Hot, sandy fun

Rating: 7/10 (28 May 2010)

It would be easy for a cynical person to ask why if Hollywood is supposedly not racist and politically correct do they make films like Prince of Persia. The casting of Jake Gyllenhaal as a Persian is definitely not politically correct. It is funny how everyone has brought that up, yet nobody has ever bothered to mention that the image of Jesus (which has been worshipped for 2000 years) is ten fold more racist. Jesus of Nazareth would have been tanned skinned and Dark haired like all Isrealites, not the Caucasian, brown haired fella we know so well. It is a crazy world, and Prince of Persia is a crazy movie, but the summer of 2010 has just begun and as far as blockbusters are concerned, this may be the first good one, (if you don't go for Iron Man 2)
Even though it takes itself seriously, there are times when Prince of Persia can be looked at as partial satire. Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton, make a fun screen couple, and they get to exchange one liners frequently. We also have Alfred Molina, in a scene stealing performance as a kind of 20th century figure in Persian robes. He reminds me of the surf in Monty Python's Holy Grail who tells the king that he did'nt 'vote' for him.
Prince of Persia also reminds me a bit of last month's Clash of the Titans, only less rushed, much looser and more enjoyable. The fight scenes (while they don't offer anything new) are well done, maintaining enough visual coherency and good choreography to deserve some credit. These scenes take up about 70% of screen time. The plot beneath it, is gimmicky but actually a bit more convoluted than I am used to seeing. There are a lot of names and faces to remember for anyone with a short attention span. It turns out not to be such a big deal. The story does, go somewhere, and we the viewers go with it for a fairly engaging two hours.
Prince of Persia, though far from being great like the empire was, proves to be good weekend time investment.