2010 Prince Of Persia Movie Reviews :Jake Gyllenhaal has already taken it in the shorts numerous times for playing a character called the Prince of Persia, even though he's about as Persian as Mamie Van Doren. It's a little unfair to single him out, however, since none of the other principal cast members are Persian either. But ethnic quibbles aside, one struggles to remember an action hero in recent memory less suited to the genre than the star.
He tries to act rakish and devil-may-care, a swashbuckling rogue in the Han Solo vein. Instead, he just smirks. In every single scene. No matter what the emotional context or narrative circumstance. To Gyllenhaal's credit, it's not hatefully off-putting not once do we ever wish him active harm but it brings nothing to his already shaky credibility here.
Doesn't happen. Gyllenhaal's Prince Dastan leaps around the scenery often enough, but the camera placements and general staging suggest a filmmaker who just isn't paying attention. You feel the potential for some terrific stuntwork just below the surface, and yet it never manifests, leaving the audience frustrated and disappointed.
Nizam's ambitions are a bit grander than that, and he frames Dastan a former street urchin adopted by the King as part of a scheme to seize the crown. Dastan goes on the lam with the dagger's guardian (Gemma Arterton), who bickers fiercely with him as they journey across the desert sands in an effort to keep the weapon safe.
Newell stocks a full load of adventures for them, but delivers them with the grace and flair of a butcher tossing ground beef on the scale. Each incident arrives without fanfare, unfolds with workmanlike drudgery, then gives way to the next sequence before you're even aware that it's passed.
The plot holds a number of twists and turns, requiring ponderous explanation not only to the audience, but to various characters in the middle of it. That leads to interminable scenes where someone explains things we already know to a character we don't much concern ourselves with.
As for the cast… well, Gyllenhaal is out of his depth, and for the next Hot Young Thing, Arterton comes across as surprisingly flat. Kingsley remains the consummate professional, but at times you can actually see him counting the moments until he gets paid. Only Alfred Molina gets into the spirit of the proceedings, playing an unscrupulous ostrich race organizer with a proper sense of the absurd.
But he's all alone out there and without more creativity on display, Prince of Persia can't duplicate the twinkle in his eye. As go the performances, so goes the movie. Like a lot of summer popcorn, it thinks it's a lot more fun than it is. It needs more than a toothy grin and a slumming character actor if it wants us to share that conviction.
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