DVDs in Review

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Mike Newell, 2010)

Title: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Mike Newell, 2010)

Release date: September 13 2010

Certificate: 12

Format: DVD, Blu-ray

RRP: £23.99 (DVD/Blu-ray double pack)

Rating: 2.5/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

Watching ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’, it seems pretty obvious that Disney were after another ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise opportunity. They’ve secured a decent cast (particularly independent favourite Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead) and a competent director (Mike Newell of ‘Donne Brasco’ and ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ fame), but they’ve skimped on the key element – the script.

At least two writing teams contributed majorly to the final product, but it still feels overly polished as if more were called in to write quick throwaway bridging scenes and corny one liners that Disney could pad out a trailer with. It’s also one of those films that isn’t sure if it’s appealing to children or adults. ‘Pirates’ managed to find a middle ground by creating a series of likeable characters that you were concerned about.

This is the main problem with ‘Prince of Persia’ – no one feels expendable because of the unfortunate plot device of having a dagger that can stop time and reverse dastardly events. It takes any sense of urgency and danger out of the narrative and leaves you wondering “why didn’t they just do this or do that when they had the dagger?”.

Gyllenhaal plays Dastan, a brave kid who has been adopted by a noble King. All very well and good until the King’s evil brother Nizam comes along. There’s no doubt that Nizam will turn out to be the bad guy. For one he’s played with complete menace by Ben Kingsley, and for another he seems completely hell bent on making the Persian army invading a peaceful city which he claims is manufacturing weapons to be used against them. Since when did Disney start making far from subtle political references?

By this point Dastan has sprung into action and decided to help out the good guys and has fallen for Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton who isn’t given enough to do). She owns the aforementioned dagger of time which has an unfortunate malfunction. If it’s left on for too long, it the ‘sands of time’ will run out and the world ends. Hopefully Disney’s inevitable merchandising range will have that bug fixed.

After some awkward lines that explain how this will happen, it becomes standard swashbuckler fare – lots of running around, bursts of action, demonstrations of physical prowess, snarling bad guys and smirking good guys. But it’s handled terribly – the overdose of special effects smother the scenes. They don’t become gripping or kinetic; they are confusing, too fast and completely out of touch with reality. Even fantasy stories like this require a certain grounding in the real world, but this, combined with lack of empathy towards the key characters, means that it’s near impossible to engage with the story as it unfolds.

Throw in the fact the story isn’t offering anything special and the acting is far from inspired (or even fun, except for Alfred Molina) and ‘Prince of Persia’ is a massive missed opportunity. Still, it’s better than ‘Clash of the Titans’.