One dagger to rule them all... - Prince of Persia' Review

Posted on May 31, 2010 - 10:37am by michael First and foremost, it should be noted that Prince of Perisa is based on a video game, so try to avoid the pitfall of thinking that Hollywood is cynically revising history again for it's own selfish purposes. It's very similar to the 2004 film Troy, which I loved even though it was a critical mess. Like Troy, Prince of Persia takes a look at a period of the distant past, and brings to life a series of legends about the time period and populates the story's presentation with Hollywood hotties who tend to have very modern personalities. This could be a recipe for disaster, but it works, mostly because the thing is just so much fun. It's a low-nutrition blockbuster from super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer the master of fast food cinema and while you shouldn't expect a cognitive workout, it's a hell of a fun ride. There was a time when the empire of Persia stretched from China to the Mediterranean Sea, and it was ruled by King Sharaman, a brutal monarch but one who knew something about stability. The movie opens with a rousing reenactment of the beginning of Aladdin, this time a couple of little kids running across rooftops with sword-weilding guards tripping all over themselves trying to catch up. When King Sharaman witnesses one of the boys display a moving act of bravery in defense of another, he adopts him into the royal family, and thus begins the story of Dustan, the Prince of Persia, and all of this happens within the first few minutes of the movie. The real story is about the Persian army's invasion and dramatic destruction of the city of Alamut. They were told that the Alamutians were manufacturing weapons and selling them to the Persians' enemies, although ultimately it turns out that their intelligence might not have been entirely reliable. Complicating matters is this magic dagger, the handle of which is filled with the sands of time, and allows the holder to travel forward or backwards in time and thus be the most powerful person in the world. Amazing how that works. Anyway, when such a thing is around, it's to be expected that a lot of people are going to be fighting for it, killing one another, and framing each other for assassinations and such. Unfortunately for Prince Dustan, he is selected to be framed for the murder of King Sharaman, his father, and then flee capture and execution while trying to figure the whole mystery out for himself. Meanwhile, the throne changed hands or asses, as it were and the new King, Dustan's brother, may in fact have enemies for his advisers. You get the idea. The movie admittedly is low on substance, but high enough on thrills and popcorn excitement that a little shallowness is perfectly acceptable. Jake Gyllenhaal will put some people off with his attempt at doing an accent, but I thought his performance was great, particularly his fight scenes. He's saddled with some deadpan romantic moments but he should be recognized for pulling them off reasonably well. Gemma Arterton, who you remember from Quantum of Solace, The Boat That Rocked, and RocknRolla, is stunningly beautiful as the captured Princess Tamina, and Ben Kingsley, one of our finest actors, takes on a role a little different from what I would have expected from him, particularly since, by pure coincidence, I just saw him in Ghandi the other day. Prince of Persia is no Ghandi, but it's a fun summer adventure movie that's just in time to get us in the mood for the blockbusters of the summer. The Bean Meter [caption id="attachment_85027" align="aligncenter" width="412" caption="OUCH."][/caption]