Bruckheimer does it again

Rating: 7/10 (29 May 2010)

One thing has to be said about Jerry Bruckheimer: he isn't afraid of anything. Despite the frequent criticism he receives for having launched the dodgy careers of Tony Scott and Michael Bay (ironically with both achieving their finest work to date without his tutelage), he's also responsible for crowd-pleasing franchises like Beverly Hills Cop and Pirates of the Caribbean. Even by his standards, though, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was a bit of a risk. Sure, he secured a competent director (Mike Newell, who helmed the best Harry Potter film to date) and a reliable cast (Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina), but the project still came with that one unpleasant characteristic: based on a video game. Then again, everyone said he was crazy when he wanted to make a movie out of a theme park ride, so maybe he had the right tools to get the game-to-film transition right for once. Based on the finished product, it looks like the gamble mostly paid off.
Based on the fifth installment in the popular game series, The Sands of Time focuses on Gyllenhaal's Dastan, a street kid who finds himself adopted by the Persian king. Well loved by the people and his family, he does fine until a series of circumstances lead to his being accused of murdering the king and being on the run alongside the mysterious and beautiful Tamina (Gemma Arterton), guardian of a dagger that allows its user to travel back in time, something that might come in handy for Dastan to prove his innocence and save the kingdom.
What makes Prince of Persia stand out in the genre is the fact that, except for the (excellent) scenes that involve running, jumping and fighting, it doesn't look like a video-game movie at all. In fact, the surprisingly coherent and fun script follows the Pirates of the Caribbean formula by combining equal doses of action, wit (the exchanges between Dastan and Tamina), pure laughs (Alfred Molina) and charismatic characters (ditto, plus Gyllenhaal, despite an initially shaky English accent). It's formulaic - no prizes for guessing who the villain is - but enjoyable, and the time travel aspect of the story makes the third act less ridiculous than it would have been in an average action flick.
The only real defect, save for a bit of inevitable parallels between then and now (Persia is currently known as Iran, you know), is the fact that the compromise between Bruckheimer (money shots) and Newell (story and character) leads to some chunks of truly awful dialogue, especially the repetitive exposition scenes: is the audience's attention span really so limited that someone has to explain the dagger's function seven times over the course of two hours? Granted, there is time travel in the mix, but that doesn't mean we have to start over every single time. Maybe the screenwriters should have considered hitting the rewind button too.
Overall, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is exactly what it sets out to be, namely a professionally crafted blockbuster that is guaranteed to entertain for a couple of hours. It doesn't quite pack the same charm as the first Pirates movie, but if Bruckheimer has his way and a new franchise begins, there's plenty of potential to exploit in future installments.