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Friday, May 28, 2010

[6.75/10] Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)


Prince of Persia:
The Sands of Time
(2010)


Yes, "Prince of Persia"'s story may have been weak and shallow, with a bit of a dry and predictable script, but some in places it was surprisingly witty due to the great romantic chemistry between Jake Gylenhaal and Gemma Arterton. There are some pretty edgy and funny lines one could enjoy. "The Prince of Persia" has its fair share of beautiful CGI and fan-tribute scenes that hark back to the games. Also, the cinematography was beautiful - the scenes in Persia are fantastic and Alamut, the city the Persians invade, looks inviting enough. The action is satisfying - the sword fights, in particular, have a real sense of immediacy, which is aided by the use of the shaky camera technique. You feel disoriented in a good way; you can still see what is going on in the fight, and you feel like you are involved. Gylenhaal makes a surprisingly good action lead. His performance as Prince Dastan is quite impressive and he had not only the acting, but physicality to pull off some amazing stunts. Arterton brings an authoritative grace to the role of Tamina. She isn't an all-out warrior, but she ain't no damsel in distress either. Ben Kingsley as villain Nizam was excellent, whilst the almost unrecognizable Alfred Molina was superb as an ostrich racing money maker. He was hilarious and very charismatic, and definitely stole the show. However, "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" does have its fair share of flaws. The pacing feels a bit rushed and the film does try to cram everything into the script - from ostrich races to snake attacks in the desert to an assassin's creed style chase. However, the film does have its high points too - the fight between the Sudanese knife thrower and the Hassansin blade-thrower was sheer awesomeness. The camera angles do get a bit frustrating during the parkour scenes, but the parkour does justice to the game so it's all fair. Overall, "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" does what its supposed to do - delivering some action-filled, fast-paced entertainment, to keep the attention of the audience during its 116 minutes running time. And it does it well enough.

  • My Ratin: 6.75/10
  • Rotten Tomatoes: 40% (5.0/10)
  • IMDb: 6.9/10

6 comments:

DEZMOND said...

OMG How, in the Hades name, did you menage to see this one so soon??? :)

Jaccstev said...

In my review, I gave this 5/10. The film was entertaining but forgettable. Surely not one of the best summer films.

thirdman said...

I wanted a little more out of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time than it offered up. I do agree that Alfred Molina was superb in his performance, and was the highlight of the film. For me though this film was stiff and sluggishly paced.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Dezz, film's release was a week before the US release, in other words May 21st, so this was one of the few times we had the advantage and the opportunity to see a summer blockbuster before the Americans:) I watched it on Thursday and it was so much fun - really silly, but highly entertaining. Loved the stunts, the dynamic action sequences and the whole Arabian feel to it;) "Prince of Persia" is my biggest guilty pleasure so far this year. :)

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Jaccstev, most blockbusters are forgettable and I'm not consider this a problem :) It was the perfect summer blockbuster - silly, unpretentious, dynamic and truly entertaining.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

thirdman, I completely disagree that film's pacing was sluggish! It was fully of energy and never boring! Alfred Molina was definitely the highlight of the movie and I'm glad we agree at least on that :)