I don’t feel that I need to go into detail about video game movie adaptations and their track record. They’ve all failed for various reasons, mostly because of incompetence on the filmmakers’ part and/or because what made the games great doesn’t work onscreen. With Prince of Persia, it’s more of the former and not so much of the latter.

For me, there are three essentials to the PoP game franchise: 1) The gameplay best described by Benjamin “Yahtzee” Croshaw as “run-y/jump-y/climb-y,” 2) The action that blends swordfighting with acrobatics and fisticuffs, and 3) The improbably intricate deathtraps and mechanisms that would be at home in an Indiana Jones movie. I’m very pleased to say that all three of these essentials are very much intact from the word go (the deathtraps are especially prominent in the third act), and they’re all very effective in movie form. The action, however, is hobbled by some very strange cuts and abuses of variable speed. There’s so much slo-mo and speeding-up in this movie, even Zack Snyder would go “WTF?”

Of course, we also have the Dagger of Time from the game, which still uses magical sand to turn back time in limited increments. This could easily have decreased tension in the movie, since any accident, slip-up or death could be reversed by the dagger (as this was its point in the game), and that does indeed happen a time or two. On the whole, however, the movie is very judicious with the dagger, providing rather clever and logical reasons to use it or to prevent its use. The rules for the Sands of Time didn’t always make sense, however, and there are one or two unaddressed paradoxes regarding the dagger’s location and quantity post-jump (especially after the last one).

The production design is an odd paradox. It’s exquisitely crafted with every minute detail on display, though I couldn’t help feeling that the movie’s scope was quite small. It never felt like the movie’s world expanded beyond the screen’s four corners and that’s a damning fault for this movie. Still, PoP did effectively present a magical Middle East. We’ve seen the region as nothing but a mess of war-torn fascist hellholes for so long now that returning to the world of Arabian Nights and Aladdin felt quite refreshing.

The cast in this movie is outstanding. Everyone onscreen from the leads to the lowest supporting actor gives his/her damnedest. Special attention must be paid to Toby Kebbell and Richard Coyle, who both work with Jake Gyllenhaal to form a believable and sympathetic trio of brothers. Kudos are also due to Ben Kingsley. Not since Jeff Bridges in Iron Man was I so fooled into thinking that maybe — just maybe — the sudden but inevitable betrayal wasn’t going to take place after all. Last but not least, I must mention the knife-thrower played by Steve Toussaint, who steals every scene he’s in. He even gets a lengthy action scene in the movie which is awesome and well-earned (a bit strange, though. Isn’t it some kind of unwritten rule that in an action movie, the hero has to be in every major action scene?).

Gyllenhaal really brought his A-game to the character of Prince Dastan. Ever since he was cast, it’s been complained that he doesn’t look remotely middle-eastern, but he and the folks in costuming and makeup work so hard to make the audience forget that. They still fail, but only by a hair’s breadth. Additionally, if you think that Gyllenhaal can’t cut it as a charming lead or capable of heavy stuntwork, you’ll be in for a big surprise if you see this movie. But most importantly, this movie is smart enough to remember that Dastan is a prince. He’s a leader of men. He has followers who are loyal and strong, but never to the point where they upstage their leader. It’s a facet of the character largely ignored in the games and making it part of the movie (just the early part) was a good move.

Opposite him is Gemma Artherton. I went into this movie fearing that she’d be running Io 2.0, but that’s not quite what happened. Yes, she’s using the exact same voice and her character is prone to lengthy bits of mumbo-jumbo exposition, but there are many notable improvements. For example, she actually does stuff. She plays an active role in the proceedings and is extremely vital to the plot. Additionally, her exposition load is partly shouldered by Dastan, which is done in such a way that it actually strengthens both characters (except when Dastan has to explain the dagger to three or four separate characters. Alas, it’s a necessary annoyance and the movie is thankfully aware enough to treat it as such).

Artherton does far more with Princess Tamina than I had expected and I’m glad to say that her chemistry with Gyllenhaal is smoldering (another improvement over Clash). Unfortunately, that chemistry is totally wasted on “banter” that’s 80-90% bullshit and a romance subplot that is just asinine. Though they are always given valid reasons to keep or ditch each other, the romance arc remains horribly predictable. For example, there’s a point in the movie where the Prince risks the fate of the entire world to save the life of a hottie he’s only known for a few days. It’s a common thing for action heroes to do, but that doesn’t make it any less stupid. Dastan and Tamina also get their due kiss, but it was at the most idiotic time and place that I’ve ever seen a kiss happen in a movie.

In case I haven’t already made it clear, the script is of the usual Bruckheimer-produced variety. It’s lazy and predictable, with godawful dialogue throughout and more than a few logic holes. However, there’s one part of the script in particular that I want to applaud: The ending.

Yes, the movie visibly unravels quite a bit during the incomprehensible climax and the minutes immediately following (*It might have helped if they had explained the initial attack in a way that didn’t sound like a half-baked and ill-placed critique of the Iraq invasion*). However, the ending also had something that I haven’t seen in a big-budget movie for quite some time: CLOSURE!!! The movie did leave the door open for a sequel, but it did so without any cliffhangers, dangling plot threads or post-credits epilogues. This is a big-budget potential franchise film with a solid beginning, middle and end. It stands on its own with no needing or pleading for a sequel. We desperately need more of that in our blockbusters.

I also want to talk about the ending in regards to Dastan. *It does end in pretty much the same way as it did in the game, but with some very solid differences. In the game, it’s literally like all the most important developments of the story never happened. In the movie, the invasion still happens, Dastan still gets the girl and comeuppance is still served, but with much less time and blood spent. Also, we get to see Dastan as a visibly different and better character than when he started, which is something the game didn’t handle very well.*

Unfortunately, when all is said and done, PoP does something wrong for everything that it does right. It’s a mediocre film, but it’s watchable. It could’ve been better, but it also could’ve been a hell of a lot worse. It’s mindless fun from one of cinema’s great masters of the lowest common denominator. This is the best video game movie we’ve had in a very long time and it may be the best that video game movies can ever get, but that’s not saying much.