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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
(2010)
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Blu-ray Disc Released: 9/14/2010
All Ratings out of 
Movie: 1/2
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Review by Mike Long, Posted on 9/5/2010
Jerry Bruckheimer is one of the most prolific producers in Hollywood, and one can only begin to imagine the amount of money that his projects have brought in over the years. He works in both television and feature-films, and while he's best known for his big action movies, his projects have varied greatly over the years. Having said that Mr. Bruckheimer clearly isn't opposed to sequels and movie franchises, as evidenced by his involvement with Pirates of the Caribbean, Bad Boys, and National Treasure. One can't help but wonder if he was hoping for a new series with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Given the fact that the movie didn't recoup even half of its reported budget, something tells me that's not going to happen.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is set in ancient Persia. Benevolent King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup) is a powerful, but fair ruler, and his brother, Nizam (Ben Kingsley) serves as his counsel. Sharaman has two sons, Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell). One day, Sharaman is riding through the streets and witnesses a young boy named Dastan exhibiting great courage and goodwill. He adopts the orphan and raises him as his own. Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) grows to be a brave and fearless warrior. Sharaman sends his sons to invade the city of Alamut, as a spy has stated that the city has become a supplier of illegal weapons. Dastan leads the charge and soon the city, along with Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) are captured. One of the treasures which Dastan takes with him is a unique dagger. Dastan returns to his father's palace to celebrate the victory. However, a tragedy soon follows and Dastan is framed for a crime which he didn't commit. With the assistance of Tamina, he flees from the city. He soon discovers that the mysterious dagger has magical powers. Dastan plans to use the dagger, his wits and the help of the resistant Tamina to clear his name.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is based on a video game series which dates back to 1989, when the game premiered on the Apple II. Specifically, the movie takes much of its story from a more recent series of games which began with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Unlike many film critics, I don't see movies based on video games as the kiss of death. Many modern games have deep and rich storylines and one could easily take the story from the game, throw in a little action from the game, and come up with a good movie. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
OK, to be fair, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is better than a good number of video game movies. However, the problem with the movie is that it does very little to distinguish itself from the pack, both of video game movies and action-adventure movies in general. Now, I haven't played any of the Prince of Persia games, but the vibe that I got from the movie is that they wanted it to play like a cross between
Pirates of the Caribbean and The Mummy, with a dash of Raiders of the Lost Ark thrown in. With its desert locations, combined with swashbuckling action, and mixed with some supernatural twists, the movie certainly achieves this goal. But, it also pales in comparison to everything which it appears to be aping.First of all, the story, which was written by three people, is very hackneyed and predictable. From the outset, the movie follows a very familiar pattern and seems to be filling in the blanks on what a big adventure film should contain. From the fight set-pieces to the comic relief to the sudden inclusion of a colorful and eccentric stranger to the moment where it looks like our hero is defeated to the finale, the movie doesn't miss a page from the big summer movie playbook. In the right hands, this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time often comes across as flat and humorless. This is one of those films which has constant action scenes, but somehow still feels boring. Director Mike Newell has helmed some familiar films, such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and
Mona Lisa Smile. And the fact that he directed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire shows that he's not a stranger to big movies, perhaps he bit off more than he could chew with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. The action scenes all seem to run together. The movie contains an incredible amount of shots of the bad guy looking very sinister before he's revealed to be the bad guy. One thing that really jumped out at me was the odd editing of the film. Some scenes seem to start and stop at random and events suddenly occur or things suddenly change, which lead me to believe that there must be a cache of deleted scenes somewhere -- however only one appears in the special features.The biggest question mark about the film has to be Jake Gyllenhaal as the star. I've liked his work in the past, but I'm not sure how he came across as an action hero. When I look at him, all that I can see is
Donnie Darko and Dastan's non-chalant ways came across as apathy at times. He's not bad, but it's a bold casting choice which simply doesn't pay off. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is good for a rental, especially if you're a fan of the games and want to see how the movie handles them. Otherwise, you may find yourself thinking that it should have been The Sands of Wasted Time.Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has a lot of talk about sand on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 20 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no grain or defects from the source material. The colors look very good and the image is never too dark or bright. The movie contains a lot of daytime exterior shots in the desert, which have a nice crispness and show a nice amount of depth. The picture is nicely detailed as well. The Disc features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.5 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Why is it that movies that I don't like always have great sound? This track contains some of the most detailed surround sound that I've heard in a while. Not only can we distinguish between various sounds in the action scenes, but when sounds move from the front to the back, we can easily follow them on their journey. The stereo effects show very nice separation. The subwoofer effects are nicely done as well, and are deep without being intrusive.
The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Blu-ray Disc contains an interesting assortment of extras. "The Sands of Time" is an interactive feature which can be accessed while watching the film, or through a menu. During the movie, a dagger icon will appear on-screen and the viewer can then "go back in time" to get information about the production of the previous scene. From the menu, the viewer can access any of the 42 brief segments (which average a little under two minutes) which detail nearly every key scene in the film. Unfortunately, there's no PLAY ALL option for these segments, so must go back to the menu every time. While this is annoying, the piece do contain a wealth of on-set and behind-the-scenes footage and many comments from cast and crew. The Disc contains one DELETED SCENE, which runs about 2 minutes. (Again, given the choppy nature of the movie, this is surprising.) The scene is from early in the film, and somewhat echoes the last scene in the movie. The Blu-ray combo pack also contains a DVD of the film. This DVD contains one extra, "An Unseen World: Making Prince of Persia" (16 minutes) focuses on the production of the film and is made up almost entirely of on-set footage...but, most of this echoes what was seen in "The Sands of Time" feature on the Blu-ray.
Review by Mike Long. Copyright 2010.