Or, my review of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
This is one of those based-on-a-video-game movies, but before you judge it based on that alone, hear me out. This was a hell of a ride. I had fun watching this movie. The characters are quirky and the relationships are believable. The "damsel in distress" is pissed off most of the time more than anything else, the trio of brothers has their ups and downs but they're brothers deep down at the heart of it, hell, watch it for the dirty, dishonest businessman who doesn't want to pay taxes to the Persian government, because that guy was funny.
The basic story is that for some reason (which is explained later on as the characters, mainly the male lead Dastan, piece it together from the evidence they gathered over the course of the movie) the Persian army is attacking a holy city, wherein resides a princess named Tamina and a holy magical dagger that nobody knows is magic but the residents of the city until Dastan starts messing with it. The attack being successful, all looks like it's going well until Dastan is framed for his adopted father's murder and forced to flee with the princess, and they back and forth like an old married couple until they finally learn to agree on how to get the dagger back to where it belongs.
It's explained in the prologue that Dastan was adopted by the king (thus saved from a life of being an orphan on the streets) because he saved a boy from being killed for thievery or something like that, and the boy later becomes his bestie and right hand in his unit of what one of his brothers likes to call "street ravel". But the great thing is, blood or no, these three brothers are brothers. They fight, they argue, they know how to piss each other off, and they love each other. And it's wonderful. Which is what makes it so depressing when you see Dastan trying to convince his brothers he didn't murder their father, and them trying to kill him in response, and so heartwarming when you find him succeeding, until that dastardly uncle shows up and ruins the party, which swings it right back into bone-crushingly depressing.
Which leads me into this: If you've seen this movie before, or maybe even if you haven't, you know there's something up with the uncle from the get-go. Maybe it's his shifty eyes and stance and how he can't look at his brother the king half the time, or maybe its his monotone voice which just screams "cold-blooded". Or maybe it's that he never seems to be enjoying anything. Whatever it may be, if you're paying attention, or maybe even if you're not, you'll pick up on something sketchy with the uncle pretty much right off the bat.
Watching the relationships play out, notably between Dastan and Princess Tamina but also between Dastan and his brothers, is very enjoyable, because you see things which would happen in real life. I mentioned already that Dastan and his brothers fight a lot, but Tamina and Dastan aren't exactly in Insta!love. In fact, it plays out more like the budding relationship between Rick and Evy from The Mummy than Cinderella and Prince Charming. And that's a good thing, because it's considerably more enjoyable to watch than that boring old love-at-first-sight stuff. It also makes the character development much more believable.
Bottom line, this one you should watch, and maybe even own on DVD to watch again and again and again. It's a great ride with quirky characters you would actually believe exist, and while the plot is a little bit silly, nobody goes into a movie like this expecting Chopin, or at least I hope they don't. If you haven't seen it yet, go watch it! Now! Shoo! Get off my blog and track that movie down. I promise you won't regret it.
Next on "For the Love of Night at the Museum": And now for something I've never seen before: the start of my trilogy of reviews concerning a trilogy I only just learned existed: Jack Hunter.
Countdown: 278 Days to NATM 3.
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