Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Plot synopsis:
The plot follows Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), a street urchin in Persia, historically in the Persian Empire in the sixth century. After showing courage in the market place, he is adopted by the king. Fifteen years later, Dastan, and his royal blooded foster brothers Garsiv and Tus lead the Persian army in an attack on the sacred city of Alamut, under the assumption that the city's people are selling weapons to their enemies, as shown by Nizam (Ben Kingsley), the King's brother and adviser. As Garsiv leads the initial assault, Dastan decides to lead a surprise attack with his friend Bis (Reece Ritchie) against the orders of his brother. He manages to open the eastern gate of Alamut and prevents further casualties. During the fight in the city, Dastan defeats one of Princess Tamina's (Gemma Arterton) guards who was in the possession of the mythical Dagger of Time. The dagger gives its owner the ability to go back in time for a short period so that the user can try to correct any mistake or redo any moment. Alamut falls to the Persians, Tamina is captured and is offered as a wife for Tus, which would make the city of Alamut a part of the Persian Empire.The Persians celebrate their victory, but during the celebration Prince Dastan is fooled into presenting a poisoned gown seemingly given to him by Tus to King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup), which fatally burns the king. Prince Dastan is held as the perpetrator of his father's murder. He escapes the castle with Princess Tamina while Bis, his best friend, is killed trying to save them. Together, they embark on a journey the Prince wants to prove his innocence, while Tamina wants to safeguard the Dagger of Time. On the first night, Tamina attempts to kill the prince and recover the dagger, but Dastan accidentally activates the dagger and learns about its ability to rewind time for one minute and in doing so, prevents Tamina from attacking. Dastan believes that Tus knew about the dagger and framed Dastan for their father's murder in an attempt to seize the throne and the dagger, thus becoming the most powerful ruler of Persia.During their journey, the duo meets a group of merchant-bandits, in the valley of slaves, including entrepreneur and ostrich racing-organizer Sheik Amar (Alfred Molina) with his friend Seso (Steve Toussaint) who hails from the Ngbaka, masters of the throwing knives. Dastan offers Tamina up as a slave in return for their hospitality. However, the bandits try to take the Dagger of Time and take Dastan to the newly crowned Tus because of the reward for his capture; they fail in the process, while the two escape.Dastan and Tamina return to Persia for King Sharaman's funeral. Dastan tries to convince his uncle Nizam that he was not the cause of his father's death, only to discover the dagger was taken by Tamina. Instead, he notices the burns on Nizam's hands, which indicate he was the one who set up the murder of the King. Furthermore, Nizam has set up an ambush for Dastan along the Persian streets, and after a conflict with his brother Garsiv, Dastan escapes.Meanwhile, back in Persia, Nizam, aware that Dastan knows he was responsible, tries to convince the newly-crowned King Tus and Garsiv that Dastan is trying to overthrow them and must be killed without a trial to avoid a rebellion. When this fails, Nizam hires the Hassansins, a group of highly-skilled warriors who once served as hired killers for Persian royalty. Nizam had kept the sect hidden for his own ends after Sharaman had them disbanded.Dastan catches up with Tamina and explains that the villainous brother of the King, Nizam was behind it all. The attack of Alamut was based on false allegations provided by Nizam and promoted with a motive to attain the Dagger of Time and use it with the massive Sandglass, which is hidden under the city of Alamut. This way, Nizam would go back in time before he had saved Sharaman from being attacked by a lion and undo the act, hence ensure that he becomes the King of Persia. However, Tamina reveals that the Sandglass is the vessel holding the Sands of Time, which the Gods conjured to punish humanity for its sins. A pure hearted girl, offering her life, convinced them to seal the sands; should the Dagger of Time be used to pierce the Sandglass, the sands would be released and destroy the entire world. The holder of the dagger may also turn back time as far as they please. The pair then put aside their differences and agree to work together to protect the dagger.Dastan and Tamina are again captured by Sheik Amar, Seso, and their group because of the chaos they caused back at the valley. Sheik intends to claim the reward for turning them in to renew his business. But that night, when everyone is asleep, the Hassansin leader (Gísli Örn Garðarsson) attacks the group in an oasis by controlling a number of vipers. Many of the group die, but Dastan uses the dagger to rewind time, and, foreseeing the attack, manages to kill all the snakes single-handedly, saving Seso in the process. The Hassansin leader then leaves in a sand dervish.The next day, the pair, now accompanied by Sheik and Seso, travel to the secret sanctuary in the mountains near India, where it's possible to seal the dagger by returning it to the stone where it came from. In order to do so, Tamina would have to sacrifice herself, but it fails as they run into Garsiv's men. Dastan, however, manages to persuade his brother that he is innocent, only for Garsiv to be killed by a flurry of spike-knives thrown by a Hassansin. The Hassanin attack, killing many of the group, while their leader manages to snatch the Dagger of Time from Tamina (who was knocked unconscious in the battle) by using a trained snake. However, Dastan is saved from the last Hassansin by Garsiv, who then succumbs to his injuries.Tamina and Dastan, as well as Sheik Amar and Seso, return to Alamut to reveal the truth about Nizam and the dagger to Tus. First, they must get the dagger, which is kept in the sacred temple, guarded by the Hassansin who killed Garsiv. Seso, the master of throwing knives, fights the spike-wielding Hassansin to obtain the dagger. He manages to kill the Hassansin after a well aimed throw, yet is fatally wounded in the process. Seso manages to throw the Dagger out of the window to Sheik and Dastan before dying. Sheik Amar then distracts the guards by serving as a decoy while Dastan shows the truth about the Dagger to his brother Tus by killing himself, only to have Tus rewind time with the dagger. Afterward, Tus is killed by Nizam, and Dastan is incapacitated by another Hassasin. The Dagger is once again in Nizam's hands, but Dastan manages to defeat the Hassasin with Tamina's help. She realises that the Hassansin had been a spy inside the city of Alamut and must have been the one who told Nizam about the Dagger.Nizam goes to the Sandglass caves beneath Alamut, as Dastan and Tamina race to stop him. Tamina opens a secret gate leading to the chamber, allowing them to take a short cut to the Sandglass. En route, they encounter the leader of the Hassansins; however, after a close fight, Dastan gets the upper hand and stabs the Hassansin before throwing him into the chasm. Dastan and Tamina then kiss. They then manage to reach Nizam as he pierces the Sandglass with the Dagger. During the final confrontation, Nizam knocks Tamina over the edge of the chasm and Dastan desperately catches her hand. Knowing he cannot stop Nizam and save her, Tamina professes her love for Dastan and lets go, sacrificing herself to stop Nizam. Dastan fights Nizam as they both hold their hands on the Dagger. Dastan then uses the Dagger's button to open the Sands of Time container and use its power against Nizam. The Sandglass slowly cracks and the sandstorm is shown destroying Alamut. Dastan is then able to use the Dagger and turn back the time as the Sandglass breaks, ending up at the point when he first held the Dagger during the siege of Alamut.Dastan uses his knowledge to reveal Nizam's evil plan to his brothers, gaining their acceptance by revealing what Tus told him about the meeting with their father prior to the attack. Exposed, Nizam attempts to kill Dastan but ends up dying by Tus' blade. After apologizing for the ransacking of her city, Tus suggests that perhaps Tamina should become Dastan's wife as a sign of good will. The Prince returns the Dagger of Time to her as a gift, as she looks at him surprised. The two of them are next shown talking to each other and Tamina expressing her surprise about Dastan's sudden change in behavior and hinting that he may have discovered something to which he replies that they are in control of their own destiny.

Tags: fantasy, murder, violence, alternate reality, flashback, good versus evil, action

Review:
The average user ranking on MC puts it at 9 out of 10.Most reviews range anywhere from 8 out of 10, to as low as 2 or 3 out of 10.If there's one thing critics can agree on, its that the movie is clichéd, borrowing elements from plenty of epics based in the Middle East and fantasy alike, and that it's loads of fun.The one thing no one can agree on is whether that's good or bad.It should be pointed out that this film is produced by the same company/studio that brought us 'Pirates of the Caribbean', and it certainly shows.With that said, I'll lead into my thoughts on the film.
I know that at times including the creator can sometimes stifle the process, as many will fight changes to the source material that may need to be altered to work better with a director's vision; but I feel that Mechner's involvement showed his desire to see his brain-child develop into a success on the big screen.In addition to involving Mechner, the other big strength was the way that the filmmakers chose to handle the story.
Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney already accomplished a similar feat when they brought Pirates of the Caribbean to the big screen (a movie based on a theme park ride, in a genre that had not seen success in 50 years!) Their strategy was the same, they wrote their own story that borrowed elements from the game, but did not strictly follow it.
But as the film unfolded, I most definitely enjoyed this adventure from beginning to end.Jake Gyllenhaal plays the titular Prince of Persia, Dastan, who was an urchin picked by the King from the marketplace to be his third son.
He and his brothers get caught in a web of political high jinx that cross their paths with Princess Tamina of Alamut (played by Gemma Arterton), and the fabled powers of the Sands of Time.This is Jake Gyllenhaal's most accessible film so far, and he goes to town with it.
I had the pleasure of watching this movie in an early screening on Monday night, and it is definitely a step above and beyond the aforementioned videogames-turned-movies.The hallmark from the very beginning of the Prince of Persia franchise (a primitive DOS programmed, side-scrolling adventure through a castle to rescue a locked-up princess) was not only having a great story, but telling it in such a way to keep the player in that world.
Alfred Molina has a funny supporting role and the rest of the cast did quite a good job, although I wish a little characterization would come from this.Still, Mike Newell's tight direction manage to put all these amazing factors together, thus he and Bruckheimer not only made an entertaining summer blockbuster, they also made arguably one of, if not the, best movies based on a video game ever.
Jerry Bruckheimer Films acquired the film rights to the 2003 video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and now it's a Disney blockbuster.Prince Dastan (Gyllenhaal), an orphan from the streets of Sixth Century Persia, is taken in by King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup) and his brother Nizam (Kingsley).
Despite this, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time feels more like an average Hollywood actioner dressed as a sword-and-sandals tale.It is more than obvious that the film's main purpose is to try to replicate the success achieved by Disney and Bruckheimer's previous venture, the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise.
Unfortunately, Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time does not feel as refreshing and swashbuckling as the Pirates of the Caribbean films, especially the first movie.
Also, the audience can easily tell when the action moves to the sound stage, and, unlike Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, it's not going to win an Oscar for Best Visual Effects-or anything else, for that matter.That being said, the film is undeniably good fun, and is really something the whole family can enjoy (a good measure of violence keeps it from being too juvenile).
It was rather boring and bothersome since our peasant has become a prince, with not much to do other than jumping back and forth over the house roofs like Spider-Man.What's good with the movie better than its 2003 version of video game is we have more challenges than the game here.
Prince of Persia has a lot to offer to the video game fans, but not much to offer for movie fans at all.With great aspects from locations and change on weather conditions especially on desert, this movie is considerably interesting, even though most of them are CGI; animals from desert, the OSTRICHS, the COBRA SNAKES and ARMORED HORSES even though it's not appropriate with its history.Sands of Time as a production had great potential of usage in props, but either the producers never made a deep research or may be they just couldn't provide them.
After the first half, when the exact idea of who is on evil side, who is on good side is established, and when it's their time to challenge each other; it becomes breath-taking to watch and admire the Sands of Time.Story: 3/10 , Story Development: 9/10, Production Design: 2/10, Sounds: 7/10, Effects: 7/10, Acting: 5/10, Script: 3/10, Visuals: 7/10, Action: 5/10, Adventure: 7/10, Fantasy and Creativity: 4/10.
Prince of Persia:The Sands of Time is a prime example of a movie "based" on a video game though not really like or about the game itself.
Produced by the same duo who brought you Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer), this movie doesn't even earn the rank of "swashbuckler" like Pirates since it had no swash to buckle this reviewer into liking it.The biggest problem with Prince of Persia (besides the noticeably lack of any Arabic/Middle Eastern actor/actress represented in this film) was the jumbled mesh of movie influences and clichés it borrowed to have a plot.
With human dreams to go back in time to fix mistakes, sands as the symbol of infinite bleakness/lifelessness, exotic locations with exotic tales, POP the movie could have told you a story, favorably in a fable style, just like the original games.
If you put Jake Gyllenhaal (best known for portraying the title role in this crap fest and Donnie Darko), Gemma Arterton (never heard of her in my life until recently), Alfred Molina (such good talent wasted, you may remember him as Doctor Octopus from Spider Man 2), and Ben Kingsley (need I say more, he was in so many movies it's ridiculous) in a Disney movie based off a Rated M for Mature video game that has more sand than Aladdin, Star Wars, Space Balls put together, what do you get?
I will never trust a Disney movie based off a Rated M video game, I'm so glad I saw this for free or the theater I went to would not be standing today to show such other titles that appear equally crappy like Killers (be own the lookout for my review on that title in the future.) Needless to say, Prince of Persia is a cool game.
I didn't think the acting overall was too bad and the fight scenes were well paced and exciting (but the music let them down in my opinion, maybe it's because I'm a fan of the Rocky series and used to amazing music in films, I don't know) and the special effects were really nice.
Prince of Persia : Sands of Time Movie is awesome, it has good effects , realistic sound effects , lots of action.
Are there one or 2 elements in the movie that come from the game just so they can claim that it's Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time?
Even those that promised much like Hit-man failed to deliver on the hype beforehand, so with a trailer that had me questioning how good this really was (in hindsight it held back a lot of story reveals and the better scenes, which was quite a gamble) I went in not sure what I would get.And what I got was a film made by people who seemed to understand what was required to entertain.
The story itself wasn't groundbreaking and at times could be a little predictable, but it was enjoyable and not over complicated or patchy.Jake Gyllenhaal is an indie movie mainstay, so to see him in a role like this was interesting.
Gemma Arteton has at time felt a little wooden in films I have seen her in, but this role of the feisty princess worked well for her and her chemistry with Gyllenhaal made the characters more believable.The supporting cast were solid too, and the comedy turn from Molina's Amar was a very welcome addition.But then a film like this will also live or die on the action, and this is an area that may divide people.
Oh yes I was right to be worried, this was utter trite, Gyllenhaal and Price of Persia have been Disney-fide (in a bad way) Gyllenhaal just relies on his wit and good looks (of which I was kind of put off by his long, greasy hair) and there is no depth to his dialogue, his English accent reminded me at times of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.The funniest parts were unintentional for example when Princess Tamina who one of the 'worlds beauty' unmasks herself to the soldiers and they all stop and gasp in amazement...yeah she is pretty but not THAT much.
terrible English accents (in Persia?) dreadful special effects/CGI and a terrible cliché ridden script they just mostly lifted straight from the games.Play the first "sands of Time" game on a PS2 etc it will be a lot more fun than this awful generic garbage desperately wanting to be the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise.I can't believe a decent actor like Jake got involved with this tripe, I would love to know the "real" budget for this movie because it looks cheaper than Monty Pythons "Life of Brian".If You thought "Clash of the Titans" was bad then this rubbish will make it look like an Oscar winner!I really have started to hate Bruckheimer and Disney for their shameless and greedy pollution of our movie theatres with awful awful crap like this and Transformers 2.I guess this will do well in the USA and that's all that matters to these greedy scum, who cares about the quality, once you bought your ticket that's the end of it as far as they are concerned.A VERY VERY BAD MOVIE!
the direction, graphic, and the acting was good, but the story is not that strong, they could've made it better by adding more deepness to the Characters and the plot, you will enjoy this movie but you will not be touched by it because of it's Shallowness.The Prince Of Persia is an imperfect movie, but an enjoyable one.
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.
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.
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?
To be honest, i wasn't a big "Prince of Persia" fan, i haven't played the games, but i probably will now, because the film is great.The movie is shot in great style, well adjusted to it's time and era.And this means costumes, effects, traditions-everything.I have a friend, who's waiting for this movie for a few years, early 2007 to be exact.We went in, and he was totally blown as well, and said there are more similarities with the game, than he could've imagined.So it's story is actually accurate and believable.The acting was at a very high level, equal to the scale of the movie itself.I like Jake Gyllenhaal for a long time, since "Donnie Darko" and than he was great in "Brokeback Mountain".But i never could've imagined he'll fit so good in a blockbuster movie like this.Gemma Arterton is also cool, as she is in "Casino Royale" or "Clash of the Titans", where she's actually one of the few things i liked.But here, she has more on-screen time, and she shows her talent more fully and that's a lot for a movie like this-a blockbuster.Another thing, that's not very common for a cash-making movie is the dialogue.There are some pretty edgy and funny lines one could enjoy, especially in the hands of the leads in the movie.Once again, they did an outstanding job.I can't wait till the day i'll see sir Ben Kingsley as the good guy in a movie of such scale.I doubt it'll ever happen, but i hope it will.He was better than most of his villains, more convincing than before.I liked him.There was a little mystery as well.Who is the killer, who's guilty, many people can be responsible for what's happened.I didn't expect such things, and was left surprised by them too.
I was never a fan of the main actor in this movie, but he was good in the role as the Prince of Persia who was not royal born.There are lots of jumping and sequences that remind of video games where you have to do fancy acrobatics to get to the next point, and good action scenes in the movie.
At least this is not another "Street Fighter" or "Max Payne".The Sands of Time or the first of The Prince of Persia series gives us the Genesis of Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), your favourite video game Prince, the story of how he is adopted by the good king of Persia and how he becomes a part of the royal family of one of the biggest kingdoms of the world.
But regarding the role of Princess Tamina, let's just say it was very unfortunate for that Iranian actress who was planned to play it to get arrested before the shooting, because as far as I can see it; Gemma Arterton has made the princess of the, supposedly Holy City, look like a sorority girl.In a nutshell, apart from the acting that could have been more satisfying in some parts, this film is an entertaining ride.
jeez i tolerated Salt,Knight and Day or that bad ass movie A-Team but an action type has many sides to be focused on.first of all it is based on a distinguished high rated video game in which i have played in in PS2 and X-Box both,and made me some sort of twofold feeling of weird contradiction,movies like this one are a pain in the ass.they,re no such Hurt Locker type nor Avatar,to cut a long story short,they paint the town red for a while and after that they would sent in your deep down archives for the birds somehow.and the aforesaid refuse is no exception at all.even at the very video game,the milieu was no similar to Persia,the punk prince seems like those hippies of 60s with his unclean hair style and parody is all set.camels rushing the stage with Arabs dressed as Persian with Hassansin suck in all the wasteland.and in the end Gemma Arterton as insipid English bewildered de luxe Tamina is rolling around.i do have a pity for academy nominee Jake Gyllenhaal,i saw him in Brothers,that gay movie and lots of other films and Zodiac too,here in between the nausea he seems a little lost and wasted.other do deserve Razzie for sure.and What does Hollywood know about Persian fables?zip is the answer.
Prince of Persia the sands of time, is a great video game ever, and I was really curious at first to see how this movie would turn out.
I've been waiting for this film since they announced that the game "Prince of Persia" would turn into a big screen movie.
She has done a good job considering.Prince of Persia to me is more fun to watch than films like Robin Hood, directed by a man far more great than Mike Newell is.
Sands of Time stands alone as a movie, and you need not play the game to enjoy it.
i have not played nor seen the the video game that this movie is apparently based on,so i can't say whether it does it justice or not.however,i can say i enjoyed it immensely.not only is it very exciting and fast paced,but it's also(intentionally)very funny at times Jake Gyllenhaal bulked up a fair amount here and is very convincing as an action hero.Gemma Arterton plays the love interest/sidekick and is also very good.she and Gyllenhaal have good chemistry.Alfred Molina is a scream and steals every scene he is in.Ben Kinsgley is great as well.this movie was way better than i anticipated,plus i saw it a $3 theatre.for me,Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is an 8/10.
Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time is a fun and adventurous movie.