Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

-Parkour Running, Hassansins, and a Magic Dagger-

By Mason Mayer

            Okay, I know exactly what you're thinking. Oh great, a video game movie, this is gonna fail so bad…. You may want to eat those words after you see the movie. Set in the sixth century B.C., young Dastan (William Foster), a street boy, is adopted by King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup). Fifteen years later, Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) has grown up to be the Prince of Persia. At this time, his royal brothers Garsiv and Tus plan to attack the Holy City of Alamut, who they suspect has been supplying the enemies of Persia. After receiving news from a spy that verified the suspicions of Tus, Tus and Garsiv attacked Alamut, with Dastan.

            At the city, Garsiv and Tus are taking heavy casualties, while Dastan and his battalion is told to wait behind. Instead, Dastan attacks the city through a side entrance, which prevents further casualties. Dastan then attacks the main castle, and fights his way to the room of the princess of Alamut. Once inside, he is set upon by the guards, one of whom is wielding the legendary Dagger of Time, which allows the wielder to turn back time a full minute to correct any mistakes they just made. The princess of Alamut, Tamina is captured as a wife for Tus, which would make Alamut a part of Persia.

            Back in Persia, Dastan is tricked into giving a captured gown, coated in acid, to his adopted father, King Sharaman. Dastan is framed by Tus, and he and princess Tamina escape Persia, while the prince, unwittingly is wielding the weapon that Tamina was supposed to keep safe, the Dagger of Time. On the first night, Tamina tries to kill Dastan to get the Dagger back. The Prince discovers the time turning power, and prevents Tamina from attacking him. After discovering this, Dastan hypothesis that Tus knew about the Dagger of Time, and wanted Dastan out of the way, so he could be the most powerful ruler of Persia. Shortly after, Dastan and Tamina return to Persia for the King's funeral. While there, Dastan attempts to convince his uncle, Nizam, that he didn't kill Sharaman, but before he could, the Dagger of Time was stolen by Tamina. However, Dastan notices the burn marks on the hands of Nizam, and flees the city once again, this time in search of Tamina and the Dagger.

            Nizam realizes that Dastan knows that the truth: Nizam killed the king, and sends the Hassansins (assassins) after him. Having joined forces, Dastan and Tamina depart to reveal the truth to Tus, but they still have many obstacles in their path…..

            For a video game movie, I found this rather impressive. The writers retained many of the elements of The Sands of Time video game, and incorporated elements from the other games in the trilogy as well. Among students at this school, it rated 8.5 out of 10, while nationally, it scored an average of 7.2 out of 10.One of the most exiting elements of the game was parkour running, while it was almost nonexistent in the movie. However, the fight scenes were well choreographed, my favorite being between a Hassansins and one of Princess Tamina's guards.