New Movie Review by Matt Arnold: Prince of Persia

Movie: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Director: Mike Newell

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the next in a long line of summer blockbuster films that will be coming out this year. The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a street rat turned Prince, Dastan, Gemma Arterton as Princess Tamina, Sir Ben Kingsley as the King’s Brother, Nizam, and Alfred Molina as the owner and operator of an ostrich racing arena Sheik Amar. It is directed by Mike Newell, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, and is brought to us by mega producer extraordinaire Jerry Bruckheimer, Pirates of The Caribbean , Gone In 60 Seconds and a little TV series by the name of CSI: Las New Miami York Vegas.

So with it being a Summer Blockbuster and/or a Bruckheimer film there are a number of things to expect when watching it, big action scenes, a romance story, big name actors, the comic relief character and the “I already know who the bad guys is” villain. The story is a retelling of the Popular video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. It follows Prince Dastan while he is the run with the Dagger of Time in hand. It is the very standard tale of someone trying to prove they are innocent of a crime they didn’t commit, but at one point in the movie they did something that I was not expecting which was very refreshing to see.

There is also some social commentary about the war in Iraq but it feels more like a cheap shot then a necessary plot point. All the actors deliver their roles very well and I cared about them all. The only weak point really was the love story between Dastan and Tamina. It felt forced and played the opposite attract angle a little too hard. But Alfred Molina’s comic turn as the tax evading, capitalistic, ostrich-racing Amar is a standout and almost felt like “Jack Sparrow of Arabia” to me. The action is very good and has everything; swordplay, sand storms, epic battles, free running, and some nice CG effects. The showdown between Dastan and the Hassansins was memorable to say the least.

Prince of Persia is a very enjoyable and is easily worth the price of admission. It is also the best video game movie since Tomb Raider, which you may take how you want.