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Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, Steve Toussaint ... see more see more... , Toby Kebbell , Richard Coyle , Ronald Pickup , Reece Ritchie , Gísli Örn Garðarsson , Claudio Pacifico , Thomas DuPont , David Pope , Domonkos Pardanyi , Massimiliano Ubaldi , Vladimir Furdik , Christopher Greet , William Foster Jr. , Elliot James Neale , Selva Rasalingham , Daud Shah , Daisy Doidge-Hill , Charlie Banks , Jesse Mathews , Rohan Siva , Dimitri Andreas , Stephen Pope , Trampas Thompson , Joseph Bedelem , Rachid Abbad , Farzana Dua Elahe , Aziz El Kibachi , Simon De Selva , Felix Augusto Quadros

Ubisoft's popular video-game series of the same name gets adapted for the big screen in this sweeping fantasy adventure starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton. The setting is sixth century Persia... read more read more.... A nefarious nobleman covets the Sands of Time, a legendary gift from the gods that allows its possessor to turn back time. Whoever owns the Sands of Time has the power to rule the world, and this villainous lord would use that power to enslave all of humanity. The only person capable of defeating this tyrant and saving the world is Dastan (Gyllenhaal), a youthful prince. Now, with plucky princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) by his side, Dastan will attempt to prevent the Sands of Time from falling into the wrong hands. Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) directs a script penned by Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro, Jordan Mechner, and Boaz Yakin. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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71% liked it

336,873 ratings

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35% liked it

213 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 56 min.

Directed by: Michael Bay, Mike Newell

Release Date: May 28, 2010

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DVD Release Date: September 14, 2010

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Flixster Reviews (22,884)

  • garyX
    February 21, 2012
    garyX
    A prince of ancient Persia discovers a mythical blade that can turn back time and uncovers a plot to usurp his father and claim the throne. Prince Of Persia is a Disney financed summer blockbuster that was clearly a somewhat cynical attempt to mimic the success of the POTC franch... read moreise but actually manages some success as an entertaining swords and sorcery adventure. Jake Gillenhaal makes a surprisingly good swashbuckler and he and Gemma Arterton make for an attractive couple, Alfred Molina is an amusing comic sidekick and the format of a combat platform game lends itself to the current fashion for parkour style action very well. The dialogue is unimaginative but serviceable and the likeable cast keep things fun and interesting for the duration. What prevents it from being a good film rather than a decent one is the choppy, ADHD editing that insists on breathlessly prodding the plot along without pause for tension, atmosphere or characterisation, as if the studio was worried that the cinema audience would all start changing channel if nothing was getting stabbed, flung through the air or blown up for more than 10 seconds at a time. It's this lack of respect for the audience's intelligence or attention span that's the bane of modern cinema for me, and Prince Of Persia is another of its casualties. Reasonably good fun, but it could've been so much better.
  • 3niR
    August 20, 2011
    3niR
    Absolutely loved it! Jack was awesome!
  • DreamExtractor
    June 27, 2011
    DreamExtractor
    I hated this film, it has no appeal, or good acting, mostly its just for video game nerds.. After being adopted as a child, Dastan (Jake Gyllenhal) is accused of killing his father the king and must escape and clear his name, and he meets Tamina (Gemma Arterton), a woman she sho... read moreuld hate after taking over her kingdom, but they soon grow to like eachother, and using a time machine she posesses called the hourglass, they might be able to fix whats been done. The plot was ridiculous and stupid, it truly tried to hard to be a video game. Jake Gyllenhal did nothing great except talk, no changes from him. Effects were okay, kind of cheesy at points. Overall it sucked, a very disappointing film.
  • coollala0910
    May 9, 2011
    coollala0910
    Video game adaptions are something I tend not to pay attention to. So yeah. I'm not a Pokemon fan. Heh heh. Don't get me wrong! I love video games but I'm more of an avid film fan than gamer. I'm not a crazed person who counts down the days until "Gears of War 3" comes out. Anywa... read moreys, "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is a video game I happen to own on my PS2. Yes, I still play PS2. I got it for Christmas of last year. I was aware of the video game franchise and this film way before I got my copy of the game. To be honest, I didn't like this film even though I wanted to.

    The story is about Dastan. A fearless boy who grew up in the slums until the king takes him under his wings and takes him as his son. He grows up to be a warrior and witnesses his father's death, who he is framed for. He flees fomr the kingdom, along with Princess Tamina who he was offered to wed. He then finds a magical dagger of Tamina's that can turn back time. Thats all I got from the story. The film for me was so complex. The dagger was cool but I wish we got a little more of it. When the film didn't focus on that, lame possible plots fill the gaps. The story was the main issue for me.

    Now on to acting. I like Jake Gylenhaal. He was okay in this movie. Its both weird and quite cool to see him take on a role like this. Ben Kingsley was okay and Alfred Molina could have had potential but fell flat. I enjoyed Gemma Arterton and it wasn't just because I had a crush on her. She had good chemistry with Jake and was sassy. The entire cast was okay. The performances are very far from being good or great.

    The effects were too much CGI but better than the effects in that other Disney film that was released two months before this.

    I'll wrap up by saying I was not fond of this film. The story and pacing were no-nos. Its a merely okay film that was both dull and exciting. Odd mix. I'll stick to the video game instead. i just didn't like it and I don't know why.
  • paulsandberg
    March 15, 2011
    paulsandberg
    Once upon a time there (circa 2005) there was a revolution in video gaming. It was the nexus of computing power and imagination (just as CGI became so seamless in films). Riding that wave of physics accuracy was a game that took the old standard of hitting keyboard keys to jump... read more or roll (going all the way back to Donkey Kong, etc.) and made it all realistic and fluid. That Prince of Persia has now made it to film (like so many of its predecessors) is hardly newsworthy, and the film, while trying hard to include some of the acrobatics that made the game fun, fails in the same way as is predecessors; namely bad acting, weak dialog and an iffy script.

    The film duplicates themes we've all seen so many times before - a guy and a gal get thrown together for whatever reason - and they spar back and forth (though hardly at the level of wordplay of say Taming of The Shrew) and ultimately fall in love. As always seems to be the case in these teen oriented potboilers, they spend half the film almost kissing - as if that's supposed to ratchet up the tension and make the inevitable kiss all the more special: note to script writers everywhere - this is not a truism. Kissing does not signify everlasting love, so please, let's dispense with this kind of melodramatic drivel.

    The plot line is also something we've heard a million times before: a homeless lad is "adopted" by the king and grows up a "brother" to the royal heirs. Flash forward 15 years (yep, the film does just that) and there seems to be a dilemma where the king in waiting has been told by the king to not lay siege to some mystical holy city. But wait! The king's uncle (played by Ben Kingsley in a bit of typecasting) tells the prince that the city has been supplying arms to their enemies!... hmm. Wait a minute - this takes place in Persia, which is now the Middle East, and there are reports of arms being supplied to "our" enemies. Holy Hand Grenade Batman - could these be weapons of mass destruction? We'd better invade! Oops, wrong century. But, taking the evil uncle's advise (and it's not a spoiler to mention that the uncle is evil, although the film would rather you didn't find this out until much later, even though Kingsley hams it up with dark and sinister glances) - the prince sacks the sacred city and decides he should marry the hotty princess of the city (although she's got those damned botoxed lips - what is it with women in films nowadays? Note to actresses, good or otherwise - those fake Halloween lips are NOT SEXY).

    From here the plot moves (sorta) into a murder - the non royal prince gets falsely accused - the aforementioned let's throw a guy and a girl together and watch em fall in love - some chase scenes - some fight scenes (all poorly done), mediocre CGI (man, those scenes involving the sands of time were awful!) and a huge bit of illogic (that's even considering that you buy into a magic dagger that can turn back time - maybe Cher should have starred in this). Said huge bit of illogic involves a character (guess who?) who wants to go back and erase something that happened 30 years ago, assuming that by correcting this single act he gets what he wants and everything else in the universe will remain the same. Uh, guess the scriptwriter never read Ray Bradbury.

    The film takes this all way too seriously, and probably would have been better served if they would have taken a cue from Alfred Molina and played it for laughs (especially the entire, tired love story). Molina is truly the only bright spot in the film, playing a shaky sheik calling himself an "entrepreneur". He easily has the best lines in the film and plays his part with bravado and reckless abandon. Especially fun are his rants against the Persian tax collectors, and how the taxes all go towards stuff that he doesn't need - touché!

    The characters on a whole are pretty wooden and predictable, though a little more back story would have been a help. For example, at one point late in the film the non royal prince pleads with his brother saying "I know we've had our differences but...". Well maybe HE knows that, but the audience sure doesn't - and perhaps some sibling rivalry would have made a better film (take a page from Lion In Winter, perchance).

    In the lead you have Jake Gyllenhaal who could lose an l and an a and do us all a favor.
    He spends much of the film sporting a glazed over, slacked jawed look as if he's shocked to find himself in such a film - note to Jake - you've hit your level here fella, get used to it.

    Gemma Atherton, queen of botox, isn't given much heavy lifting, and I guess it's neither actor's fault that they have to utter such lame ass lines - (example: the only way we can save the universe is to hide the blade in the secret, sacred, sanctuary - and other such drivel). Again, a bit of logic here - if the blade is the only thing that can pierce the sands of time and thus unleash Armageddon, then why keep it around in the first place? Oh, I know - it's so they can make a crappy film a thousand years later.

    I dunno, Hollywood keeps cranking out these kinds of film and people keep paying to see them (not me, I got this on the free Starz weekend). Every one of these blockbuster type heavy CGI films seems to have lousy scripting and iffy acting. Why is this, I wonder? I get the feeling that the studios just give a nod and a wink, saying, yep, good enough to make us some money - instead of even attempting anything artful and above mediocre. Sign of the times I guess - and now I wonder if Molina couldn't have done a rant about that in the film as well.....
  • shawnewing92
    March 14, 2011
    shawnewing92
    This film was not boring but the plot was not that interesting. Most of the effects and stunts were well done, but I wished they actually used the time traveling sword more instead of just passing it back between Dastan and his enemies.
  • puffchunk
    February 21, 2011
    puffchunk
    They've yet to make a decent video game movie. Perhaps that means it just isn't possible, and they should stop trying? Anyhow, at least it had Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina in it. Fun to look at for a while, but still too clean and modern looking for the time period.
  • wildaly14
    February 1, 2011
    wildaly14
    I always go ga-ga over Gyllenhaal and I used to play this video-game so I was excited for this one. While I wasn't expecting much (it's Disney, come on), I had a lot of fun with what I saw. I think the actors did the best they could with the script that was given to them.
  • Beefy
    January 25, 2011
    Beefy
    Eye candy galore, but an over-complicated plot that's difficult to care about, and Jake... well, he should stay away from this genre.
  • skactopus
    January 19, 2011
    skactopus
    Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is an adaptation from a video game concept and Mike Newell does a good job at not generating utter crap by doing this.

    The film runs nearly 1 hour and 50 minutes and that is a little long considering the lack of depth in the plot; none

    ... read moretheless the story is good enough to move things from place to place.

    The effects are more than satisfactory and the action is on par, although it isn't the highlight of the film. It's not the swordplay that highly amuses, but more the chases and jolting stunts. When it comes down to the violence, it is pretty mild. Hey, it's Disney and it's PG-13.

    In regards to the cast, Jake Gyllenhaal easily stands out as the lead; however it is the supporting cast that steals the show. To be more specific, the alluring Gemma Arterton delivers a charismatic performance as Tamina. Alfred Molina also stands out as a notable side character.

    All in all, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has enough positives to make it a non disappointment. Go ahead and give it a go if the chance arises.

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Critic Reviews

Peter Rainer
June 4, 2010
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

The sheer whoosh of the story line keeps you watching anyway, and, as the prince, Jake Gyllenhaal has a hearty good-naturedness that comes as a relief amid all the turbocharged antics. He wears his he... Full Review

J. R. Jones
June 2, 2010
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Disposable family entertainment. Full Review

A.O. Scott
June 1, 2010
A.O. Scott, At the Movies

This is a movie that knows exactly how dumb it is. Full Review

Manohla Dargis
May 28, 2010
Manohla Dargis, New York Times

As usual, the talent in Prince of Persia is generally top notch -- from the cinematographer John Seale to the parkour expert David Belle -- but the ingredients have been masticated so heavily the resu... Full Review

Amy Biancolli
May 28, 2010
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

A spectacularly silly video-game adaptation about a Fresh Prince of Gel Hair who runs around the desert with a magic dagger, a curious version of Alfred Molina and some hoity-toity chick who never bre... Full Review

Rick Groen
May 28, 2010
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

Prince of Persia is destined to disappear into the quicksand of time, too innocuous to be hated, too bland to be remembered, just awaiting some bright optimist in a distant future to press the do-over... Full Review

Tom Long
May 28, 2010
Tom Long, Detroit News

This movie is little more than a big noise bomb with jerky movements attached. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
May 28, 2010
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

It's not a classic, but it's sturdy enough, thanks to Gyllenhaal and a sly and grousing turn by Alfred Molina as Sheikh Amar, a scoundrel with a heart of gold -- or at least, a ticker very interested ... Full Review

Manuel Mendoza
May 28, 2010
Manuel Mendoza, Dallas Morning News

Don't think too much about its main prop and plot device -- a magic sword that can turn back the clock and change history -- and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a fun ride. Full Review

Richard Roeper
May 28, 2010
Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com

Men sporting bronzer and spewing cliches in British accents while battling evil and dealing with cheesy special effects. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Tamina: Dastan, where's the dagger?
    • Dastan: You're welcome to search for it, but you'll have to be very thorough.
    • Sheik Amar: Have I told you about the Ngbaka?
    • Tamina: You don't understand what's at stake. This is a matter for the gods.
    • Dastan: Your gods not mine.
    • Tamina: All the pain in the world will not help you find something that does not exist.
    • Dastan: [noticing the sand dervishes have been following them] We have to get out of here.
  • this was originally a video game that they turned into a movie. so everything is CG..the palace or castle is really the whole stage.
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  • What movie is the film from Walt Disney, which is directed by Michael Bay, is coming out in 2009?  Answer »
  • Prince of Persia The sands of time - Whe is the director?  Answer »
  • Prince of Persia The sands of time - Who is the orphan who was picked from the streets by the king to be a prince?  Answer »
  • Prince of Persia The sands of time - Who played Prince dastan?  Answer »
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