A young fugitive Prince and Princess must stop a villain who unknowingly threatens to destroy the world with a special dagger that enables the magic sand inside to reverse time.
Hansel & Gretel are bounty hunters who track and kill witches all over the world. As the fabled Blood Moon approaches, the siblings encounter a new form of evil that might hold a secret to their past.
Director:
Tommy Wirkola
Stars:
Jeremy Renner,
Gemma Arterton,
Peter Stormare
Perseus braves the treacherous underworld to rescue his father, Zeus, captured by his son, Ares, and brother Hades who unleash the ancient Titans upon the world.
Director:
Jonathan Liebesman
Stars:
Sam Worthington,
Liam Neeson,
Rosamund Pike
The ancient war between humans and a race of giants is reignited when Jack, a young farmhand fighting for a kingdom and the love of a princess, opens a gateway between the two worlds.
Director:
Bryan Singer
Stars:
Nicholas Hoult,
Stanley Tucci,
Ewan McGregor
Transported to Barsoom, a Civil War vet discovers a barren planet seemingly inhabited by 12-foot tall barbarians. Finding himself prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Woola and a princess in desperate need of a savior.
Aliens and their Guardians are hiding on Earth from intergalactic bounty hunters. They can only be killed in numerical order, and Number Four is next on the list. This is his story.
Director:
D.J. Caruso
Stars:
Alex Pettyfer,
Timothy Olyphant,
Dianna Agron
The son of a virtual world designer goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital world that his father designed. He meets his father's corrupted creation and a unique ally who was born inside the digital world.
Director:
Joseph Kosinski
Stars:
Jeff Bridges,
Garrett Hedlund,
Olivia Wilde
As an Orc horde invades the planet Azeroth using a magic portal, a few human heroes and dissenting Orcs must attempt to stop the true evil behind this war.
In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen.
Director:
Rupert Sanders
Stars:
Kristen Stewart,
Chris Hemsworth,
Charlize Theron
Theseus (Henry Cavill) is a mortal man chosen by Zeus (Luke Evans) to lead the fight against the ruthless King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that can destroy humanity.
In a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth. Here, Will Salas finds himself accused of murder and on the run with a hostage - a connection that becomes an important part of the way against the system.
Set in the mystical lands of Persia, a rogue prince and a mysterious princess race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time -- a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.Written by
Walt Disney Pictures
In this movie, characters are prominently seen handling apples and pomegranates. Pomegranates were considered the "original" apples, and were symbols of strength to the Persian armies. See more »
Goofs
As Dastan is speaking to Tamina in their journey to the valley of slaves, Tamina's hair goes flying upward in the far shots and completely down bangs in her close-ups. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Tus:
[voiceover]
Long ago in a land far away, there once rose an empire that stretched from the steppes of China to the shores of the Mediterranean. That empire was Persia. Fierce in battle, wise in victory. Where the Persian sword went, order followed. The Persian king, Sharaman, ruled with his brother, Nizam, upon the principles of loyalty and brotherhood.
See more »
I've never been much of a video game player. I tend to mash buttons and swear loudly while playing Mario Bros., so anything beyond that, I tend to stay away. However, back in 2005, a good friend let me try Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I was enamoured. It suited my button-smashing style though it slowly forced me to learn how to play the game properly. I really enjoyed it because the puzzles were challenging. the villain was great and the story was pretty decent.
So when I heard that uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer was going to make a big-budget adaptation of the movie, I was thrilled. Of course, video game adaptations have never fared very well on the big screen (I'm looking at you, Super Mario Bros and Ecks vs. Sever), so I had a little trepidation. When I saw the first trailer, I was a little underwhelmed. The movie looked good, but I didn't get a sense of what it was about.
The story is fairly convoluted. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Dastan, the adopted son of the King of Persia. After helping his brothers and uncle Nazim (Sir Ben Kingsley) attack an conquer the holy city of Alamut, he comes into possession of a dagger. Later accused of killing his father, Dastan flees with Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton), leader of the city of Alamut. She reveals the dagger has the power to turn back time, which, in the wrong hands, would be very dangerous. There are betrayals, battles with mystic assassins, and copious shots of Arterton's cleavage. However, all this doesn't amount to much.
The film is an enjoyable diversions. The action is well-choreographed and well shot, even if director Mike Newell (Donny Brasco, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) goes a little overboard with the slow motion shots. The whole film is relatively well shot, with some sequences lifted directly from the source video game. However, the story is overly complicated and there is no "money shot", no big action sequence or iconic image that lingers in the viewers mind when they're walking out of the theatre. Honestly, by the time I got home, I'd already forgotten half the movie. Kingsley seems to phone in his performance as the conniving Nizam, bring no menace to the character. He's more petulant than evil.
What little did stand out was good. Alfred Molina as a scheming sheik who runs an ostrich racing racket was one good thing. Molina steals every scene he is in, going from silly to menacing with the turn of a word. His colleague Seso, a skilled knife thrower, is also impressive. Gyllenhaal does what he can with his role, though most of it seems to just require him to run and jump entertainingly, while flashing his most impressive torso. Arterton is good as Tamina, but again, is hindered by the story and dialogue, which is heavy on exposition throughout the movie. Gyllenhaal and Arterton may have had some great chemistry on screen, but the fact that both are tasked with explaining everything kills that and slows the movie down at some points. You kinda just figure they're going to wind up together.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a decent summer movie. It provides the right amount of thrills and laughs, but is ultimately forgettable. I doubt anyone will be talking about it by August.
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I've never been much of a video game player. I tend to mash buttons and swear loudly while playing Mario Bros., so anything beyond that, I tend to stay away. However, back in 2005, a good friend let me try Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I was enamoured. It suited my button-smashing style though it slowly forced me to learn how to play the game properly. I really enjoyed it because the puzzles were challenging. the villain was great and the story was pretty decent.
So when I heard that uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer was going to make a big-budget adaptation of the movie, I was thrilled. Of course, video game adaptations have never fared very well on the big screen (I'm looking at you, Super Mario Bros and Ecks vs. Sever), so I had a little trepidation. When I saw the first trailer, I was a little underwhelmed. The movie looked good, but I didn't get a sense of what it was about.
The story is fairly convoluted. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Dastan, the adopted son of the King of Persia. After helping his brothers and uncle Nazim (Sir Ben Kingsley) attack an conquer the holy city of Alamut, he comes into possession of a dagger. Later accused of killing his father, Dastan flees with Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton), leader of the city of Alamut. She reveals the dagger has the power to turn back time, which, in the wrong hands, would be very dangerous. There are betrayals, battles with mystic assassins, and copious shots of Arterton's cleavage. However, all this doesn't amount to much.
The film is an enjoyable diversions. The action is well-choreographed and well shot, even if director Mike Newell (Donny Brasco, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) goes a little overboard with the slow motion shots. The whole film is relatively well shot, with some sequences lifted directly from the source video game. However, the story is overly complicated and there is no "money shot", no big action sequence or iconic image that lingers in the viewers mind when they're walking out of the theatre. Honestly, by the time I got home, I'd already forgotten half the movie. Kingsley seems to phone in his performance as the conniving Nizam, bring no menace to the character. He's more petulant than evil.
What little did stand out was good. Alfred Molina as a scheming sheik who runs an ostrich racing racket was one good thing. Molina steals every scene he is in, going from silly to menacing with the turn of a word. His colleague Seso, a skilled knife thrower, is also impressive. Gyllenhaal does what he can with his role, though most of it seems to just require him to run and jump entertainingly, while flashing his most impressive torso. Arterton is good as Tamina, but again, is hindered by the story and dialogue, which is heavy on exposition throughout the movie. Gyllenhaal and Arterton may have had some great chemistry on screen, but the fact that both are tasked with explaining everything kills that and slows the movie down at some points. You kinda just figure they're going to wind up together.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a decent summer movie. It provides the right amount of thrills and laughs, but is ultimately forgettable. I doubt anyone will be talking about it by August.