PRINCE of Persia: The Sands of Time is based on a popular series of video games but owes more to another franchise thanks to executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
With its exotic locations, thrilling action sequences, squabbling-then-snogging male and female leads and stabs of humour it could be the next Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.
It lacks the earlier films’ roster of memorable characters and quirky invention, but it’s a reasonable summer action blockbuster which should spin a franchise of its own.
The film’s plot centres on adopted Prince Dastan, played by an almost unrecogniseablely beefed-up Jake Gyllenhaal.
Like Shakespeare’s Prince Hal, his willingness to carouse and mix with the lower ranks has held him back from playing a major role in the conquests of the king.
However, in a subsequently unexplored allusion to the Iraqi invasion, the Persians hold siege to a city suspected of harbouring powerful weapons and Daston’s bravery ensures their victory.
The captured Princess Tamina, played by Gravesend’s Gemma Arterton, protests the city’s innocence but she is ignored and claimed by Dastan’s brother Prince Tus (Richard Coyle) as his wife.
Tus gives Dastan a gown to present to the king on his triumph but it turns out to be laced with poison and kills the monarch.
Hunted as a murderer, Dastan escapes the city along with Tamina and a knife which, filled with the titular sand grains, can turn back time.
Can Dastan clear his name, find the real killer of his beloved father and reveal the real reason for the Persian invasion?
You won’t be surprised to learn the knife plays a big part in answering all three of these questions and the scenes where time reverses look superb.
However the idea does take away a good deal of the film’s suspense when you know a light sprinkling of the sand will get Dastan out of the tightest of jams.
There are great action sequences, especially the Parkour-inspired rooftop chases and the athletic Gyllenhaal equips himself well here.
Still, he, like the rest of the cast, suffers from a rather dull script.
Arterton plays the princess like a haughty public school head girl with a rigidity of expression older actresses would have to be Botoxed to achieve.
But she is not alone in looking out of place in the special-effects heavy fantasy.
Oscar-winning Ben Kingsley, playing uncle Nizam, is the only actor used who looks vaguely Middle Eastern, but he delivers an uncharacteristically lacklustre performance in a role screaming for some dramatics.
Prince of Persia is not a film you would go back in time to watch again but it is still worth seeing once.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (12A) is released in cinemas on Friday.
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