Before the Sword Fights, Cue the Harem Girls

First, the United States invaded the Middle East, and now Hollywood has rushed to finish the job one day after "Sex and the City" ladies landed at Abu Dhabi doo-doo, sparking a dust storm of hatred critical "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" looks ready to raise the voices Huffy with swords and sandals spectacular style in ancient Iran. Based on a video game in the Gulf War era, "Prince of Persia" stars Jake Gyllenhaal as the warrior headlines, climbing walls and vaulted ceilings in the middle of the camels, grenades and dervishes, helping to lead Search for wartime, Praise Bruckheimer, weapons of mass destruction is not so.

As an example of new emerging cultural cross Prince of Persia "is both insulting and generally relatively innocuous. Set in the sixth century, the story involves dastan (Mr. Gyllenhaal), the adopted son of King Sharam (Ronald Pickup), who started the wee boy off the streets to raise the child with his real spawn, Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell). The film, directed by Mike Newell and written by Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard and obedient if you pay cursory attention to the angle of the family. The father gives wise words, and the brothers come together and look at the lock, but the fraternal bonds are destroyed after invading a holy city and dastan is immersed in intrigue.

The cut and chiseled, muscular flashing his pecs, Mr. Gyllenhaal provides an update on the mysterious twist of old Oriental film lover. More butch god Valentino silent film (best known for playing the Sheik, an Arab instead of a heartbreaker Persian), Mr. Gyllenhaal instead follows - and run and jump - in the tradition of solidly muscular and acrobatic Douglas Fairbanks, silent film star whose exploits Middle East were aggressively masculine. Of course, the resurrection of a hero of the Middle East sexpot (played by an actor but not Persian) does not seem to be progress. But given the strained relations between the U.S. and Iran, is a representation that point, especially since dastan worth is ultimately measured by their actions more peaceful.

This hook is currently not very deep sinks, it is true, as, a lot of action films "Prince of Persia" exploits gender holders family fun. Dastan is engaged with a pouty princess (an unfortunate Gemma Arterton) and engages in a fun business with a shadow Sheikh pranksters (Alfred Molina, thankfully). Ben Kingsley appears as Basil Rathbone, or rather Nizam, the king's brother silky suspicious. Filmed in Morocco and Pinewood Studios in Britain, the film is full of swirling sand, milling crowds, cities computer generated narrative and assorted bits and pieces, some taken from the playbook of study (all speak a British accent, although, unfortunately, Mr. Gyllenhaal's), other recycled game series by Jordan Mechner, who has a story credit.

roots movie video game are more evident in the mechanical sense of many of cervical movements camera, zigzag sharply, as if created by algorithms. Given that he made the move from art house to blockbuster a few years ago with "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Newell certainly knew what he was getting into when he signed with producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Except for Michael Bay, who broke off with Mr. Bruckheimer for some time, no director ever get to put their fingerprints on their own production Bruckheimer. As usual, the talent in "The Prince of Persia" is generally superior first class - from the director of photography John Seale to David Belle parkour expert - but the ingredients are so heavily chewed the results are mush.

For the most part, this will collapse completely without pain. The film is silly unstoppable - What did you expect? - But a couple of hours by Mr. Gyllenhaal jumping around in leather and fluttering her long eyelashes has its dumb-fun attraction, as is the view of Mr. Molina plant a kiss on an ostrich in a big-screen spectacle that is like a great debt to innovative technologies in terms of old Hollywood narrative strategies. If nothing else, it's fun to think about how this mash-up of ancient Persia and heroism on the front would sit with Iranian authorities to be. In March 2009 a spokesman for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, demanded an apology from Hollywood to "insults and accusations against the Iranian nation" in the last 30 years. Clearly they had no idea they were about to be Bruckheimer-ed.