Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
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A street urchin becomes a hero in a quest to stop a villain from using a mystical dagger to rewrite history.
The story
Dastan, a street urchin in Persia, is adopted by King Sharaman after showing courage. Fifteen years later, during a conflict at the Persian borderlands, Dastan obtains a sacred dagger from a royal guard. After a tragic event at a celebratory banquet leads to the king's death, Dastan is framed for the murder and must flee with the Princess of Alamut, Tamina. Together, they discover the dagger allows its wielder to travel back in time. While fleeing from the treacherous Nizam and his assassins, they must navigate a dangerous landscape to protect the artifact from falling into the wrong hands.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Dastan, a street urchin, is adopted by King Sharaman. During a war at the border of Alamut, Dastan finds a sacred dagger. After the King is poisoned at a banquet, Dastan is framed for the crime and flees with Princess Tamina. They discover the dagger can manipulate time. They are pursued by the treacherous Nizam, who seeks the dagger to travel back in time and usurp the throne. Along their journey, they encounter various allies and enemies, including the merchant-bandit Sheik Amar. They eventually reach a sanctuary to hide the dagger, but it is stolen by Nizam's assassins. They travel to Alamut to reclaim it, where Dastan convinces Prince Tus of Nizam's treachery. Nizam kills Tus and takes the dagger. Tamina sacrifices herself to allow Dastan to fight Nizam. In a final confrontation, Dastan uses the dagger to rewind time to the moment he first found it, exposing Nizam's treachery to the princes. Nizam is defeated and killed by Tus. The film ends with Dastan and Tamina planning a future together.
- First release year
- 2010
- Runtime (minutes)
- 116
- Production countries
- United States; United Kingdom
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Mike Newell
- Writers
- Boaz Yakin · screenplay; Doug Miro · screenplay; Carlo Bernard · screenplay; Jordan Mechner · story
- Cast and characters
- Jake Gyllenhaal · Dastan; Ben Kingsley · Nizam; Gemma Arterton · Tamina; Alfred Molina · Sheik Amar; Toby Kebbell · Garsiv
- Genres
- action; fantasy
- Themes
- Time Travel; Sacrifice; Loyalty
- Tone and mood
- Action; Swashbuckler
- Setting
- Ancient Persia and the Holy City of Alamut.
- Premise and plot tags
- Fantasy; Adventure; Historical Fiction
- Source material / true-story basis
- Prince of Persia video game series
- Franchise connections
- Prince of Persia
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics but was noted as a substantial improvement over most video game adaptations.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 50 · scale: 100 · review count: 38
- Production trivia
- The film was intended to be the start of a new franchise similar to Pirates of the Caribbean.; The film was the highest-grossing video game film adaptation until it was surpassed by Warcraft in 2016.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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