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After
a successful video
game run for
decades, The Prince
of Persia hits the
big screen with
Jerry Bruckheimer’s
game to film
adaptation
Prince of Persia:
The Sands of Time.
While it’s not
over-the-top
brilliant, it’s not
without its merits
and like most
Bruckheimer-produced
efforts it has
plenty of action and
it’s a two hour
thrill-ride.
Jake Gyllenhaal
stars as Prince
Dastan. He used to
be an orphan from
the streets but when
he shows the whole
town something with
the King watching
Dastan gets adopted
by the royal family
and the King raises
him as his own.
Years go by, and the
Dastan grows into be
a man. Dastan has
two brothers Tus and
Garsiv. While on
their way to war,
the group of
brothers, soldiers,
and their Uncle
Nizam stop at the
holy city Alamut to
find that they’ve
been supplying their
enemies with
weapons. The three
brothers and the
Persian army decide
to invade the city
and confront those
responsible for
treason. During the
siege of Alamut,
Dastan stumbles upon
a magical dagger
than can bend time.
He doesn’t realize
it immediately, but
upon being framed
for a crime and
barely escaping the
rest of the Persian
army with his life
and the princess of
Alamut by his side,
Dastan escapes and
goes on a journey to
protect the dagger
and make things
right.
Gyllenhaal is
extremely capable as
Prince Dastan. They
couldn’t have made a
better choice for
the lead role. He
has a ton of
charisma and he even
looks the part. He’s
not over the top
‘action hero’ to the
point where he looks
the part and can’t
act. He’s an actor
first and foremost
and that’s
refreshing to see.
Opposite of him is
Gemma Arterton who
doesn’t get enough
credit. Lots of
people see her as
being terrible
because she delivers
lines in a stale
fashion, but I have
always thought that
the roles she plays
reflects this more
than how she
delivers them. To
me, she’s great. And
she’s good here as
Princess Tamina. In
a support role
you’ve got Ben
Kingsley as Nizam
the Uncle of Dastan.
He doesn’t have a
ton of screen time,
but he’s good here
nonetheless.
This
Blu-ray is a
expanded Disney Blu-ray
and the packaging
includes Blu-ray,
DVD, and a Digital
Copy. But the extras
on the Blu-ray mode
are awesome
(exclusive to this
packaging.) The Blu-ray
includes the
CineExplore feature
which gives you a
great way to watch
the movie like WB’s
Maximum Movie Mode.
You can explore tons
of features on
making the movie
with the feature and
the way you navigate
through the features
is outstanding with
a
key
theme centering on
the dagger.
Prince of Persia:
The Sands of Time
is an underrated
movie. It was deemed
as bad, but to me,
it’s the best game
to film adaptation
out there. That’s
not saying a ton,
but it’s worth
nothing. The story
was predictable but
solid, the acting
was top-notch, and
the movie looked
amazing.
Prince
of Persia: The Sands
of Time
might not turn into
a franchise, but it
did justice to a
great story from an
excellent game, and
it ends up being a
solid movie.
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