Writer: Syahida Kamarudin

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Watch this if you liked: “Sinbad” franchise, “Indiana Jones” franchise

Three things everyone should know - The movie is not very similar to the game (despite being co-written by the game creator), the movie is more like "Indiana Jones Of The Middle East" rather than a stylised "Sinbad" and Jake Gyllenhaal can be dreamy when he wants to.

Based on the popular PC game of the same name, "Prince of Persia" takes a leap from its action adventure of an anonymous prince battling monsters to a rag-to-riches prince with a name - Prince Dastan, to be exact, and it tells a different sort of story with no monsters but action-packed all the same. So, none of The Corrupted nor The Ahura. Sorry. Fast paced and fantastical, it is a true blend of trademarks from two big names in the industry - producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("Pirates Of The Caribbean") and director Mike Newell ("Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire").

As we can expect from Walt Disney Pictures, it starts off in reminiscence of their animated "Aladdin", what with the kid with an apple, running from palace guards and jumping from handle bars to roofs - only this time, sans the monkey. Then it goes into real action. The attack on the eastern gates of Alamut scene is mesmerising, and throughout the whole nearly two-hour experience, it goes from one great scene to another without stopping for insignificant breathers. No wasted moments there. Characters are almost all interesting, from the hashahins to the dahakas, even if some - like the entrepreneurial sheikh who hates taxes (and his mother) - is cliched.

Jake Gyllenhaal as Dastan is cheeky and rugged, with a devil-may-care attitude, which of course will attract the ladies. He shows that with a slight change to the hairdo, he can discard his famous boyish characteristics into turn into a gaming superhero without losing the charm. Ben Kingsley weirdly enough, seems trapped in the same cycle of antagonist roles and as for Gemma Arterton, she can't seem to escape her holier-than-thou approach towards a character of nobility like Princess Tamina, although she does a better job than she did in "Clash Of The Titans" as the ethereal Io.

The only scar in the fleshy plot is 10 minutes to the ending. Gamers might prefer the "Kakulookiyam" ending, and one would expect more of a climax, but the film opts to dabble into meditative discussions towards the ending, crushing the non-stop excitement and grinding it to a frustrating halt.

After all that's said and done - hey, the soundtrack is good.

Cinema Online, 30 April 2010