VG Movie Week #6: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

On 06/15/2013 at 09:59 AM by The Last Ninja

We end this wonderful week of VG movies with a fantastic take on a classic franchise

The Prince of Persia series began in 1989, created by Jordan Mechner; the first game was a platforming adventure for the Apple II. The game proved that platformers could be realistic and dangerous as the prince had to avoid traps and jump deadly pits as he ran through the palace. The game proved to be a great success, garnering sequels.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was released in 2010; it was directed by Mike Newell. Jake Gyllenhaal starred as the prince. Walt Disney Pictures was the studio behind the film along with Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Moving Picture Company. Walt Disney Pictures distributed the film. The movie is loosely based on the Gamecube game of the same name, released in 2003 and developed by Ubisoft Montreal.

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I have to give you a word of warning: there is no way for me to review this movie without giving away some spoilers, so if you have not seen the film, you may want to watch it before reading this review. Or maybe you don't care. Anyways, spoilers will abound. You've been warned.

At the beginning of the movie, Prince Dastan, adopted son of King Sharaman, is tasked with leading an attack on the city of Alamut for believing them to have smuggled weapons. The invasion is successful; they capture Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) and Dastan gets a special dagger from her. This dagger is the key to the entire movie.

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The evil Nizam and the beautiful Princess Tamina

King Sharaman is pleased with Dastan and proposes he be married to Princess Tamina. But the rejoicing ends quickly as the king drops over dead from a poisoned cloak. Dastan has been framed by his greedy uncle, Nizam (Ben Kingsley). With no other choice, Dastan flees with the princess and becomes a fugitive. His two brothers now seek his life in order to avenge their father's death and bring justice for this terrible crime.

And so the adventure begins. The story is much better than most VG movie plots, I assure you. Soon Dastan discovers the powers of the dagger he holds; with it, he can reverse time simply by pressing the jewel on the top of the hilt, but a special kind of sand must be within the knife. Tamina tells him that it is the Dagger of Time, and they must go to its temple, located beneath the city of Alamut, where the sandglass is held in order to return the dagger so the world can be safe.

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The acting in the movie is great; I feel that everyone played their roles well. Gyllenhaal plays the arrogant prince very well, and at first he does not get along with Princess Tamina, but throughout the movie they learn to trust one another. Alfred Molina brings comic relief as he plays Shiek Amar, a man who is concerned only with ostrich races and money. He's very funny.

The action sequences are done very well, yet there are a few times when you can tell it was computer-animated. One part in particular has Dastan sliding down a crumbling slope of sand toward his doom, and you can tell he was just sitting in front of a green screen, but the action is fun nonetheless. There's quite a bit of swordfighting and flying sharp objects in this movie, but thankfully, the action is never overkill.

Eventually you discover that the invasion on Alamut was all just a plot by Nizam in order to find the dagger and use it on himself to become king. Now this part is cool: when King Sharaman was just a boy, Nizam saved his life from a lion. Now Nizam wants to use the dagger to go back in time and allow Sharaman to be killed by the lion. As a result, Sharaman's sons will never be born, and Nizam will become king. This is a good story! Yes, this is a time travel movie of sorts.

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Kingsley does a great job as the villain. Nizam tries to appear sympathetic towards Dastan and his situation, but once he realizes that Dastan knows about his plot, he hires a group of deadly assassins called Hassansins to kill Dastan. These guys wear gauntlets that shoot little spears. They added another layer of "cool" to the movie.

I also really liked Dastan's outfit. It wasn't boring in any way, and yet it wasn't extravagant like a super hero costume either. It was exactly what it should have been. They do a good job with the location as well, giving off that Arabian feel. What is strange is that everyone speaks with British accents, but I suppose Arabian accents would be too difficult.

Throughout the movie, you really see how important that dagger is: the villains are after it, the good guys must protect it, a guy even dies trying to get it and desperately throws it out the window so Dastan can have it in his possession again. The final confrontation at the sandglass is very exciting, and the ending is satisfying! The ending of a movie can ruin or make the movie; for this one, the ending is great. I don't think it could have been better.

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Final Thoughts

There's so much to love about this movie. It's full of action and adventure, humor, romance, and it has a great story. It's not a perfect movie, nor is it jaw-dropping in any regards, but it is GOOD, and that is not always the case with VG movies. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Amazingly, the movie never feels cheesy in its acting or action sequences. I haven't seen them all, but I would dare say that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time may very well be the best VG movie ever made.

jgusw

06/15/2013 at 12:42 PM

I was surprisingly impressed with this movie.

The Last Ninja

06/15/2013 at 03:34 PM

It was a pleasant surprise. This movie did not feel like a VG movie at all (no cheesy acting and action), which is always a good thing.

Cary Woodham

06/15/2013 at 01:01 PM

This was a pretty good movie, too. Although I never did play the game. I hated the original Prince of Persia game. I perfer my platforming heroes to be able to leap 30 feet in the air and land 100 feet unscathed.

06/15/2013 at 03:35 PM

The game it's based on is very good. PoP platformers are more realistic, so they're definitely more challenging. Not everyone can be as good as Mario.

BrokenH

06/15/2013 at 04:06 PM

This really was a great videogame movie. It actually surprised me in a good way. The actress who played as Tamina was smoking hawt! I also agree the costumes were perfect. Aka, they were nice to look at but not over the top to the point they were gaudy and unrealistic.

06/15/2013 at 04:41 PM

Absolutely. You're right, the princess was hot, which is the way a princess in a movie should be.

Super Step Contributing Writer

06/16/2013 at 01:33 AM

I thought this was ok. I saw it in college in a co-worker's room, and I found it pretty standard and predictable, but it was a decent popcorn flick and well above what most video game movies are, I'll give it that.

At least it didn't offend my senses like the sequel to Sands of Time. I LOVED Sands of Time, then they thought somehow the game would be better if they made it all "dark" and made the characters say swears. I love dark settings and storylines, but to me that was like if someone had taken that old hat joke of "what if sunny Mario met Mortal Kombat/GTA characters," made it into a real game, then told me it was a Mario sequel. Bullshit!

But yeah, I got nothing against the movie, it's fine.

06/16/2013 at 03:59 PM

I've only played the first PoP game by Ubisoft Montreal. To be honest, I have no desire to play the other ones because I know they're not that good.

06/16/2013 at 09:11 PM

I think if I had played Warrior Within first, I'd like it. It's really not all that different gameplay wise, and a lot of people think the combat was improved (I disagreed then, but maybe if I went back to it, I wouldn't), it's just the changes they made to the character, setting, and style sucked some of the joy out of it for me.

daftman

06/19/2013 at 01:35 PM

This is definitely the best video game movie I've ever seen (though there are far too many I still need to watch). It's enjoyable to watch as a movie for everyone, not just those already invested in the franchise. But despite all the big talent and money behind it, I think the main reason this movie turned out so well is because Jordan Mechner worked on the story. No one knows what really makes a franchise special quite like its creator. I was sad they never made a sequel but maybe that's for the best.

06/19/2013 at 02:11 PM

You're right, Mechner wrote the script for the movie. That's a plus. Otherwise the story would have been as atrocious as some other VG movies (ahem, Street Fighter and Tomb Raider).

PixlBit