Pretty Damn Good!

Rating: 9/10 (3 January 2014)

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is based on a video game, but this is more than a video game homage. In the previous movie I reviewed Jake Gyllenhaal played a political cartoonist turned amateur detective. In this movie he plays a prince who is capable of incredible gymnastic feats.
The movie begins by talking about the Kingdom of Persia. Persia was an empire that existed long ago. Many of the stories about Persia are a part of myths and legend... this included. But of course the creator of the video games and the writer for this movie did a pretty good job researching Persia in order to create a realistic looking story.
Prince Dastan (Gyllenhaal) is an orphan and street urchin as a child. As a young boy he saves a friend from being beaten by a guard for stealing an apple. The way he does this is performing his incredible gymnastic flips and jumps. The king of Persia, King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup), witnesses this act of courage by Dastan. After hearing the Dastan doesn't have parents, Sharaman adopts Dastan as his son and raises him as his own to be brother to his biological sons.
Years later, Prince Tus (Richard Coyle), Prince Garsiv (Toby Kebbell) and Prince Dastan along with their uncle, Nizam (Ben Kingsley) and their army attack Alamut. A spy reported that Alamut was supplying weapons for the enemies of Persia. Dastan does what he does best and allows the Persian army to enter Alamut and conquered it. In Alamut, Dastan discovers not only his destiny but the truth. He also discovers Temina (Gemma Arterton), Princess of Alamut.
Prince of Persia is not only a fantasy story, it is also a love story. For in this movie Dastan and Temina fall in love as the story continues. However, in the end Dastan is the only one who remembers.
There are many scenes I like about this movie. I like Dastan's gymnastic abilities. I love the fact that Gemma Arterton was cast to play Temina; she is very beautiful woman.
This movie gets 9 stars out of 10 from me.