PRINCE OF PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME
June 3rd 2010 00:16
Category: Movies
Based on the Prince of Persia video games series by Jordan Mechner
Director: Mike Newell
Screenplay by: Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro & Carlo Bernard
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal (Dastan), Gemma Arteton (Tamina), Ben Kingsley (Nizam), Alfred Molina (Sheik Amar), Toby Kebbell (Garsiv), Richard Coyle (Tus), Ronald Pickup (King Sharaman). Steve Toussaint (Seso) & Gisli Om Gadarsaon (Hassansin Leader)
Produced by: Walt Disney Pictures & Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Released by: Walt Disney Pictures
Running Time:116 minutes Rating: M
From the same combo that brought the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise onto silver screens worldwide comes this dramatisation of a major computer game series. Now computer games being translated onto the big screen is not something new, look at Sony with Resident Evil, but what you have to wonder is whether or not the translation from one medium to another works. After all Prince of Persia might be a great game, I’ve never played it so I’m just guessing here, but it doesn’t mean that it will work well as a movie. Still despite being unaware of the game I went along to my local cinema ready to see what would unfold on the big screen and whether I would get some kind of entertainment from the experience.
OT) is a story about familial ties and piety as it is an action flick, its drama revolves as much around the interaction between brothers and family as it does around political manoeuvring and naked grabs for power. It is as much about how envy between family members can become a poison that not only destroys family bonds but can lead to much greater carnage and destruction. And it begins with two brothers, Sharaman and Nizam, both members of the Persian royal family, yet only Sharaman who is the eldest of the two becomes king, a fact that galls Nizam although he hides this well. Time passes and Sharaman fathers two of his own sons and adopts a third, thus he ends up with three loyal and capable sons who when he passes away will carry on the rule of law and justice within the Persian Empire. But the three sons even though they are capable and just men are not quite prepared for the darkness that lies within their own familial circle nor the events that are about to occur. Skilled in the matters of battle, intrigue and leadership they may be but their uncle, Nizam, is far wilier than they by a long stretch and he has set in motion events that will lead to catastrophic occurrences.
The hook that drives this particular plot is a mystical device, a dagger that when used by its wielder can turn back time for approximately a minute, allowing the wielder to then anticipate what will happen. Of course this dagger is guarded and its guardians are not likely to be in the habit of just handing it over to any Tom, Jamal or Khalid who comes knocking at their temple’s doors. So Nizam, cunning villain that he is, has to fabricate some excuse for him to ‘requisition’ this dagger from its guardians, he opts on the hoary old excuse that the city where the dagger is held is manufacturing swords, arrows and other classical weapons of mass destruction for the enemies of Persia. The Holy City of Alamut is said to have thousands if not hundreds of thousands of hidden forges churning out weapons to the enemy states on Persia’s borders.
Just like the WMD of Iraq, Alamut’s network of forges proves to be very much a lie, but there is something else that lies beneath the holy city, something that is very integral to the dagger that Nizam seeks. What could that possibly be I hear you ask? The very sands of time itself, for the dagger to work it must have some of the sands poured into the hilt, continued use of the dagger depletes its own supply and thus it has to be replenished from the source. Of course what would happen if you let the dagger just constantly absorb the sand? What if you plunged it into the source and just let things flow? Apparently that would be a bad thing, and to top it off is forbidden by the gods, although it is exactly what Nizam has in mind, after all he wants to be king and the best way to do that is to change what has gone in the past.
When the sand finally settled in this film I felt that I had spent a gained a worthwhile few hours of entertainment, POP
OT was a good film although looking back on it there were a few things that did jar with me. Firstly the Hassansin, that has to be the most silliest name to give a group of hired killers in the history of action films, it smacks of the script writers not making any kind of effort. Why not call them Assassins or better yet the Disciples of Ahriman or something far more appropriate than a mish mash of Hashishin and Assassin. Secondly the ending was a little too contrived, as if once again the script writers found themselves at a point where they needed to wrap things up but didn’t know precisely how. Without these two glitches I suspect POPOT could have been a truly great film on par with Pirates of the Caribbean, still it is worth taking the time out to watch and has great moments of pathos, humour and action.| 60 |
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