A good Summer popcorn flick

Rating: 7/10 (7 June 2010)

Prince of Persia has been one of the summer films I've been looking forward to since its first trailer impressed me. At the same time, I didn't expect much. After going through so many summer seasons with crappy blockbusters and over hyped garbage, I was kind of relieved to see a film that knew exactly what it was and didn't aim to be anything more. And it certainly turned out the way I expected: a fun popcorn flick that doesn't take itself too seriously.
What truly shines here is the action, fairly obviously I think. The story is decent, though nothing to be impressed with, and most of it contains fairly serviceable production values. It helps that the acting is of fairly high caliber. Jake is fun to watch as the Prince. He plays up the action and one liners well and proves his value as a potential action adventure star if given the right material. Gemma is serviceable and looks great doing it. Alfred Molina and Ben Kingsley are also great as supporting cast members, though their talents are definitely underplayed here, something that seems to be a continual pattern for Kingsley these days.
Persia is also an interesting choice of environment. It lends some personality to the film. Although it's mostly historically inaccurate, a fantasized version of the real Persia, it's still an interesting environment for the adventure. Much like the Caribbeans added to Pirates adventure story, Persia adds that much more to this film.
But, as I said, the action here is the real star and that's not too surprising. If you expect another Pirates, you'll be sorely mislead, but the film is definitely a lot of fun. The action is almost non stop and it's almost always big. The film recalls times when we didn't expect so much more from our films other than they be entertaining, and I enjoyed that aspect of Prince of Persia. It's a fun, old fashioned, swashbuckling adventure. For a popcorn flick, I couldn't ask for much more.