Review of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) by Ahmed A — 10 Jan 2015

Said to be the best film adaptation of a video game ever made, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time sounded like a fun big budget adventure with Jake Gyllenhaal headlining it.

I never played much in the way of Prince of Persia games outside of the original 1989 computer game, and so in terms of story I did not have the highest expectations for the general tale in the film. All I hoped for from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was some fun action scenes, but I put my hopes a bit high. As a video game adaptation, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time doesn't seem all that bad. But in terms of actual entertainment, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time fails to really do justice to its viewers.

The problem with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the fact that it wants to be both a family friendly comedy film to promote the Disney label and an action adventure fantasy in a middle-eastern setting, but these two genres do not coincide well in the film. Because of this, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ends up with a story which takes itself seriously yet remains constantly distracted by elements of humour. Eventually, it gives up on that and resorts back to telling its story, but it really does not know where to honestly go with its tale. The story is one which has been seen hundreds of times in all kinds of different tales, be they in medieval context or even contemporary thrillers, and it follows a very predictable path. What it boils down to is the fact that since , Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is not meant to be original or groundbreaking in terms of storytelling, we are left to hope for some level of fun in the gimmicks. Here, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is so repetitive and lifeless that I really wonder if the screenwriters were actually trying.

The production design of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is pretty impressive. It is surprising that the scale of the film feels a little too small to really capture the big adventure that the film could have been when the budget of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is $200 million. Still, things look good. While the setting is very repetitive and dry, it does a fairly decent job of establishing where the story takes place. And it pairs up with good visual effects while everything is captured with good cinematography. The musical score of the film was also decent, with some moments establishing a touch of Maurice Jarre in them. But the few good images in the film are repeated again and again from start to finish without much in the way of creativity which leaves the film without much of an impact. With the story poor direction ensuring that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was not a fun adventure, all that was left to hope to get some spirit from was the action scenes. Yet even that was too much to hope for.

There is not enough action in the film. There are a couple of scenes in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time which have people setting things ablaze, getting into rushed swordfights or performing poorly filmed parkour. Aside from the fact that the editing in these scenes is really not impressive, there is just not enough of it to keep the film going. Outside of the few moments of visual fun in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, there is nothing but thin characters and weak storytelling to fill the void of the feature for the remaining time. For an overblown film which wastes so much money, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time also manages to waste a lot of time because the film runs for an entire 116 minutes which is way too much for Mike Newell to actually handle. His directorial work is unimpressive, particularly in comparison to the last time he handled a big budget film as the director of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. As a Jerry Bruckheimer produced film, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is far from one of his more fun pieces and just seems to waste his money the way it wastes the time of its viewers.

Jake Gyllenhaal makes a decent lead in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. While his character is a slimly written one, he keeps his energy consistent constantly in the role and remains physically adamant the entire time. It is an interesting role to see him in because he actually makes the drama in the film seem less melodramatically cheesy and instead puts a level of likability into the character. But what is more impressive is his abilities as an action hero. Jake Gyllenhaal runs and jumps with passion in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and puts up a strong swordfight from time to time, so even if it may not be the best star vehicle for Jake Gyllenhaal, he does the job decently enough.

Gemma Arterton pays herself no favours in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Her role is one which seems thrown in there just for the sake of having a female character, but it is all in vain because she is an unlikable one who seems little more than annoying the entire time. With that in mind, Gemma Arterton brings a blank performance to the role. The character is a thin one and her performance has no charisma which makes viewers unlikely to care about her in the slightest. Gemma Arterton is easily forgettable in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

So Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time features some decent visual moments along the line, but they all end up buried beneath the excess of repetition in the film's poorly conceived story and overblown length.