Prince of Persia Review Part 1: An Action Packed Journey

Before seeing The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, I really didn’t know much about it except that it was based on the video game and was created by the team that brought us the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. To be honest—I wasn’t sure what to expect. I can now say that The Prince of Persia takes you on a magical and entertaining adventure back in time to the world of the Persian Empire.

Our hero, Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) was a young orphan living on the streets and in a brave and selfless act saved another boy who was being beaten up. King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup) witnessed this and decided to adopt Dastan into the royal family, which included two brothers, the eldest Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell) plus an uncle, Nizam (Ben Kingsley).

Fast forward fifteen years—Prince Dastan and his brothers invade Alamut, a holy city that was rumored to have been sending weapons to their enemies. Street-smart Dastan, disobeys orders, and attacks the East gate of the city, instead of straight on like his brothers, and gains entrance, which allows the rest of the Persian army to take over the city. During the battle, Dastan won a peculiar dagger. Afterwards at a celebration, Dastan is introduced to the exotic and beautiful Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) of the city of Alamut. However, Dastan is forced to flee with the Princess after the king mysteriously dies and Dastan is accused of his murder.

On the run and determined to prove his innocence, Dastan discovers that the dagger is a mystical weapon that can turn back time which only the holder of the dagger is aware of. Dastan and Princess Tamina, who do not get along at first, constantly fight over the dagger. She finally opens up more about the story behind the dagger and the destruction it could cause if it falls into the wrong hands. The rest of the film follows their wild ride and has plenty of twists and turns as Dastan and Tamina strive to protect the dagger.

The Prince of Persia is a riveting film filled with fast paced action scenes featuring sword fights, explosions and jumping off rooftops. Practically every scene which included Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) was filled with parkour stunts—I was exhausted just watching him! Not only did Jake Gyllenhaal look gorgeous but also he easily wins the support of moviegoers as action hero, Dastan.

The movie was entertaining plus sometimes amusing. Dastan and Tamina butt heads throughout and other quirky characters quip with one another with one-liners reminiscent of the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Another impressive aspect in The Prince of Persia was the attention to detail—the costumes, cities, palaces, and even saddles on horses were detail-oriented and elaborate. These little touches definitely added to the grand scheme of the film and made you feel like you stepped back into the Persian Empire.

I really enjoyed this adventure and would recommend everyone take an action packed journey with The Prince of Persia!

Photo by Jonathan Prime & Andrew Cooper, SMPSP – © Courtesy Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Jerry Bruckheimer, Inc.