Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie review

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

In the year 2003, one of the world’s greatest games was released upon this world. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, was an amazing game that sold enough to warrant two sequels, a reboot and then a sequel to the original game but a prequel to the two games that followed after the original game. Yeah …

Starting off right, the production house of Jerry Bruckheimer sought to acquire the rights to a Prince of Persia movie based on the games, seeking to distribute the movie via Walt Disney Pictures, which it did. Here’s where they started to do things right. Instead of trying to create a faithful adaptation of the games, they decided to take elements from all games and create a whole new script, intending to make only one movie out of the trilogy. What they also did was use the camera set-up from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

The story revolves around our Prince, who is unnamed in the games but who is given one in the movie. He is Prince Dastan. It’s derived from Rostam Dastan, a hero in the Shahnameh which is a poetic opus written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi around 1000 AD and is a literary work of epic scope that is told to contain the essence of the Persian culture. Instead of being a name though, Dastan is an adjective in real life meaning Hero, turning Rostam Dastan in to Rostam the Hero. In my opinion this is well thought out and deserves some more credit than its due. I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the Prince being given a name, but I think it’s a suiting name is it’s like saying Prince only in another language. As a side note, Garsiv and Tamina are two characters in the movie who’s names also come from the Shahnameh.
Like the original game in the trilogy, the movie begins with the Persian army descending down somewhere to conquer it. Early on though it is quite clear that not all is right and that the motives behind this attack need to be questioned. With Dastan are his two brothers and his uncle. Whilst his father, the King, remains absent and was not made aware of the attack before it had happened, the attack became a success and the city was theirs, Dastan now being the proud owner of a shiny new dagger.
To make things short, everything was indeed not right because when Dastan’s father arrives, the shit definitely hits the fan. The following events lead to the framing of Dastan for a terrible crime and the escape of him and the leader of the city that he and his army had conquered, Tamina.
What follows is a predictable, if not amusing story that follows things by the number. But I’ll be damned if it isn’t amusing as all hell. Things really become awesome when Sheik Amar appears. At that point the movie couldn’t be ruined for me anymore. It was just a great movie. 
The story is, as usual for these kinds of movies, nothing more than something to get from joke to joke and action sequence to action sequence. And mind you me, these action sequences are A-OK. Though I can’t speak for how the story holds up if you haven’t played the games. However, I can say that the people I know that haven’t played the game but have seen the movie think that it’s a great story.
One thing I did notice about this movie is that the chemistry between Dastan and Tamina exists. Most of the time, the two actors are just playing their part and that’s that, but you can really see them growing closer to each other. Though at one point you really do have to question Dastan’s motives. If you have seen the movie, then you know at which point it is.
If you look at all the story elements individually, then you will see that it’s not that great of a movie. But, if you look at it as a whole, including all the action, then you will find that it fits perfectly.
Just as an FYI, because there are elements of the games following Sands of Time doesn’t mean that there won’t be any sequels using even more plot of those games.

The camerawork was excellent in this movie, just like it was in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. One thing that the third Pirates movie got right was the camera and it seems that every single bit of awesomeness from that movie seeped in to this one.
For the action this means that it’s not choppy, up close and personal and an overall mess. It’s fast, yes, but easy to follow and spectacular to boot. The fight scenes are done remarkably well, with some simple but effective brutality to it. Whilst for me, the real action was seeing Dastan run around like the Prince, doing what he does best. And he does it all fashionably awesome-like!
What really impressed me were the dagger sequences. If you don’t know by know, the Dagger that Dastan acquired was the Dagger of Time, an ancient relic that has the ability to manipulate time if the proper sand is inside the container. The effects used for this time rewinding are remarkably and I’m happy they really amped it up like they did instead of just pressing the rewind button like in the games.

Directing this movie is Mike Newell, whom I only knew to be the director of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, a hasty if not good adaptation of the book. The man did an excellent job with this movie and he should be given as much credit as possible for making this.
Four people wrote this movie, including the writer for the videogames: Jordan Mechner. Composer for this movie is Harry Gregson-Williams, whom you might know for working alongside Hans Zimmer in various movies, composing for Metal Gear Solid 2 and 4 alongside Norohiko Hibino, Enemy of the State, Phonebooth, Team America: World Police, Chronicles of Narnia series and soon to be heard in Twilight: Breaking Dawn! Wait … forget that last one. Euhm, let’s replace it! With euh … euh … Picking another movie here from his impressive resume … AHA: The Taking of Pelham 123.

Most impressive about this movie is the cast. Also, here’s a little drinking game: Take a shot whenever you see an Arabian in this movie. You’ll never have been so fucking sober in your life.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Dastan. He plays the part remarkably well, though certainly different than the prince in the games. One thing is certain though, he was perfect the part, even though a lot of people questioned his ability to play it.

Gemma Arterton plays Tamina. Not exactly a known face, she has starred in such movies as The Boat that Rocked and Quantum of Solace. Here she played her part perfect. You know those female leads where she bickers back and forth with the male lead? Yeah, that kind of role. She does it quite well and for once I never found her character to be utterly and completely annoying as all hell.

Sir Ben Kingsly plays the uncle: Nizam. It’s Sir Ben Kingsly. NUFF’ SAID.

Alfred Molina plays Sheik Amar. It’s ALFRED MOLINA. You know those quirky characters that are in charge of something and then SPOILERFILTERHO. He’s that kind of character, only he plays it awesomely. Seriously, this movie is filled with stereotypical characters only now they’re great and fun to watch. Fuck yah!

These are all the big names on the playing field. Everyone else isn’t exactly on my or anyone else’s radar, but they all play their part well and never fumble the ball.

Final words:

This is a popcorn movie and it’s not ashamed of it. It bathes in what it is and does it so well that in the end you don’t care one bit about the mistakes. I barely even noticed them to begin with.
Generally, this movie has been given mixed reviews ending up with an average score of 5/10. Honestly, I don’t what everyone is on about. This movie is great. It’s fun, it’s fast, it’s spectacular and above all, it was done remarkably well. In the end it’s nothing special, but it gets the job done. It entertains you. And really, isn’t this the minimum that a movie should do?
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages! Here is the eight wonder of the world: A GOOD VIDEOGAME TO MOVIE ADAPTATION! Let’s give it a round of applause!
So how about a score? Alrighty then, here goes:

8/10

This has been Puddle Jumper reviewing Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. See ya next time.