Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

A natural progression from the two Tomb Raider movies, the other weekend we watched the latest computer-game-to-blockbuster-movie, Prince of Persia. As with Tomb Raider, it has a silly long title with a colon, and the plot is fairly preposterous guff, but I enjoyed it more than the others. This may be down to the fact that Jake Gyllenhaal is a hotter prospect than Angelina Jolie, or perhaps because it does something a bit different. 

It didn't feel like a computer game adaptation, and I wouldn't have known if I hadn't read about the movie in Empire. I'd not heard of the game before, it's not got the same name-recognition for non-gamers as Lara Croft does. Set in a distant Persia (not Iran...) the movie begins like a live-action Aladdin, particularly in reference to the Disney animation's One Jump Ahead song sequence, as young Dastan runs and jumps his way about the city walls and roofs to avoid capture by the king's guards. Flash forward a few years and the boy is now beefy Jake Gyllenhaal, sporting not-hideous long hair (if he'd been played by Orlando Bloom, the hair would look ridiculous, as he always looks with long hair) and ripped abs. Nice. 

Dastan reluctantly teams up with the lovely princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton), who you know he'll end up falling for once the two get past the bickering stage. They're a great screen couple, Arterton and Gyllenhaal sharing wonderful chemistry that adds spark to their relationship. The two run around the desert trying to stop Sir Ben Kingsley getting his hands on a dagger than contains the titular sands of time, and can reverese time about 60 secs at once. Naturally Sir Ben wants to use the dagger for evil, and Dastan doesn't want to let him have it. 

Along the way, Dastan and Tamina fall in with the rebellious Sheik Amar, played hilariously by Alfred Molina - he's the best part of the movie, and he gets all the funniest lines, as well as a central role towards the end of the film. It's a shame that the conclusion of the movie, time snaps back, means Dastan ultimately never meets Amar - with any luck he'll turn up in the expected sequel. 

That ending, which I honestly didn't see coming, could have been a let down. A typical 'and then everyone woke up' that has worked in films like The Wizard of Oz, here the adventure had been so much fun, and the Persian setting so different looking, refreshingly so, that I didn't feel cheated. All in all, Prince of Persia was a more satisfying film than either Tomb Raider, and even better than Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney/Bruckheimer's other big movie series. I'd happily watch Dastan's further adventures, provided Gyllenhaal is playing him, and Molina returns.