DVD Reviews

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – Blu-ray Review - CLIPS ADDED!

By Patrick Luce Sep 15, 2010, 15:16 GMT

$In the spirit of the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films transport you to the mystical lands of Persia for this wildly entertaining, epic action-adventure. It\'s a race against time when a rogue prince (Jake Gyllenhaal) reluctantly teams up with a rival princess (Gemma Arterton) to safeguard a magical dagger that gives its possessor the power to reverse time and rule the world. Filled$

In the spirit of the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films transport you to the mystical lands of Persia for this wildly entertaining, epic action-adventure. It\'s a race against time when a rogue prince (Jake Gyllenhaal) reluctantly teams up with a rival princess (Gemma Arterton) to safeguard a magical dagger that gives its possessor the power to reverse time and rule the world. Filled ...more

Based on the hit video game franchise, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a CGI popcorn thrill ride of an adventure film that never puts its hero in any real danger, but still gives the audience a good time – as long as they know what to expect.

The film features decent performances from its cast, solid special effects work, and a pace that keeps you from getting bored with the predictable plot or wanting to compare it to other disposable summer flicks – such as the remake of Clash of the Titans.

Directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and produced by the legendary Jerry Bruckheimer, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time took four writers to get the story to the screen (which to me is always a sign of trouble), and it still seemed a little lacking.

Like the Clash of the Titans remake, the story basically just serves as a way to move the hero from one big action sequence to the next with a little time thrown in for some romance and moments for Jake Gyllenhaal to look heroic with his abs of steel and long hair.

The story finds Gyllenhaal stepping into the role of the hero Dastan who has to join with Gemma Arterton’s Tamina to use the mystical Dagger of Time and save his father and the kingdom from Ben Kingsley's Nizam.

There is a back story of how a young Dastan impressed the king and was adopted to become a prince with his two step-brothers. It then jumps to an adult Dastan – who leads a group of soldiers in the king’s army, but is reckless and often doesn’t wait for the orders of his brother. He is also loyal to his adopted father and brothers, and even his adopted uncle Nizam.

After he is framed for the murder of the king, Dastan flees into the desert with Tamina; discovers he has a dagger that can turn back time; figures out the truth about Nizam; and sets out to fix the wrongs that have happened to his father’s kingdom. He also meets the rogue Sheik Amar (Alfred Molina) and has to defend himself against his uncle’s mystical henchmen.

Luckily, Dastan has the amazing ability to flip, jump and run when fighting – which gives him the upper hand in most action sequences. This ability is also used to help tie the movie to the video game since the character often has to jump from place to place to get to the next level.

The film moves at a predictable pace until we reach a final showdown between Dastan and Nizam in a big action sequence that involves a large bottle (or jar) that holds the magic sand that gives the dagger the powers over time.

Although it isn’t the best adventure film ever made, Prince of Persia isn’t a bad movie, and does manage to have some exciting moments. It reminded me of some of the classic Sinbad films I grew up watching – just with massive use of CGI. It has a light feel to it that keeps all the violence and danger to a minimum, but also kills any of the need to care if the hero will live or die.

Although I am not quite sure what accent he was attempting to utter during the film, Gyllenhaal actually does a decent job in the role of the hero. It is clear from the amount of muscle he put on for the part that he cared about getting the character right and making it believable that Dastan would have the fighting prowess he displays in the movie.

The film massively benefited from Kingsley’s villain turn and the actor seems to be having a good time chewing the scenery as he explains why he is so bad. While physically, he is clearly no match for Gyllenhaal, Kingsley manages to seem very deadly whenever he is on screen.

It also benefits from the laughs the great Alfred Molina brings to the screen. His character is meant for comic relief, and the actor is perfect in the part. If we do get another trip to the desert, I hope Molina will be back, and his character given a bigger role.

Like her turn in the remake of Clash of the Titans, Arterton gives another solid performance in an action film, but once again doesn’t really serve much of a purpose. She is a good actress, but her character seems to be more about giving Gyllenhaal a way to discover the truth about the dagger and its magic button, and also a love interest towards the end of the film.

Even with the talent of the actors, Prince of Persia is a popcorn film that is designed to entertain its audience with its epic action sequences and on that level it succeeds.

The sequences where Dastan jumps, flips and fights the bad guys are all entertaining, and the showdown at the end is what you expect from a big budget summer adventure film. To me, the sequences were a tad less thrilling because Dastan was never in any real danger of dying – despite the overwhelming odds he faced.

On Blu-ray’s 1080p crystal clear picture John Seale's cinematography looks incredible and it really brings out all the little details to Penny Rose's costume design. These characters look like they live in the desert and are often covered in sand.

Unfortunately, the crystal picture hurts some of the CGI and makes it look a little too fake (the scenes where Gyllenhaal rolls back in time after pushing the dagger’s magic button look very fake and animated), but for the most part it doesn’t kill the enjoyment of the film.

The Blu-ray comes loaded with bonus material thanks to the CineExplore: The Sands of Time option - which takes you into the making of the film with about 40 different segments on how the story was brought to the screen. The combo pack edition also comes with a DVD copy of the film and a digital copy.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a fun film that features a light story, lots of fast-paced action, and good special effects. It isn’t the greatest adventure ever brought to the screen, but is well worth taking the trip to the desert.