So, after setting all this up, it's time for my first review, and I'll start off with a movie I saw just today. "Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time", named after and containing a plot loosely based on that of the 2003 video game of the same name, tells the story of Dastan(played by Jake Gyllenhaal), who we first meet as a young orphan living on the streets of the Persian city of Nasaf on a day where, after viewing an act of bravery and honor, King Sharaman adopts him and makes him an eponymous Prince of Persia(though the Prince from the games was unnamed, they gave him one in this movie for practical reasons). We then cut to 15 years later, when the army of Nasaf in planning to attack the city of Alamut, which a spy had recently clamied to be secretly farging weapons for Persia's enemies. We here see that Dastan's appearance has been based upon that of the Prince in the second game, Warrior Within, and that he possesses all the same acrobatic skill and proficiency as his counterpart in the games. The attack, which came as a complete surprise to Alamut, succeeded and after the battle, Dastan discovered a mysterious dagger that he claimed for himself. Later, at negotiations with the royal family, Dastan meets the beautiful Princess Tamina(played by Gemma Arterton), who takes the place of Farah from the game, and his brother and fellow general Tus(played by Richard Coyle) plans to obtain a greater control of the city by marrying Tamina. As is the tradition, he needs a gift to give to their father for his blessing in return, and the Princes' uncle, Nizam(played by Ben Kingsley), suggests the dagger that Dastan found, but Tus denies it saying that it's Dastan's spoil for the keeping. Tus later gives Dastan a holy prayer robe to give to their father instead, and at the ceremony, after Sharaman decides to have Tamina marry Dastan since Tus already has many wives, Dastan gives puts the robe on him, and it precedes to burn the King to death as it was, unknown to Dastan, poisoned, and it then kills Sharaman. Accused of murdering the King, Dastan flees from Alamut with the help of Tamina while his other brother Garsiv and his men chase after them. After getting far enough from the city, the two argue about what to do and Dastan decides to abandon Tamina and go on by himself, but after she plays up to his conscience, he comes back for her. That night, as they discuss the dagger, Tamina tries to take it for herself and kill Dastan in the process, but he accidentally hits the jewel on the dagger's hilt nd has an out-of-body experience as he sees time itself rewind to just before she tried to take the dagger, and the process repeats itself. After getting a grasp of what was going on, Dastan stops Tamina from killing him, she explain that it is the Dagger of Time, and that it can only hold a minute's worth of the sands of time. Assuming that Tus framed him for their father's murder in order to take the dagger for himself, Dastan decides head back to Alamut and prove this by demonstrating the dagger's power, and to do that, they must go through the Slaves Pass, which is said to be trecaherous and deadly. As they enter, they are ambushed by bandits and meet their leader, Sheik Amar(played by Alfred Molina), and his knife-throwing servant of the Umbaka tribe, Seso.
Sheik tries to take the dagger, but Dastan exchanges it for Tamina, who is to serve him, and he takes a vial of the Sands of Time that she was wearing around her neck. He discovers that the Slaves Pass is really a cover for illegal ostrich racing. He sees that Tamina has been forced into being a drink-server for the audience. In the midst of a race, Tamina causes a ruckus, Dastan releases the ostriches, and the two escape to head to the next city, Dasara. Meanwhile, Nizam meets with a mysterious man who is the leader of a group of people called Hassansins. In Dasara, the two disguise themselves as servants to a nobleman and sneak in. When Dastan sees that his uncle is there, he arranges for them to meet in secret so he can tell him about what really happens. During the secret meeting, Dastan sees that Nizam's hands are burned in the same way that his father was. He tries toshow Nizam the dagger, but it turns out
that Tamina took it and ran. Alerting Garsiv to Dastan's presence, he's chased and escpaes once again, where he meets up with Tamina. She later tells him the origin of the dagger, Dastan realizes that Nizam was the real traitor and wants the dagger to go back far enough to make himself king, and the two head to the temple where Tamina says she must put the dagger to stop Nizam's plan from ever coming to fruition. En route, they are once again cpatured by Sheik Amar and his goons, but make a deal when Tamina promises them treasure from the temple. That night, they are attacked be Hassansin snakes, but Dastan uses the dagger to stop them. When they get to the temple, they find that all the guardians are dead, and the Hassansins were waiting for them. So while the others fight them off, Dastan and Tamina go to put the dagger in its rightful place. They are stopped, Tamina is knocked out, and the snake from before takes the dagger and brings it to Nizam. In a hurry, the two rush to Alamut, where they fight their way in. meanwhile, Seso retrieves the dagger for them, but at the cost of his own life. Dastan then goes to see Tus, tell him of the dagger's power, convince him that Nizam is the traitor, but it doesn't work. In a desperate move, Dastan kills himself with the dagger, but Tus uses the dagger to go back before Dastan's suicide and stop him. Unfortunately, Nizam later takes the dagger and heads to the Sand Glass, where all of the Sands of Time is held. Dastan and Tamina go through a dangerous underground trap room, but Dastan falls and is swept away only to find himself closer to the Sand Glass. The two get there at the same time as Nizam, and Dastan fights him for it. Unimpeded, Nizam stabs the Dagger of Time into the Sand Glass and opens the chamber, unleashing the Sands of Time, which begin to ravage Alamut. Dastan and Tamina are knocked off a ledge, and Dastan tries to hold on, but Tamina lets herself drop down so that he can stop Nizam. Saddened at the loss of the woman he grew to love, Dastan comes back up and just bares manages to pull out the Dagger, while we see various earlier events in the film within the Sand Glass. In an amazing twist of fate, time is reversed all the way back to whe end of Nasaf's capture of Alamut, and with what he already knows, he tries to stop Nizam before his plan can even start. He convinces Tus to trust his heart before the advice of counsel, but Nizam attempts to kill Dastan but is stopped when he is stabbed and killed by Tus. After a humble apology to Tamina from Tus, he sees fit that Dastan, the noble hero, marries her, and while that Tamina knows nothing of Dastan, he hopes that they will know each other better in the future.Sheik tries to take the dagger, but Dastan exchanges it for Tamina, who is to serve him, and he takes a vial of the Sands of Time that she was wearing around her neck. He discovers that the Slaves Pass is really a cover for illegal ostrich racing. He sees that Tamina has been forced into being a drink-server for the audience. In the midst of a race, Tamina causes a ruckus, Dastan releases the ostriches, and the two escape to head to the next city, Dasara. Meanwhile, Nizam meets with a mysterious man who is the leader of a group of people called Hassansins. In Dasara, the two disguise themselves as servants to a nobleman and sneak in. When Dastan sees that his uncle is there, he arranges for them to meet in secret so he can tell him about what really happens. During the secret meeting, Dastan sees that Nizam's hands are burned in the same way that his father was. He tries toshow Nizam the dagger, but it turns out
This was an amazing movie. After the Pirates of the Caribbean films, this kind of excellence can be expected from director Jerry Bruckheimer. The acting was top notch; The way Dastan and Tamina threw witty banter and clever insults at each other at first but eventually grew to really care about each other was magnificent. Ben Kinglsy's Nizam was a well-written and clever villain, and Alfred Molina played a great comic relief role that didn't drag down the movie. The story was compelling, exciting, and heartwarming, and kept me interested. This film also had great fight seqeunces that really had the right amount of action and adrenalineput into them. the Special effects work was also above par, especially the Sands of Time sequences, that reflected how the player saw it happen in the games. This is probably one of the best video game-based movies I've ever seen, and I can highly recommend it to action movie lovers and fans of the Prince of Persia game series.
My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
