Movie Review: Prince Of Persia (2010)
May 29th, 2010 - 12:41 pm ICT by Sampurn Wire
May 29, 2010 (Sampurn Wire):Prince Of Persia- Cool Entertainer For Hot Summer
Rating: 2.5 out of 5*
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley
Director: Mike Newell
Based on the video game series created by Jordan Mechner, “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” begins with Dastan (William Foster) as an orphaned boy being rescued in the marketplace by King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup).
The king adopts him and he is raised as a prince (Jake Gyllenhaal) along with the king’s real sons, Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell). Nizam (Ben Kingsley), the kings’ brother, becomes Dastan’s closest confidante. There must always be a beautiful princess, so enter Tamina (Gemma Arterton), ruler of the neighboring kingdom of Alamut, which Tus has been forbidden by his father to invade. Nizam, however, has convinced Tus that these religious people are hording a cache of WMDs, a.k.a. swords, knives, etc., and they must be attacked. As it turns out, he’s really after a holy dagger that holds the “Sands of Time’, capable of turning back time and allowing whomever possesses the dagger to rule the world.
The plot is a whole lot of nonsense that only occasionally makes sense. Where the film delivers is in some impressive action scenes and the confirmation, with the introduction of the Alfred Molina character, that’s really just out to have fun. Director Mike Newell toes the line of staging some entertaining adventure scenes while simultaneously keeping the spirit of the video game alive. Effective comic relief comes as the hand of Molina, who has some of the better comedic dialogue and delivery. The action is aplenty and the visual effects are serviceable, if underwhelming.
Jake Gyllenhaal doesn’t make for a very engaging hero and probably has the worst accent since Nicholas Cage in Con Air. On the bright side, he has bulked up and the stone-faced image actually plays into the film’s hands. Gemma Arterton of Quantum of Solace fame, makes for an attractive princess but as a foil for Dastan she’s not quite up to snuff. Sir Ben Kingsley is excellent as usual. Alfred Molina is the show-stopper in every scene he appears.
With a light tone and fast-paced action, the film succeeds at what it’s going for and passes the muster as a cool entertainer in this scorching summer. Do give it a try if you have nothing else to do.
-Sampurn Wire
- 'Prince of Persia' - Good to beat the summer heat (IANS Film Review, Rating: ***) - May 30, 2010
- Everything changed since Bond film: Gemma Arterton (Interview) - May 02, 2010
- Hollywood Churn- Out In 2010: Year Of Fantasies - Dec 28, 2010
- Gemma Arterton talks about her love scenes with Jake Gyllenhaal - Sep 11, 2010
- Ben Kingsley to play evil Nizam in 'Prince of Persia' - Jun 06, 2008
- Hollywood scored high with fantasies, action in India (2010 in Retrospect) - Dec 27, 2010
- Sir Ben Kingsley heaps praise on Jake Gyllenhaal - May 24, 2010
- Hollywood facing "whitewashing" accusations over Prince of Persia film - May 29, 2010
- Alfred Molina to star in 'Prince of Persia' - Jun 03, 2008
- Gemma Arterton left 'flabbergasted' with Jake Gyllenhaal's body - May 19, 2010
- When Arterton kissed Gyllenhaal - Mar 11, 2009
- Gyllenhaal, Artertons banned tongue kiss - Mar 11, 2009
- Gemma Arterton dumps stuntman boyfriend - Dec 08, 2008
- I wanted to be a princess: Arterton - Jun 05, 2010
- Gemma Arterton wants to continue with low-budget films - Apr 18, 2010
Tags: alamut, alfred molina, ben kingsley, comic relief, confidante, director mike newell, gemma arterton, jake gyllenhaal, jordan mechner, kings brother, mike newell, nicholas cage, nizam, prince of persia, prince of persia the sands of time, richard coyle, sands of time, solace, toby kebbell, video game series