Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time; Good for a two hour break

Prince Dastan must team up with Princess Tamina to not only clear his name in regards to the death of his father King Sharaman but also to keep a mystical dagger called “the Sands of Time” from falling into the wrong hands.

All the ingredients were there for another Jerry Bruckheimer produced mega-smash film (he is responsible for producing, amongst many films, The Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure and Bad Boys movies). There was a hunky male lead in Jake Gyllenhaal, who was believable as Dastan albeit with an unbelievable British accent, a beautiful (and completely underused) female co-star in Gemma Arterton as well as a breadth of story telling material from which to create an entertaining adventure given the fact that there are more Prince of Persia video game titles than there are Kardashian sisters. So why wasn’t it the slam bang desert adventure one was hoping for? The action was there as the audience was given plenty of sword play and rooftop shenanigans from Dastan (a staple of the video games I am told) plus the chemistry between Gyllenhaal and Arterton was palpable. Their characters did not automatically fall for one another as one might have been expecting in a film such as this but, through some nice chunks of dialogue, grew upon each other (and grew as characters) so that when the final climax of the film came, the tension facing Dastan and Tamina actually gripped the audience and sucked them in. However that was the issue with Sands of Time, the plot was convoluted to the point of being frustrating and ultimately forgettable. The reason for Dastan and Tamina’s quest to keep the dagger safe and the dagger’s true purpose and power were explained, but even those explanations were lost amongst the poorly constructed sub-plots of the struggle amongst Dastan and his brothers for their dead father’s crown, the true intentions of his dubious Uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley) and a boat load of ineffective CGI.

In the end, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was nothing more than a nice two hour distraction, which one immediately forgot about when they hit the stop button on their DVD player.

Grade: C-

From Hell: A look at Jack the Ripper

The Jack the Ripper crimes continue to baffle professional and amateur sleuths to this day, but is it proper fodder for a feature film? After watching From Hell one would have to say, yes.

Jack the Ripper is on the loose in White Chappell and it is up to Inspector Abberline, using detective work and his visions, to find and stop him. But as he digs deeper into the case, Abberline uncovers clues that lead him to a person that no one would have suspected of the ghastly crimes.

The actual mystery of who Jack the Ripper was and how he got away with the crimes he committed made the film interesting and challenging to the audience at the same time. Along the way in Abberline’s investigation they were introduced to a number of characters that could have been the famous killer so when the Ripper’s real identity was revealed, it was a shock for it was probably the last person the audience might have expected. The directors of the film, the Hughes Brothers, deserve credit for the stylish way in which the murders were presented. While they were not excessively gory, they were intense, visceral and took a person’s breath away. Johnny Depp was able to create another unique character in his Inspector Abberline. A far cry from his turn as Capt. Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Abberline was an emotionally haunted man besieged by visions of horror and constantly “chasing the dragon” to deal with life.

For all its visual gusto and terrific performances however the film tended to drag a bit and lost momentum as Abberline tracked down lead after lead. It was important to make the audience work along with Abberline to piece together the clues as to the Ripper's identity but it might have been the case where less (i.e. less suspects) is more (tighter story structure and more chance for The Hughes Brothers to build tension). The ending, while happy in some respects, might not have been what the audience would have expected and therefore could disappoint some.

Grade: B