Plot: The Persian Empire is at the height of its power, and three Persian princes invade a neighoring city for its weaponry. The weapons turn out to be magical and guarded by the cute Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton). After the King is assassinated by a magical weapon, Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Tamina run away, and the Persian army and a league of assassins pursue. Dastan and Tamina have a magic weapon that controls time, and the rest of the plot involves controlling this weapon and using it to thwart the bad guy.
Review: I actually ate a large bag of popcorn with the movie. Popcorn eating is a major part of watching Prince of Persia. Just stop analyzing it. It is a fun movie with a cartoon story. It is crowd-pleasing movie that relies the likeability of Jake Gyllenhaal and his chemistry with Gemma Arterton. The audience cheered at the end.
It is movie where magic is more real than history, geography, science, or certainly the role of woman in the Middle Ages. There are a lot of magical legends are essential to the plot and all are pretty arbitrary. Actually they remind me too much of objectives in a video game, but I only know the slightest bit about the game -- so maybe I am wrong.
The film is kind of fun if you don't think about it, or don't know much history, geography, or science. There is a character who is a tax protester -- making a humorous reference to the tea party and their anti-tax rhetoric. Pretty funny.
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley
Directed by: Mike Newell, based on the video game and story by Jordan Mechner
Rating: 2.0 flasks
More: I did not see any acknowledgement that Persia is now in modern Iran, and certainly the cast was all European, except for one character from Darfur in Sudan (why Darfur?)
