Prince Of Persia The Sands Of Time

Posted In: Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time

Geri Catalan says...

So, I just came from the movie P of P and was delighted with the entire film. Prince Dastan looked good enough to bed as well as displaying those manly talents most mythic heros are obliged to possess these days. The action was, well relentless and the princess almost as beautiful as she was in "St. Trinians".Who said she was fat??The CGI was great as it was not overdone, choppy, and slap dash, it just flowed with the film.Very good.The story was simple with a bit of a tweak.Just right with some loop holes and lagging logic, but so much fun compared to COTT (remake). I liked the fact that the romance @ the end of the movie is actually a courtship to develop, perhaps a nod in the direction of sequal.My movie mate didn't fall asleep either, which he usually does, but stayed eyed to the action.Yes, I wil buy this moviewhen it comes out. I rejected COTT.

Posted on March 20, 2011

Carmina Jannetti says...

Before we begin: DO NOT READ AMAZON'S MOVIE DESCRIPTION! It gives away too much of the plot.



Now then: I don't hold out much hope for movies based on video games (or films involving Sir Ben Kingsley because of the many flops he's been in during the last decade+), but Prince of Persia (PoP) genuinely surprised me with its depth of characters, fantastic costume design, and entertainment value. I found myself totally immersed in the fiction and loved every moment of this film.



For non-gamers, there's no need to know anything about the games this film is based on. I played the first PoP as a middle school student (20 years ago.. yikes!) and barely remember the basic plot. All you need to know is that this is a fantasy action-adventure set in ancient Persia. It is about love (between a father and his sons, the bond between brothers, and the love of a man and a woman), loyalty, courage, friendship, and betrayal. This kind of story has been done many times, but it's done very well here by Disney, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and director Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).



It's a "sword and sandals" epic: fantastic costumes, lots of sword fights, horses, men in armor, a beautiful princess, and a mystical dagger. For the guys, there's the lovely Gemma Arterton, who plays the same kind of character/love interest as in Clash of the Titans. She is never difficult to look at. And for the ladies, a beefy Jake Gyllenhaal plays Prince Dastan, the adopted son of the King of Persia, a noble, wise, and just ruler. Dastan is later framed for the murder of his father and spends most of the movie running from his pursuers while trying to restore a sacred artifact to its rightful resting place. Along the way, he meets an cadre of unlikely friends. Though minor characters, they are very well-written and provide some of the film's best moments. I especially liked the gregarious sheikh, played by Alfred Molina (Dr. Octopus from Spider-Man 2) and his M'baka companion.



The sets, CG, and costume are all lavishly detailed and superbly designed. Everything looks wonderfully ancient and historically appropriate. The main characters all speak with British accents (and are British actors) though they're supposed to be Persian, but it works! Dastan has some really slick combat choreography. Parts of the film look like another video game, the more recent Assassin's Creed games, both because of the ancient Persian setting and the rooftop acrobatics. Add some super-duper bad-a** assassins and you've got good times here.



A light-hearted and fun movie, this is what summer is all about, with absolutely no WTF moments for me to complain about. Highly recommended.

Posted on March 20, 2011

Deandrea Zielonka says...

Most of the time, when I read a review, I wonder if the person has any credibility that is writing the review (ie: do they see a lot of movies and have discretion or are they the occasional movie goer). I have been an avid fan of the film industry since I was a kid, and I own over 700 movies. There's my cred.

Do not listen to the crackpot at the bottom of the page. I have not only played every Prince of Persia game, but I was a serious doubter in the video game to film adaption of this (kept replaying the nightmare that was "Doom"). I was extremely surprised. I am not a Jake Gyllenhall fan, but I am a Bruckheimer fan. And, I am, for the most part, a Disney fan. Apparently the reviewer at the bottom cant accurately critique a Disney film, because he doesn't even appreciate what was "Pirates".

Prince of Persia delivers in every way imaginable, and reminded me why I loved going to the movies in the first place. Is Jake Leo DiCapprio in a Scorcese film? Of course not. Is the movie realistic? Of course not, its a DISNEY FANTASY MOVIE. If you think it should be realistic, then you are the reason for the "do not try this at home" warnings on TV that the rest of the known world finds insulting. Is the movie well acted? Absolutely, for the type of movie. Is the action in the movie sufficient? More than. Is the movie enjoyable? Hell yea! I had a blast. I loved the chemistry between Jake and Gemma, and thought Bruckheimer made a convincing and thoroughly thought through story for a game that really didn't have that thorough a plot line to begin with. Excellent score for Disney, and it would make a grand classic for the whole family if added to your collection. I can't wait for it to come out.

Posted on March 22, 2011

Shiela Gearwar says...

Even though this is not on Bluray/DVD yet, I am providing a quick review since it is already given a 3 star rating due to complaints about the original price tag (as seen, the price has dropped into the $20s where a normal Amazon Bluray first settles).



Anyway, if you love movies with an intriguing story, nonsensical action, a splurge of humor and an unyielding message, Prince of Persia is for you. In the mold of Bruckheimer, some things are not meant to be taken seriously, but I must commend him for making the best video game based movie I have ever witnessed.



The title Sands of Time, refers to the power of a magical dagger that can send its bearer a few seconds into the past to "change" the event that just occurred (similar to the weapon the Prince carries in the video game). The one who possesses this power can undo a previous action or even prevent themselves from just being killed. Without giving anything away, the story eventually unfolds to a darker danger to time itself if the dagger falls into the wrong hands.



Jake Gyllenhaal delivers as the happy-go-lucky Prince who comes of age to figure out the mystery of the dagger and attempt to stop those who threaten his family and the legacy of the kingdom. Gemma Arterton contrasts as the witty and beautiful Princess Tamina who stoutly serves as the hero's foil while herself experiencing a personality check as the movie progresses. Ben Kingsley is always a professional and the great Alfred Molina completely steals the show as Sheik Amar in his scenes!



One thing must also be said - DO NOT TAKE THE TRAILERS AND TV SPOTS AS THE MOVIE! As far as I am concerned, the Marketing Dept dropped the ball on this; creating a perception that this is a movie of mindless action and flirtatious banter between the stars ("Why can't you keep your eyes off of me???" nonsense). There are some hysterical moments between the Prince and Tamina, brilliant stunts (the Prince's action scenes are very close to what he would do in the video game), and a story that revolves around trust, hope and not giving up on the love of one's family.



If you loved Pirates of the Carribbean...this one will not dissapoint (In my opinion, it is certainly better than Dead Man's Chest and At Worlds End by a long shot!)

Posted on March 22, 2011

Jacelyn Caci says...

I don't know what movie one of the other reviewers saw, but it certainly wasn't the same one I saw. I thought it was excellent & no I am not a fangirl or fanboy, I have just been a movie buff my whole life. I thought Gyllenhaal did a great job considering he did most of his own stunts & looked very much like the PoP video game character. Plus he brought a lot of wit & charm to the character & there was quite a bit of chemistry between him & Gemma who was exquisitely beautiful, wonderful, & feisty as Tamina.My only problem with this movie is there won't be a sequel since the US did not embrace this movie like they did overseas. However, it was fun, exciting, had beautiful cinematography with the Moroccan landscapes & deserts. The only CGI special effects were the turn back time sequences, & a few other places with the sand glass. It had quite a few teaching moments too, which makes it a great family film & for kids of all ages to enjoy. Bruckheimer movies are always big budget flicks & it shows in every way. There definitely was no cutting corners here, you could really tell. One more thing I want to add is the Parkour stunts were beautifully choreographed, that was an excellent idea to get David Belle to teach Gyllenhaal the art of Parkour, so they looked real. FYI to you naysayers, there is such a thing as suspension of disbelief & a good imagination that one must have to thoroughly lose yourself in a fantasy type movie as this is so you can enjoy it for what it is, otherwise, you waste the whole movie thinking about the stunts & events in it are impossible & illogical.

Posted on March 24, 2011

Estefana Nordeen says...

"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is an exceedingly simply story told amidst a wealth of complicated stunt work and impressive special effects, which is basically a fancy way of saying that it's thin on premise but an absolute pleasure to look at. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad movie, although it does prevent me from appreciating it as anything more than an action spectacle - exempting a few weak references to recent political events, which I'm sure the intended family audiences will not pick up on. To be fair, it is based on a video game, and video games generally don't go above and beyond the razzle-dazzle of their graphics or the cool maneuvers players use for the characters. And I admit that, as video game adaptations go, it's quite entertaining. A bit derivative perhaps, and certainly slow in gaining momentum, but in the end, it's still entertaining.



The setting is a fantastical representation of the sixth century Persian Empire, where vast stretches of desert separate kingdoms of flat rooftops and ornate palaces towering sky high. The protagonist is Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), drawn from elements of every Arabian archetype from Abu the Thief to Aladdin to Sinbad to Ali Baba; he was an orphaned street urchin before being adopted by King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup), who was impressed by his display of courage in the face of certain death. After fifteen years of loyalty and bravery, Dastan is framed by his wicked uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley) for an exceptionally heinous crime, forcing him to make an acrobatic escape from the city. You know the kind of escape I'm talking about; it involves impossible stunts and a generous donation from the special effects department.



Why was Dastan framed? Here enters Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton), whose peaceful kingdom was invaded by Sharaman's army on the belief that dangerous weapons were being concealed for sinister purposes. (Do I sense a connection to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the fruitless search for WMDs?) Tamina is the keeper of the film's MacGuffin: The Dagger of Time, an ancient knife with magical sand swirling in its glass hilt. If the jewel atop the dagger is pressed, the person holding it has the power to travel back a full minute in time, which is apparently just long enough for key characters to reverse fateful decisions and change the course of history. Were such a thing real, I'd probably have lots of fun with it.



But for Tamina, it's serious business. The sand in the hilt is linked to a massive underground crystal that, if cracked open, could unleash a destructive force the likes of which no one has ever experienced. It's up to Tamina and Dastan to return the dagger to its rightful place, restore peace between their respective kingdoms, and stop Nizam before he has the chance to alter the past.



Perhaps it's the mystical nature of the dagger that gives me pause, especially in relation to the underground crystal with which it's linked. This dagger, shiny and exotic, manipulates time under rules that seemed straightforward enough until they were obscured by events near the end of the film, events that shock us into believing they were clever when it fact they were merely the result of a narrative copout. Something within me is intrinsically resistant to stories involving time travel, for they can be anything at any time with no regard for structure, sequence, or even basic applications of logic. What we get from the end of "Prince of Persia" is not the tying of loose ends so much as an exercise in trickery, which is to say that, given what had gone on before, it cheats.



Perhaps I have reservations about the characters, who are decent enough within the context of the story but are hardly memorable in the grand scheme of things. That could have more to do with the actors. Gyllenhaal, despite being ripped and in command of a convincing British accent, plays Dastan so generically that the role could have been given to any leading male. Arterton is certainly beautiful, although it takes her too long to develop Tamina into anything worthwhile; for the first forty-five minutes of the film, I found her incredibly annoying, always with the smart aleck dialogue. And then there's Alfred Molina as the obligatory yet distracting comedy relief - a money-grubber who created an isolationist community to avoid paying taxes. Who knew Objectivism stretched all the way back to the sixth century?



Seriously though, what does all this amount to? Like so many summer popcorn flicks that have come before it, it amounts to a superficial but enjoyable experience at the movies. While "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" lacks any real importance, it does hold its own as a showcase of visual delights, so yes, I'm going to recommend it for sheer cinematic escapism. You want CGI? You've got CGI. You want stunts? You've got stunts. You want Jake Gyllenhaal? You've got Jake Gyllenhaal. Perhaps it was too much to hope for a masterpiece, although I do find myself thinking of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," which proved that supernatural artifacts, exotic locations, heroes, villains, and plenty of action all in the same movie can be both preposterous and brilliant. I have reservations, but I can't deny that I liked what I saw.

Posted on March 25, 2011

Trenton Newberry says...

Like a lot of people I have been playing the "Prince of Persia" video games since "The Sands of Time" came out for Ninetendo Gamecube way back when.

I fell in love with that game and the franchise, so when I heard they were doing a live action film my first impression was...WHY???

Then I heard they cast Jake Gyllenhaal. (Going forward I will call him JG)

Granted JG's a great actor, "Brokeback Mountain", "Jarhead", "Zodiac".

JG's one of the most underrated and underappreciated actors in Hollywood.

But JG as The Prince of Persia???

I had my doubts.

The only actor I knew in the movie was Ben Kingsley, so I knew HE would at least add a touch of class and excellence to the movie and he does.

Now....I wasn't expecting this movie to be a masterpiece and it wasn't...not by a long shot.

But for a video game to film translation...this movie is probably the best of the bunch.

Anyone who's seen any of the game to movie translations will probably agree with me that thanks to Uwe Boll the majority of these movies have been simply horrid.

Thankfully "Prince" does not suffer the same fate.

As for JG playing the Prince.

There is one scene where I really went...OMG he DOES look just like the Prince.

Not the Prince from "Sands of Time" but the grizzly one from the second game "The Warrior Within".

The hair, the beard, the outfit, he's a dead ringer except for his big eyes kind of ruin the effect.



Ok but besides that what is good?

The script is excellent.

The acting is top notch and for a movie like this is almost unheard of.

The FX are of course simply the best you could hope for but the film hardly relies on FX and instead uses them to compliment the story.

All the Prince's moves are accounted for. The platforming, the wall runs, etc... without looking fake or corny.

The sand rewind was just as I expected it to be, awesome.



What was bad?

Parts of it were corny and hokey.

The ostrich races and that whole gang of comic relief characters could have been cut out of the film entirely.

The film itself is WAY too long.

At almost two hours I literally had to force myself from falling asleep during the middle part of the movie.

A half hour could have been trimmed easily and nothing would have been lost.

In fact a movie like this almost has to move at a breakneck pace to match the subject matter.

But it didn't.

Those minor points aside I'll sum up "Prince of Persia" like this.



Excellent story.

Excellent acting.

Not so good pacing.

Great FX.

Recommended?

If you have the patience for two hours and are as big a fan of the video games as I am, then yes.

The rest of you may want to wait.

Me?

I thought it was a great popcorn movie and I look forward to the next one.

Recommended.

Posted on March 29, 2011

Donna Linginfelter says...

When I first heard about this movie, saw the previews, I thought it looked ridiculous and just plain stupid. However because I am a huge Jake Gyllenhaal fan, I convinced myself to watch it. I was pleasantly surprised with this movie, it was action packed and very entertaining. I have watched it many times since I first rented it and each time it is just as fun and amazing. I agree with earlier posts that as a fantasy movie you have to suspend some beliefs in order to fully appreciate the movie, just like any other fantasy or science fiction movie.



I recommend this to anyone, of any age. Don't judge the movie simply because you don't think Jake Gyllenhaal should do action movies. This just proved that he is an amazing actor.



If you aren't sure if you will like it, rent it first. From what I have seen you either love it or hate it.

Posted on April 1, 2011

Victor Yurman says...

I thought this was an excellent adventure / love story with some wonderful special effects and chase / fight scenes. I'm a big fan of the video game franchise and it's sister series, Assassin's Creed. Because of that I appreciated the winks to the gamers the movie makers inserted here and there, like Dastan standing on a wooden outcropping with the camera swooping around behind him to take in the scenery and the collapse of the temple where he "surfs" through the sand. I jokingly told my sister who was watching with me, "Hey, I remember that level! It was hard!" Jake Gyllenhal is darling as Dastan, the doe-eyed Prince of Persia, (love those baby blues!) a character that comes across as surprisingly wholesome and innocent considering he's a grown man and a skilled warrior. The Prince is sweet, unassuming and a bit naive but also honorable, endearing and extremely hot. I watched this with my sons ages 9 & 12 and they both thought it "was the coolest movie ever!". As one of the critics said the writing could have used some work, it was definitely a bit clunky and forced at times. If you're looking for a deep introspective make-you-think type movie, keep looking. But if you're just looking for a really enjoyable way to spend an afternoon then definitely pick up this fun and funny movie that doesn't try to take itself too seriously. Definitely the best video game movie I've seen in a loooog time!

Posted on April 1, 2011

Alyssa Mcclees says...

This movie clearly aims at kids, and teens. It also caters to hard-core video gamers who love Prince of Persia game franchise. There are a lot of jumping just like in the games.



There are many fighting scenes. They look okay. The scenes are colorful and beautiful. The special effects look riveting. For example, the snake scene looks very real.

Jake Gyllenhaal's acting is fun and engaging.Gemma Arterton's acting is stiff. The time-shifting twist keeps the movie interesting till the end. If you're looking for characters' depth here, you'll be disappointed.



The ostrich racing scene looks original to me. I've never seen something like that before.



This movie reminds me ofScorpion King. As a family movie, it's absolutely worth watching once.

Posted on April 2, 2011