I was down in St. Louis last weekend and because that city does not have enough things to do/see over a 4-day weekend, decided to go see Prince of Persia.  Coming from Chicago, I couldn’t really pass up paying mere $ 6.50 for it. Anyway, I had been extremely disappointed with how this “summer of blockbusters” was turning out to be after seeing Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood. The latter was my mistake, I probably should’ve accepted how bad it looked, and not seen it. But I did and after the 2+ hours of boobless, anachronistic, culturally-confused wannabe epic, let’s just say I have a newfound appreciation for “relatively well-made” movies. Prince of Persia turned out to be one of these.

Being a Disney film, its protagonist Dastan severely lacks the badassity all of us who have played the video game were looking for. That and it’s played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who Heath Ledger would’ve agreed is prettier than his sister. His onscreen brother – the future king of Persia – looks so Scottish he belongs in Braveheart. With all the Disneyesque suspension of disbelief aside, this film is entertaining for sure. The action sequences are not cliche, and faithfully reconstructs techniques and styles from the video game (fortunately not the one pictured above). The exotic nature of all things Persian (not the weird shit they showed in 300) kept me engaged throughout the movie, from the Scimitars to the gorgeous CGI scenery of ancient cities.

See, this is why I can never be a film critic, because I don’t know how to provide a synopsis of the plot without giving things away. There’s so much to make fun of in this movie – like how ugly the “princess” was and how everyone seemed to be denying it – but before I know it, I’ll be spilling the beans on how the sands of time sends Dastan back in time to kill his evil uncle or how the best scene in the movie is when he’s climbing up the walls as his minions make him steps with crossbows.

I wonder how much the creator of the game got paid for this? I remember playing it for the first time on my cousin’s 386 computer. The original is a tough game, much more difficult than the new ones on Playstation. No dagger of time to cheat death with if you miss a ledge and fall onto white impaling spikes. Revolutionary game, though, and I’m glad it’s gotten the credit it deserves. At least the movie kicked the Mario movie’s ass.

Worth $ 6.50 for sure. Now if all the other movies for the rest of the summer didn’t suck camel balls…