Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time (2010)

Oh dear, and it was all going so well. As if affronted by my stream of generally positive reviews on the blog these past few weeks the big screen adaptation of the classic Prince of Persia gaming series arrives determined to dampen the mood. Roughly borrowing elements from the game of the same name, the Sands of Time avoids many of the pitfalls of other videogame adaptations by shunning a lot of the games narrative and story elements, yet still fails to impress by simply being a poor film in nearly every regard. The hand of Jerry Bruckheimer is clearly evident in the way the film is laid out and presented, however the magic that was spread when Pirates of the Caribbean was brought to the big screen is sorely missing here. This is largely down to the films script, which fails to create any memorable characters or set pieces. 

Despite the Pirates of the Caribbean comparisons it is actually the Indiana Jones films that Prince of Persia seems most to seek to emulate. The loveable rogue on the run accompanied by an unwilling female companion is a familiar set up, but one that again feels like a wasted opportunity here. Gemma Arterton and Jake Gyllenhaal in the main roles are adequate, but they never spark. Gyllenhaal proves himself adept enough at handing the films various action scenes, but his faux-British accent is simply distracting and seems to waver between scenes. Arterton fares little better, she may be extremely attractive but she does little to imbue her character with much life or energy. The supposedly witty banter that the two exchange (one of the films few nods to the game series) fails to generate much except groans and fails to capture the love/hate vibe the film-makers were clearly aiming for. One of the main failings of the script is that it lumbers many of the actors with pages of expository dialogue, explaining the situation, or what has just happened or what will happen. It grinds the film to a halt too many times and still leaves the ultimate goal vague. The main conceit, that of a dagger which can rewind time, is an interesting one but it is underused in any interesting capacity other than as a massive deau ex machina whenever necessary. It must however be pointed out that I did really like the effect used for this process, it visualised what was happening is a clear and very cool way.

The supporting cast are again, adequate, but aside from Afred Molina who hams it up amusingly as a local bandit leader with a secret, they are not that memorable. Ben Kingsley cashes yet another cheque as he largely stands around in the background wearing heavy eye make up, anyone who is familiar with his usual typecasting will easily work out his role in the film early on and he does little to distinguish it.

The film however is solidly made, Mike Newell direction is competent but inert, I enjoyed his entry in the Harry Potter series, but working from a weaker script and characters here he does little to inject a sense of adventure into proceedings. That is the main problem with the film really, on a technical level you couldn't really call it a failure, but it feels like one. Halfway through watching, if not before, I gave up caring about what was happening, I was not engaged. The film feels like a hodgepodge of different ideas that haven't been developed or thought about and as such it becomes a cynical marketing exercise without an ounce of passion or creativity on show. I'm usually a fan of entertaining summer blockbuster fare, but Prince of Persia was a disappointment on every level, and a distinct waste of a decent amount of talent. Now if only I had a dagger I could use to get those two hours of my life back...