Somewhat entertaining film that cheats at the end

Rating: 6/10 (18 July 2010)

Ah, Jerry Bruckheimer. The ultimate bigwig in big-budget, over-the-top, special effects laden action and entertainment. Sometimes, his films will fully deliver the goods ("Black Hawk Down," "Pirates of the Caribbean"). Sometimes, they're flat out messy ("Armageddon"). Sometimes, they're flat out boring ("National Treasure"). This film sometimes delivers, and almost does. But then it cheats at the end, and it left me feeling very unsatisfied, like the entire picture had been a waste of time.
Set in ancient times (or whatever those title cards said), "Prince of Persia" follows Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), an adopted prince who, along with his two brothers, his adoptive father, and his Uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley), is first found attacking the holy city of Alamut. They believe the city is committing treason. The raid is successful, but evidence of treason is not found. Dastan does, however, encounter the much heralded Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton). During a victory celebration, the King of Persia announces that he will make Dastan king and make Tamina his wife. But then he suddenly dies, and Dastan is framed for the murder. Now he must flee with Tamina, and together, they must find out who is really behind this conspiracy.
Gyllenhaal is pretty good in the lead as Dastan, not his best performance, but okay nonetheless. Then again, considering his caliber, it would be very hard to find Jake in a bad performance. Likewise, Gemma Arterton is okay as the feisty Princess Tamina, and she and Gyllenhaal do enjoy a little chemistry together, but not very much. Ben Kingsley doesn't impress too much as the "evil uncle" Nizam. The best performance, ironically, comes from a role that doesn't contribute a whole lot to the plot. It's from Alfred Molina as the (ready for this?) taxes-hating, ostrich-racing, Sheik Amar. Molina seems to be the most aware of "Prince of Persia's" B-movie roots, and he plays up his role appropriately. It's hilarious to watch him complain about taxes and over-like his ostriches, and at one point, Molina even makes a remark that, for all I knew, mocked the movie he was in. I not only wished he was in the movie more (as it is, he was in for roughly ten minutes), but I wished the other actors played it up to his level.
Production values and special effects are pretty good here; the movie cost a reported $200 to make. As with many other summer movies, action scenes are "Prince of Persia's" bread and butter. Unfortunately, they are frequently hyper-edited and zoomed in too close, thus making them rather average. Gyllenhaal seems to pull of some impressive stunts by running off of rooftops, but I couldn't entirely tell. The film was directed by Mike Newell, and just like with the fourth "Harry Potter" film, action scenes are not his strongpoint. He does much better with character interaction; unfortunately, he doesn't have a whole lot of that to work with here.
As for the plot, well, it's not too strong. After Dastan is forced to flee, the plot has a tendency to go in circles as we see the Dagger with the Sands of Time (that's the chief object of desire here) trade numerous hands, Dastan run around in city after city, and endless numbers of bad guys complicate our hero's journey. But I had fun with it anyway, despite its flaws. It wanted to be a fun B-movie, and I started to go with the flow. The actors were likable, and it was through them that I got most of my entertainment value.
But then came the cheat. I won't spoil it, but let's just say that the twist at the end made me feel like the entire movie had been a waste of time. Admitted, had the movie not cheated, my recommendation for "Prince of Persia" would have been marginal, but it would have been a recommendation nonetheless. As it is, even for pure entertainment reasons, I cannot recommend this movie.