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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Combo: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Review by JAM
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A dusty reckless young street rat, a privileged princess, and a treacherous ally combine to bring the adventure of a lifetime to a faraway land in Walt Disney Pictures’ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Dastan, a street urchin turned prince due to the kindness of a king’s heart (King Sharaman as played by Ronald Pickup) and the king’s special insight into the soul of the boy who was to save the world.
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The main portion of the movie takes place during a Persian campaign against the city of Alamut, a sacred and holy city yet through unseen manipulations seems to a key part of an insurrection against the throne. The king’s brother Nizam (Ben Kingsley) is the cause of this manipulation, and by whispering in the ear of the king’s eldest son Tus (Richard Coyle) convinces the army that Alamut must be defeated and purged of. The true reason for Nizam’s treachery is his desire to procure the Dagger of Time, a magical weapon able to ride the sands of time and let the user relive moments in order to affect their outcome. Nizam’s desire is affect the past in order to change his future and make himself king.
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Coincidently, the dagger finds its way into the hands of Dastan and through further circumstances, he finds himself running from his brothers, blamed for his father’s death, and traveling with Tamina, the princess of Alamut (Gemma Arterton) who holds a secret that could save or destroy the world. Oh yeah, and she is a little bit feisty! Learning about the powers of the dagger during his journey and safeguarding it from those who would use it to destroy what has been constructed, Dastan becomes a true hero and eventually gets a second chance to save that which was lost.
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Along his quest, he is helped and hindered by such characters as the ostrich racer Sheik Amar (Alfred Molina), his friend the knife master Seso (Steve Toussaint), and the Hassansin, a group of hired killers formerly used by the royalty of Persia. The trip through the sands of Persia leads to the Sands of Time and a final confrontation between the pure of heart and the opportunistic evil uncle.JAMS Ink on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
I had some major reservations going into this. First of all, I am really not a big Jake Gyllenhaal fan, second, video game movies tend to be less than good, and third, I was not the biggest fan of the game to begin with. Well, the movie proved that even with such large reservations sometimes movies can surprise you. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is actually a lot of fun and full of exciting action that will keep you engrossed in the movie. Best part in my opinion is a campfire scene involving the Dagger of Time and a plethora of trained poisonous vipers. Impressive moves I must say, even for a man able to move around in time.
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It was odd seeing Caucasian actors playing tanned versions of themselves in order to pass as Persians from long ago. But, just like in a videogame, suspension of belief goes a long way and I found the characters to enjoyable as soon as the movie started to worry about it. Combining all the aspects of exciting Lord of the Ring type battles, mystical powers of the Sands of Time, and a bit of a love story with as much bite as one of the vicious asps makes this a fun movie to watch and it is definitely recommended by JAM.EXTRAS
DVD Bonus Feature:
An Unseen World: Making Prince of Persia – A look behind the scenes on the set of the film.
1-Disc Blu-ray Bonus Feature:
An Unseen World: Making Prince of Persia – A look behind the scenes on the set of the film.
Deleted Scene – The Banquet: Garsiv Presents Heads
3-Disc Combo Pack Bonus Features:
An Unseen World: Making Prince of Persia – A look behind the scenes on the set of the film.
Deleted Scene – The Banquet: Garsiv Presents Heads
CineExplore: The Sands of Time – Take control of the dagger and use it to unlock secrets behind your favorite scenes! Turn back time and uncover over 40 spellbinding segments – including “Walking Up Walls”, “Filming in Morocco”, and “Ostrich Jockey Tryouts”- with this exclusive interactive feature. Blu-ray puts you in control!
The deleted scene included is nothing that really seems to add to the overall movie. It is interesting in a morbid sort of way, but otherwise not that necessary. The CineExplore is actually really cool though, set up to use like the Dagger of Time. While watching the movie, activating the onscreen dagger takes the viewer into a wrinkle of time and shows setups of scenes, commentaries, discussions of stunts, and a whole lot of information that is really cool to see. It can easily be accessed from menu functions as well in order to see the individual portions.
CineExplore: The Sands of Time – Take control of the dagger and use it to unlock secrets behind your favorite scenes! Turn back time and uncover over 40 spellbinding segments – including “Walking Up Walls”, “Filming in Morocco”, and “Ostrich Jockey Tryouts”- with this exclusive interactive feature. Blu-ray puts you in control!
The deleted scene included is nothing that really seems to add to the overall movie. It is interesting in a morbid sort of way, but otherwise not that necessary. The CineExplore is actually really cool though, set up to use like the Dagger of Time. While watching the movie, activating the onscreen dagger takes the viewer into a wrinkle of time and shows setups of scenes, commentaries, discussions of stunts, and a whole lot of information that is really cool to see. It can easily be accessed from menu functions as well in order to see the individual portions.
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The Blu-ray is beautiful with the panoramic scenery and amazing contrasts that can be seen throughout the movie. The beauty of the desert truly shines through, fight scenes are crisp, and Gemma Arterton as the princess looks amazing in Blu-ray while covered in jewels or dust. The main reason for the Blu-ray in my opinion though is the opportunity to watch the CineExplore feature. It really does add to the overall experience of the movie.Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Feature run time: Approx. 116 minutes
Rated: US ‘PG-13‘; Canada: ‘PG‘
Aspect ratio: 1 Disc DVD: 480i / Widescreen 2.40:1
Blu-ray Disc: 1080p High Definition Widescreen
Sound: 1 Disc DVD: Dolby Digital 5.1 English, French, Spanish, English 2.0 DVS
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (48kHz/24-bit), English 2.0 DVS, French and Spanish
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment slices its way onto store shelves on September 14, 2010 so grab a copy, hold onto some special time, and check out an action packed movie.
Remember check out this review and more from JAM at www.hollywoodteenzine.com for teens and tweens, and at http://jammoviereviews.blogspot.com for movies of all genres and ages.
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