Ever since I watched the movie trailer, I was really excited to see this movie. It's not just because of Jake Gyllenhaal, but it also has historical background within it (you know I'm an epic movie freak ;-p) and the special effects looks promising.
"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is based on a video game with the same title, and since I don't play the game I really had no idea about the storyline. When I asked my brother, who's a video game geek, he just told me, "The game is quite sadistic, you jump from rooftop to rooftop beating the enemies with two big daggers and blood sprayed everywhere."
Hmmm... I think that was interesting, because this movie is actually a Walt Disney production. Which means, it's usually rated G or PG-13, and we can't expect PG-13 movies to be bloody and brutal. But thankfully, it's Mike Newell and Jerry Bruckheimer who takes the director and producer seat respectively, so I was really sure that the movie won't be 100% same to the video game.
The storyline tells about Prince Dastan (Gyllenhaal), an adopted son of the King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup), the Persian King, who is accused to kill the King by giving him an acid-poisoned robe. Dastan is the King's favorite son, for having a great fighting skill and battle strategy. One day, Dastan's uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley) delivers a report that Alamut, a sacred city near the kingdom, has a deadly weapon made to destroy the Persian empire. The kingdom soon prepare a strategy to attack the city, with Dastan and his brothers Garsiv (Toby Kebbell) and Tus (Richard Coyle) as the leaders.
During the battle in Alamut, Dastan takes down one of the Alamut warrior who brings a 'fancy' dagger. Dastan then takes the dagger for himself, and the Persian army successfully occupy the city. Tus meets Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton), the leader of Alamut, asking her to be a part of Persia in a friendly relationship. Tamina isn't being friendly at first, but when she sees Dastan and the 'fancy' dagger hanging on his waist, she reluctantly accept Tus' request.
To celebrate the victory, Dastan and his brothers plan to give their father a holy robe for prayer. And when the King wears it, he soon falls down while his body is burning inside. Anyone who touches the robe and try to take it off of the King have their hands burnt also. Then the King is dead, and everyone accuses Dastan for killing him, because it was him who put on the robe to the King.
Dastan runs away from the kingdom, along with Tamina, and this is where their journey begins. Dastan soon finds out about the hidden power of the 'fancy' dagger -- and since now we all know that it's not a usual dagger, I won't call it 'fancy' dagger anymore, it's now just 'dagger' -- it can turn back the time. This dagger has a small slot to fulfill with sands, but not for usual sands we can find in the dessert.
Dastan plans to use the dagger to clean up his name in front of Persian people, and tries to reach his uncle Nizam to tell the truth. During his father's funeral, Dastan secretly meets up with Nizam, only to find out that the dagger has been replaced by a chain weapon by Tamina. At the same time Dastan notices Nizam's burnt hands, which makes him suspicious because he remembers that Nizam didn't touch the King's robe at all during the celebration. Dastan finds out that Nizam was the one who poisoned his father's robe, and runs away to find Tamina and the dagger.
Nizam goes to the Hassansin's lair, the elite and most well-trained army in Persia. If you have watched 300, Hassansin might remind you to the Immortals. They dress in black, cold, scary, mysterious, and fast to kill. Nizam tells the Hassansin leader (GÃsli Örn Garðarsson) that Dastan has the dagger, and they have to kill him and bring back the dagger to Nizam. Dastan is now a fugitive not just for the Persian army, but also for Hassansins.
And then I'm sure you'll know the rest. You know where the story will lead you. And I won't give any spoilers either. Let's go straight to the review. This movie has something to tell, it does have a clear storyline. It's about trust, legacy, brotherhood. There's drama within the Persian kingdom family, where Dastan isn't actually the real blood, but he's always been the King's favorite. And then there's another family member whose thirst of power, he's willing to do anything to take over the government.
But unfortunately the main characters are not as appealing as the minors. Dastan for example, is a physically perfect portray for a Persian prince, but he doesn't have the 'charisma' and 'uniqueness'. He's the King's favorite, he should have something different from his other brothers (other than the great fighting skill), but he turns out to be insecure and confused all the time. At the beginning to the middle of the movie I thought he's the strong, careless and 'I-don't-give-a-damn' type of guy. But for some reason he becomes more mellow (read: weaker). In short, Dastan isn't as interesting as I thought he would be.
In contrary, the minor characters are totally cool. Let's take Sheik Amar for example. Looking at that character, I really had no idea if it was Alfred Molina. He totally changes himself into this materialistic and self-centered ostricht owner. His appearance is really refreshing and brings fun comedy. Nizam's character is also interesting. Ben Kingsley looks reeeally vicious! Just look at his eyes and you'll know he's the bad guy. Tha Hassansins are also cool, the makeup really shows that they are cold deadly assassins.
Special effect is amazing I must say. Seeing the whole Persian country swept away by the sandstorm is WOW. The scene where Dastan slides away inside the ruining temple and jump off by doing backflip was 'da bomb'!! And the fighting scenes are all cool. Bloods and stabbings are around but it's just a few.
Even so, this movie does give me an experience. By experience I mean, I didn't regret buying the ticket and sat down inside the theatre for two hours. I'm sure it will refresh you up. It's not that good, but just like what I said in the most movies I've reviewed, it's entertaining. 6,5 out of 10.
