam
Alfred Molina as Sheik Amar

Plot: Based on the popular video game series, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time follows Prince Dastan as he tries to stop a ruler from carrying out his evil plans.

Review: For the readers who know my style of reviewing, you know I like to add notes at the beginning of these reviews. Why stop now? I can honestly say i've never played any of the Prince of Persia games. Not that the games themselves didn't interest me but I guess they were never my style. These games, so i've been told, are very action based, so I figured I should give this movie a chance.

Most reviewers who review this movie said that Gyllenhaal carried the movie with a great performance. Not to take anything away from him because I think he did a great job, but I wouldn't go as far to say he carried the movie. He put in one hell of a performance that was both star-worthy and comical. Gemma Arteron is a gem to look at, she is just stunning. The hard to keep your eyes off her in every scene she's in kind of stunning. Not a bad actress either, made the chemistry between herself and Prince Dastan very believable. The chemistry between them is so good in fact, that I actually felt a little bad for what happens in the end, which of course I won't spoil.

As for the story, I can't say whether it is anything like the games cause I haven't played any of them. The story on it's own though was pretty enjoyable and made sense. I didn't feel like they're were any plot holes or things that could have been avoided.

Of course for action based games turned into an action based movie, i'm obligated to talk about the action. I'm a sucker for a good ol' bow and arrow, so when I saw that weapon in the movie I got instantly excited. After being sort of disapointed with the lack of action in Iron Man 2, I was decently pleased with the action in Prince of Persia. There were a couple of longer action scenes, quick action scenes and the typical "on the edge of your seat" action scenes. It all blends very nicely.

Though it didn't really feel all too long, the movie does run for 116 minutes. Is that bad? Yes and no. I've always found it difficult to sit in a chair, completely still for a couple of hours. On the other hand, most of the good movies that are out there are over 100-105 minutes, or even longer.

There were definitely a couple of scenes that had me saying, "oh no this isn't good." Both of these scenes were crucial to the story, particularly the ending. One was just a little too much expression for my liking and the other sort of reminded me of what the movie Vantage Point was like.

Looking past the couple of flaws the movie had, I cannot say Prince of Persia was a bad movie. Other major sites and newspapers have said otherwise. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that this is an amazing movie, a 5 out of 5 movie. What I will tell you is that the movie is not bad, much better than I expected. It's definitely worth seeing if you're a fan of the game or like a good action movie.

Overall: 3.5 out of 5.