Cinema Verdict Review: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

OPENING: 05/28/2010

STUDIO: Disney

RUN TIME: 116 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Defy the Future

Opening Statement
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a film that attempts two ambitious things. First, it seeks to provide viewers with a genuinely good film based on a video game. Second, it attempts to deliver a successor to Disney’s ultra-popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. While it doesn’t quite deliver on either count, the film is nonetheless a diverting adventure that proves a pleasant experience if not an entirely satisfying one.

Facts of the Case
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Prince Dastan, who began life as an orphan on the streets of Ancient Persia before being adopted by the king. Now he’s an adult, fighting alongside his two brothers in a battle to conquer a city that has supposedly been selling weapons to Persia’s enemies. The battle is won, but the beautiful Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton, Quantum of Solace) insists that her city has been attacked unjustly. Dastan returns home and presents his father with a gift in celebration of their army’s victory: a prayer robe from the conquered city. Alas, Dastan failed to realize that the robe was laced with some sort of deadly toxin, and his father is killed as a result.

Now, Dastan finds himself in the unlikely position of being a fugitive on the run, with the even more unlikely luck/misfortune of having the fiery Tamina as his companion. As he attempts to escape the clutches of those who would capture or kill him, he tries to solve the mystery of who is really responsible for his father’s death. The odds are against Dastan, but he does have one powerful tool at his disposal: a dagger with magical powers that has the ability to turn back time.

The Evidence
The dagger is both a blessing and a curse to the film, providing the movie with a nifty twist that generates some interest and an obnoxious plot device that just about kills any sense of dramatic weight. It has the ability to allow its user to go back a few seconds in time to undo any bad things that might have just happened. I won’t spoil the movie for you, but suffice it to say that a considerable number of the negative things that occur in the movie are quickly undone by the device (rendering normally-important developments like the death of a character rather bland). In many ways, the film reminded me of Tony Scott’s Déjà vu, which employed time travel gimmicks in a much more compelling and dramatically resonant manner (interestingly, both movies were produced by Jerry Bruckheimer).

That stuff aside, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a pretty straightforward action-adventure movie that gets the job done without really offering any surprises. Gyllenhaal’s Dastan is sheepishly charming and witty, while Arterton’s Tamina is tough, smart and bold. Both know their way around an action scene. We’ve seen these two characters time and time again in modern action films, but Gyllenhaal and Arterton handle their roles well enough. They generate a little bit of chemistry in their scenes together… nothing earth-shattering, but enough to make us care about the two of them making it to the end credits alive.

If Gyllenhaal and Arterton are this film’s Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley, then Alfred Molina is its Johnny Depp. His supporting turn goes a long way towards preventing tedium from setting in, bringing a comic spark and charming originality to the proceedings that is more than welcome. Essaying a seedy, government-hating fixer of ostrich races, Molina cheerfully steals the show from his considerably more dour co-stars (even Ben Kingsley, whose enigmatic presence is less compelling than it was earlier this year in Shutter Island). Interestingly, the film uses the Molina character as a sly satire of the modern-day tea party movement, giving him some amusing speeches about the evils of taxes and his suspicions of big government conspiracies. It’s not too subtle a reference, but it’s an entertaining one (many in the audience at my screening chuckled knowingly; though some heartily endorsed the character’s statements).

Mike Newell (a skillful director mostly defined by his lack of definability) does what he can by delivering a film that is coherent both in terms of action and narrative, steadily paced and technically polished. Still, it very much feels like he’s a hired gun in this instance, as there isn’t much that feels distinct or unique about the direction of the film. It compares well to the overcooked, random chaos of a popcorn movie director like Michael Bay, which is the nicest compliment I can pay the movie. It should also be noted that while the film is rated PG-13, it’s a rather innocent affair geared at a younger audience than such recent PG-13 action flicks as Robin Hood and The Losers.

Closing Statement
I can’t really say I had a bad time watching Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. It’s an acceptable dose of summer fun, but it doesn’t leave a lasting impression and it certainly doesn’t seem poised to be a tent pole movie franchise. If all you demand is two hours of lightweight entertainment and nothing more, then it should do the trick.

The Verdict
6/10

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