‘Prince’ bogs down in sand

By Rick Bentley

Fresno (Calif.) Bee

Watching “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” must be what it’s like to ride a camel across the desert: slow, plodding and predictable.

It gets the job done, but the trip could be more exciting.

This video game-inspired film tells the story of a street urchin, Dastan, who is invited to be part of the royal family that rules the Persian Empire.

Soon after he becomes a hero during an invasion of a sacred city — driven by a search for weapons of mass destruction — Dastan is framed for the murder of the king.

He starts out on a quest to clear his name — with the aid of the beautiful Tamina (Gemma Arterton) — but ends up trying to protect a magical dagger that can turn back time.

“Prince of Persia” has all the elements of a grand action film — huge battles, evil creatures, Arabian nights — but they’re delivered with such a lackluster touch by director Mike Newell, the film falls short of grandeur.

It barely reaches the level of mediocrity.

It starts with Jake Gyllenhaal as the film’s central hero, Dastan.

He neither plays the role as a dashing hero nor lovable rogue.

He’s merely there to spout trite lines of dialogue and be in close-ups for the action scenes.

This kind of film needs a hero who’s larger than life, and that’s not Dastan.

The film’s heroine, Tamina, is as irritating as sand in a thong.

Great action films depend on strong female characters, such as Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

When the character is annoying — think Willie (Kate Capshaw) in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” — the film suffers.

Even Alfred Molina’s attempt to play the quirky sidekick Sheik Amar is forced and unbelievable.

Having a 6th-century character obsessed with conspiracy theories is like doing a movie about Abraham Lincoln and having him rap the Gettsyburg Address.

The story line plays more like the scenes that pop up throughout a video game that explain what’s happening than a full-formed film plot.

The film stops repeatedly for long stretches of dialogue that are dull and confusing.

There are a few, good action moments, such as Dastan escaping through dramatic leaps across rooftops.

But the scenes are repeated so many times it’s like playing the same level of a video game over and over.

After awhile, it all looks the same.

It doesn’t feel like time stands still while watching “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.”

But it certainly slows to a crawl.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.