It’s about time somebody stepped it up in the summer line-up. Jerry Bruckheimer seems to know what he’s doing when it comes to making movies. The producer that he is, he sure knows how to pick them. Prince of Persia is currently in the lead for my favorite summer movie, perhaps I can go further to say that it’s my favorite movie this year. It’s still early in the summer to say, but I can say that I enjoyed the film a lot from beginning to end, I saw small flaws, but they were more technical rather than anything to do with the film itself. Those I will not state due to possible major spoiler alerts, let’s just mention that continuity played a part in a scene or two that I noticed off the bat. Maybe you can catch it too?

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is based off the video game series with the same name. The film is about a young boy who grew up in the slums of Persia, adopted by the King who was looking to fill out his family of 2 kids. Adopted from the streets of Nasaf by King Sharaman of Persia, young Dastan grows up amongst royalty and quickly earns his place as a mighty warrior and prince. As his brothers Garsiv and Tus plan battle strategies, a spy sends word that the Holy City of Alamut has been supplying weapons to enemies of Persia. Taking matters into his own hands, Tus orders an attack on the sacred city and upon its fall Dastan encounters the beautiful Princess Tamina. When King Sharaman dies under mysterious circumstances shortly after, and Dastan is accused of his murder, he flees with the princess on a harrowing mission to clear his name. Learning from Tamina the true motives behind Alamut’s invasion, Dastan must embark on a perilous quest to stop an evil mastermind’s plot for ultimate power with a mystical weapon that can control the very fabric of time.

So on with the review – Mike Newell’s style of directing is one that I admire, as he tries to bring in realistic elements into his film. Although some of the scenes of the film are clearly shot in a studio, Newell spares no expense when it comes to making it seem as if they were really in the time period and the setting that the characters are based in. The scenery was great and blended in well with the storyline and not letting it take away from the story, rather it enhanced the story more. Especially when the action came in, everything came into play.

The action was great, for it wasn’t over the top and off the wall. Well, it was but in the sense that parkour was a big contribution to the film. All the stunts and the action didn’t seem so unrealistic that you would think Prince Dastan was supernatural. Dastan was a regular guy, who just had more courage to perform the stunts and the tricks that he does, well except perhaps one scene. But overall, the parkour factor really upped the action in terms of having people stray away from thinking “Naw!! That’s not at all possible!!” and perhaps opened the audiences eyes to an art that is very much real in this world. The sword play and the fighting was not at all over the top and overdone, but left you wanting a bit more and overall satisfied with what you got.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton were a delight to watch in the film as they endless banter amongst one another blossomed into the love the two share with each other. The acting was tremendous and each person played their parts very well, not to mention that those two are just eye candy central. No one gave too much or gave very little. It was a nice blend of characters as they moved along the film. Ben Kingsley played a great Nizam, uncle to the 3 princes and brother to the King. We learn more about him as the film progresses and Kingsley’s acting could not have been any better as the character developed. Alfred Molina who played Sheik Amar was a great comedic character added into the cast, the timing of his comic bits were spot on and like the other actors did not go over the top with his acting. The Hassansins were brutal and you could just love them in a way that they were the perfect bad guys for a film like this. To go back to the action, the fight scenes where the Hassansins were involved just leave you wanting more in a way that it was just so awesome.

The film overall was put together very well from the beginning to the end. The story was very linear just like the game, and left not plot holes that I could have noticed. The dialogue was great, and it helped the film move along quite nicely. The mix between the dialogue with it’s seriousness and comedic moments and the action of the film blended very well with each other, it really didn’t take anything away from the film itself but instead pushed the story forward. The beginning of the film was good because it set everything up very well, the plot was not too hard to follow as it is very linear and the film seems to make sure that you know what is happening at all times so that you won’t be confused while you’re watching. The scenery and the music helped enhance the film experience bringing in great sounds and amazing views, especially in the beginning of the film where they took a page right out of the Assassin’s Creed book where we see an “eagle eye viewpoint” of the city.

The ending is a bit predictable, but even that didn’t bug me from the overall movie. Instead it helped round everything out and left me leaving the theater very satisfied.

Overall I give Prince of Persia: Sands of Time a 5/5 movie reel review. I saw no flaws in the film, except for a few technical spots which I dare not mention because of spoiler alerts, but the film was just a great addition to the summer line up, and I’m sure that I could pay an extra $9 to watch the movie again. Iron Man 2 kicked off the summer movie line-up, but I believe that the summer has really started after watching this movie.