I didn’t have massive expectations for the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time DVD; I was just shattered from a beast of a week when I watched it and needed something fun and distracting to take my mind off shizz, and in this it lived up to expectations brilliantly.
It’s not a particularly clever plot and the acting is flawed on a number of occasions, but as an action adventure that doesn’t take itself too seriously, it wins hands down. Despite my near incoherent state, the film managed to pull me in enough to like the characters, appreciate the sprawling backdrops and make me laugh. Alfred Molina (Roger and Val Have Just Got In & The Tempest (2010)) is particularly good as the ostrich race track owner brigand that scours the desert.
The plot follows the adopted Prince Dastan as he goes from free-jumping street boy to one of the 3 princes of Persia, only to have the wool pulled from under him with the death of his father. The Sands of Time in question relate to a knife with a time shifting hilt that could signal the end of the world.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arteton have good chemistry and amazing stunts throughout the film and Ben Kingley’s Nizam is as malevolent a bad as the year has seen. This is one of the few films that bucks the trend of making the jump from computer games to film and making it look good. If only Street Fighter had had Jerry Bruckheimer at the helm. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time DVD & popcorn definitely worked some magic on me, but maybe my head-mashed state of mind probably played a big part in my appreciation of the film.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time DVD review: 4/5
