Surprisingly good movie adaptation in pretty much every regard

Rating: 8/10 (17 August 2010)

It has been a trend for the past 2 decades to make movies based on famous commercial video games, and it has only been getting "worse".
Worse because, as a video game player I would like to see some games made into movies that explore the story and lore in more depth but, producers and directors tasked with doing so have, except on few occasions, pretty much done a horrible job so far.
Prince of Persia is one of those few occasions.
Without giving any of the story away, it revolves around the age old story of good versus evil, family feud, princesses and ancient mystical powers. And normally this would, before seeing the movie, make me skeptical it was possible to pull all this off in only 120 minutes. PoP does it.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Prince Dastan very convincingly, never has those annoyingly unbelievable lapses of reason that the main protagonists in game adaptations normally have. Ben Kingsly is always a treat to watch and even in a supporting role he shows why is one of the best.
Gemma Arterton, who reminds me of Audrey Hepburn at times, looks beautiful as always and is perfect in the role of Princess Tamina and I'm looking forward to seeing more of her in the future.
The special effects are used in abundance but not so much that it becomes an overkill. The sets are believable in the old mystical realm that the movie takes place in, and there were never any noticeable Deus Ex Machina moments.
As with all movies it has its shortcomings in a few areas but overall I was very pleased. I give it 8 stars and recommend it for all.