Not so much ...

Rating: 6/10 (29 May 2010)

The pre-release hype seemed to indicate this offering would be yet another of the gee-whiz computer generated special effects extravaganza. It did not disappoint in that area, the quality of the CGI were uniformly excellent.
Added to the 'puter stuff were on-screen acrobatics that may have been the best since the old Burt Lancaster vehicle, "The Crimson Pirate". The rest of the film I'm not so certain of. There was really nothing new here, at least new enough to burn it indelibly into people's minds. The things I didn't like left me feeling a bad taste in my mouth. First, the good parts: I was surprised that the lead actor, Jake Gyllenhaal, played so well as the adopted Persian Prince; although I'm not so sure one would have found a blue-eyed Dutchman in ancient Persia. I was puzzled by the affected British Accent. Maybe he was trying to be the gentleman to his leading lady. I found myself thinking, "Why did the producers and director want their Persians to speak with British accents." I still wonder. The usual formula would be for the actors to affect a bad Middle-Eastern accent while still speaking English. At least Gyllenhaal's effort in that regard didn't sound too bad.
The lead actress, Gemma Arterton, did well against Gyllenhaal. Although a real chemistry didn't seem to ignite between them, at least there wasn't a blatantly noticeable fizzle.
The masterful Anglo-Spanish actor Alfred Molina added a nice balance as an oddball who seemed not to be able to decide whether he was a bad guy or a good guy. He also supplied the biggest disappointment, which I'll get to later. It wasn't his fault. He was making a great effort around what he was given to do.
The great Anglo-Indian actor Sir Ben Kingsley gave an excellent performance. He's always great to watch, although the role didn't have much to offer the viewer.
Rounding out the performances were two fine efforts by Richard Coyle and Toby Kebbell, both also British, as the brother-Princes of Gyllenhaal's character. Of the two I liked Coyle the better although I'm not sure why.
On the negative side is the story. I've seen a lot of examples of late where computer generated special effects extravaganza came up very short in the story/plot department. It was definitely not inspired, let alone taking itself seriously.
The really great thing about all of the old films of this type, like Sinbad the Sailor with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., was that they played it pretty much straight. It was very disappointing to see fumbling attempts at tongue-in-cheek references to modern political issues injected into what might have been a much better story without them. They were not clever at all. They felt disingenuous and stilted. This one fell flat to me because of that and they dumped the majority of that garbage in Molina's lap, poor guy. At least he carried it off smiling.
If they are going to make a costume adventure/drama I wish they'd play it to the hilt, and at least let the kids at least enjoy it. In days of yore, kids could buy a solid ticket to a wondrous dream world on a Saturday afternoon. This one wouldn't measure up.
For my money, far better stories were written in the tenth century in the famous work, "The Thousand and One Nights." They should have stolen more from them and it might have been a lot better story.
In the end, there is some entertainment here; the special effects, some of the sets and costuming, Gyllenhaal's acrobatics and Arterton's curves and enchanting smile. But then, the film was based on a video game, most of which are horrible stories anyway, so one shouldn't be surprised at the shortfall.
Finally, I mentioned the general nationalities of the principle players as I was at least a little surprised that no one Middle Eastern seemed to be visible on screen.