At the Movies with Fatwayne

 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a fantasy-adventure film adapted from a video game of the same name. I can tell you that it is breathtaking in its scope and beauty and offers the viewer relentless action and adventure. For the ladies there is Jake Gyllenhall (Dastan) to gawk at in all of his muscular splendor. But, in my humble opinion, the men come out on the winning end of this “gawk fest” thanks to British actress Gemma Arterton (Princess Tamina). You may remember her from Quantum of Solace (Strawberry Fields – you just gotta love those James Bond movie names!) and Clash of the Titans (lo). She is a singular natural beauty and the camera does not hesitate to offer us plenty of close ups. Take a peek at http://www.imdb.com/media/rm352092672/tt0473075.

One thing you have to notice is how Dastan is a 6th century Persian with all of the moves of Jackie Chan. There are definitely influences from Chan’s antics that are abundant in this film. Admittedly, it is enjoyable to watch all of these athletic and comic action sequences.

The movie has to do with a poor street urchin who captures the attention of the King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup). His bravery moved the King to adopt him and although he has no royal blood, he also has no aspirations to the throne. Fifteen years later, he and his royal foster brothers are leading the Persian army in an attack on the sacred city of Alamut. They are doing this because they were misled into believing that Alamut was selling weapons to their enemies. This misinformation came from the King’s brother, Nizam (Ben Kingsley) who has a plot of his own to gain the throne.

You see, the Princess of Alamut, Tamina, is the guardian of a mythical dagger that contains the sands of time and will allow its owner to go back in time and change history. This is exactly what Nizam wants to do so that he will be the King. He is not bothered that using the dagger for his purposes could very well doom mankind. Through a series of events, Dastan and Tamina become allies in their quest to return the dagger to it birthplace on a sacred mountain thus protecting it from the contrivances of mankind.

There are many adventures and close calls in store for our two heroes not to mention ostrich races and decidedly weird ninja-like assassins who sport amazingly sophisticated weaponry. Prince Dastan is up to the task and with the help of his friends and Princess Tamina, manages to save the Persian empire as well as mankind. What did you expect? This movie has a very happy ending just like I enjoy!

Quotes from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• Watch Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time free with a Netflix trial subscription
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