# Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (SPOILER WARNING)



## Curt James (May 30, 2010)

* Prince of Persia:  The Sands of Time (2010) *
By Steve Biodrowski 
May 29, 2010 





​ 
*Viewed from the Olympian heights of  Cinefantastique – the Online Magazine with a Sense of Wonder, which  maintains a reputation for demanding dilettantism, even outright  pretension, in its assessment horror, fantasy, and science  fiction films – PRINCE OF  PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME seems virtually made to be derided.  
*
*Its  package of elements is less a brightly wrapped present than a glowing  new security gadget, flashing multiple warning lights: It’s another  big-budget, CGI-heavy action-fantasy  flick, based on a video game  no less. 
*
*It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, who hardly seems cut out for  action-hero theatrics. It’s directed by Mike Newell,  who has two great movies to his credit (ENCHANTED APRIL and FOUR  WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL) but has shown little sense of wonder when  working on fantasy material (his work on HARRY POTTER  AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE was anonymous at best). And it’s produced by Jerry  Bruckheimer, who gave us the increasingly insane PIRATES  OF THE CARIBBEAN sequels and the unwatchable G-FORCE. 
*
*With all this  stacked against it, one may understandably wonder: *_*What  could possible go right? *_*The answer,  surprisingly, is: *_*More than you would expect.*_

 Make no mistake: almost everything that you would expect to be wrong  with *PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME* is, in fact,  wrong. It takes that Hollywood generic approach to costume epics, in  which British accents (including one from Gyllenhaal) are used to  suggest a past time and place, regardless of the actual setting. Despite  its Middle Eastern setting, the cast is filled with fair-skinned  American and English actors, who are obviously not Persian. 

The running  time is overloaded with action scenes thrown in for their own sake. The  screenplay  features a love-hate relationship between the male and  female leads that grows wearisome in its effort to recreate the  chemistry of Princess Leia and Han Solo. And the dialogue is bogged down  with tedious exposition. 

And yet somehow it works more often than not. How? Well, it’s all presented as an enjoyable lark, a light-hearted  popcorn flick that makes few demands on the audience and expects few in  return. The goofiness of the things you might hold against the film  actually becomes part of the fun, like little signposts indicating not  to take the proceedings seriously. As often as not, *PRINCE OF  PERSIA*’s mistakes are clouds with silver linings. 

*[WARNING:  SPOILERS FOLLOW]*





*L  to R: Steve Toussaint, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina. Guess which one  dies?*

 For example, when we see the lone prominent black character, the  knife-throwing Seso (Steve Toussaint) give up his life so that his  master and the other white heroes can succeed in their mission, it’s a  tired, racist cliche as old as silent cinema – you may flinch when you  realize the film is going to roast this old chestnut again, but when  it’s over, you have to give the sequence an exemption, because in its  own cornball, melodramatic way, it’s a memorably good moment that gives a  supporting character a chance to steal the show, and you’re sorry to  see him go.

 Likewise, the script’s uncertainty about what to do with Princess  Tamina (CLASH OF THE TITAN’s Gemma Arterton) during the action set  pieces is actually a stroke of good fortune.  She is not allowed to sit  on the sidelines like a damsel in distress, but she doesn’t really do  anything, either. Sure, she is always reaching for a sword, but we see  little evidence that she can actually handle one. In this day and age,  the reluctance to morph her from pampered princess into the obligatory  warrior-heroine  feels almost as if it’s preserving the character’s  integrity. (And she does finally get a good moment when she sneaks up  behind a villain with a pet snake, grabbing the serpent from behind and  plunging its fangs into its master’s face! Way to go, girl!)

*POLITICAL SUBVERSION?*

*PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME* doesn’t use its  popcorn pedigree as an excuse to be deliberately arch or ironic, nor is  it completely empty-headed. It’s a confection but not a completely  flimsy one; its attempts to add a little substance to the souffle –  which should have been disastrous – actually ground the film in – if not  a sense of believability, then at least a sense that we should invest  enough to care about what’s happening for a couple hours instead of just  hurling candy wrappers at the screen and waiting for the next fight  scene.

 On top of that there is a little more – just enough – to engage our  interest on something more than a video game level. In fact, *PRINCE  OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME* even dares to question the  underlying assumptions of the video game aesthetic, in which action is  everything, suggesting that being heroic in battle is not always  enough.This last element is not necessarily the most insightful stance  ever taken in a feature film, but hey, you take what you can get,  especially when it arrives in the form of a thinly veiled attack on  Bush’s Iraq adventure.

 After a brief prologue showing how Dastan, a young orphan, was  adopted into the royal family, we flash-forward a couple decades to see  the adult Dastan (Gyllenhaal), aiding his brothers in a battle against  the holy city of Alumet – against the previously expressed order of  their father, who is back home, tending the Persian kingdom. The  motivation for this attack is the discovery that Alumet is supplying  arms to Persia’s enemies. Unbeknownst to his older brothers, Dastan  mounts a separate raid that breaches the walls of the heavily fortified  city, leading to victory.

 So far, so dull – or so it seems. *PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS  OF TIME *has us deep in familiar territory: we’re supposed to  think the warfare is fun because our guys win, and we’re supposed to  think  Dastan is cool because he came up from the streets and he does  things his own way – even though he doesn’t follow the rules, we expect  he will be rewarded for his successful results. The first surprise comes  when his adoptive father King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup) praises Dastan  for being a good soldier but then points out that a truly great soldier  would have prevented the unnecessary battle in the first place, even if  it meant defying his superior.

 What? You mean there’s more to war than winning? Maybe even there are  times when we should rely on discretion rather than force? What kind of  commie, defeatist talk is this, anyway?

 Well, it turns out that the accusations against Alumet were based on  faulty intelligence; even worse, the intelligence was not merely faulty  but  deliberately fabricated in order to fool otherwise well-meaning  people into opting for a war that was not necessary. In a delicious dig  that couldn’t be more obvious if *PRINCE OF PERSIA* had a  flashing sign pointing at it, the post-battle focus becomes an  off-screen search for the alleged weapons (as in, “Weapons of Mass  Destruction”) that were the _casus belli_ for the battle. (That  this plot element has not ignited a firestorm of controversy from  right-wing pundits is little short of miraculous, but hey, that’s why  popular entertainment is a great medium for indoctrinating the masses –  right, comrade?)

*DARING ESCAPES AND ANTI-TAX RHETORIC*





*Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton*

 In any case, now that the filmmakers have had their little joke at  the expense of the previous White House administration, it’s on with the  story, which is frankly a bit weighted down with its set-up. After  being framed for murder, Prince Dastan escapes, reluctantly  taking Alumet’s Princess Tamina with him as he seeks to clear his name.  Of course she hates him because he helped sack her city, but they need  each other – at least until they don’t. This provides opportunities for  the screenplay to indulge in the sort of monotonous back-stabbing twists  that muddled the Bruckheimer’s PIRATES sequels. Yawn.

 The Dastan-Tamina relationship is hardly helped by *PRINCE OF  PERSIA*’s screenplay, which seems unsure whether to portray her  as she sees herself (noble and pure) or as Dastan initially sees her  (spoiled and pampered). Consequently, she emerges as not much of  anything in particular. But this hardly matters, as we are safely in the  land of make believe, where princess and princesses are familiar  archetypes. We know we are supposed to like them, and we know they will  end up liking each other, even if they bicker along the way. All that’s  required is that the actors look good going through their paces and let  us in on the fun they they are having while playing dress-up. 

Arterton  struggles to imbue the character with some gravitas, and she at least  manages to look like someone who should be taken seriously – not just a  pretty face -even if the script offers little to support this  appearance. Arterton and Gyllenhaal may not light up the screen  together, but they seem to be having fun, without winking at the  audience of camping it up.

 Fortunately, Alfred Molina  shows up as a tax-hating and rather shady entrepreneur, who sounds like  a mouth-piece for anti-government Tea Bagger sentiments (gotta give  credit to the film for working both sides of the aisle). Although Molina  at first seems too good to be wasting his time in this sort of  nonsense, he’s actually good, and the film sells his character to us in  such a way that even when betrays Dastan, we know it’s all going to work  out in the end – we just like him too much for him to remain a villain.

 This is a key part of what makes *PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS  OF TIME *succeed in spite of everything stacked against it: it  gets us to like its characters, even some who seem initially  antagonistic. Instead of hating or dismissing them and tuning out, you  want to see them do the right thing, and as predictable as the  change-of-heart scenes may be, as much as your cynical inner self may  recoil from these moments, they do indeed work.

 Buoyed by this mid-film boost, the rest of *PRINCE OF PERSIA:  THE SANDS OF TIME* coasts along at a fairly painless clip, at  least until the film gets around to explaining what the plot’s about.  You see, Tamina is the keeper of a sacred dagger that can turn back time  as long as the sand within its glass handle runs out (i.e., about a  minute). Somebody wants to get their hands on that dagger and take it  back to the source of the sands, in order to reset history years back,  and…

 Oh well, I intend to be kinder to you than the film is to is  audience, which just about nods off during the exposition regarding the  sands of time and how the  dagger came to exist and what the  catastrophic consequences will be if the villain is allowed to go  through with his nefarious plan. No one really cares, yet at least one  of the credited screenwriters seems to have felt the need to work  overtime justifying his paycheck, sending viewers into Lotus-land.  Apparently, no one realized that the dagger is just a plot device – a  huge MacGuffin – and all we care about is that it gives the characters  an excuse to dodge arrows, leap off buildings, and outwit the villain,  whatever his ultimate goal may be.





*Ben Kingsley as Nizam*

 Said villain turns out to be Nizam, played by Ben Kingsley. Revealing  this is hardly a spoiler, since for mysterious reasons of their own,  the studio gives this away in *PRINCE OF PERSIA*’s  theatrical trailer, undermining Kingsley’s achievement, which was  convincing you of his sincerity until the moment when Dastan begins to  suspect his duplicity, at which point some subtle little light goes off  in Kingsley’s eyes, just enough to confirm your suspicion. It’s an  amazing acting moment because it’s hard to see exactly what has changed  in the man’s face, and yet it’s there, clear as the bright desert sun  without anything obvious to explain why we haven’t seen it all along.  It’s nice to see a fantasy film villain who avoids scenery chewing;  Kingsley seems to be taking it all seriously, but not too seriously – he  never risks overstepping into campy melodrama.

 As for Gyllenhaal, his boyish charm is really his meal ticket here.  Not much is demanded of him, but for someone who seemed the least likely  heir to the Errol Flynn’s and Douglass Fairbanks’s, he acquits himself  quite well; even if you go in dead set against the idea of him as an  action hero, you have to laugh along with him and enjoy the ride.

 And ultimately, the thrill ride is what this film promised – a  promise so often unfulfilled – or fulfilled only at the cost of  story-telling and characterization – that one has come to regard it with  innate suspicion. When a film offers nothing but fun entertainment,  “fun” and “entertainment” become almost the last things expected.

*FINAL THOUGHTS*

 Almost in spite of itself  *PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF  TIME* earns audience goodwill, and that buys a lot of slack to  get away with gambits that would otherwise fail miserably. The ending  features what could have registered as ultra-lame contrivance, based  around one of the worst science-fiction-fantasy cliches: turning back  the clock to set things right. Yet unlike the ending of, say, SUPERMAN  (1978), this sequence feels justified, partly because the entire plot is  built around the time-twisting powers of the mystical dagger but mostly  because the film has earned its right to hit the reset button.  Consequently, instead of groaning in derision, you may be surprised to  find yourself sighing in satisfied relief.

*PRINCE OF PERSIA* achieves its modest goal –  supplying the derring-do that one expects from a glossy action-adventure  – without succumbing to the pitfalls of the soulless Hollywood  manufacturing process. What’s surprising is that, when the film makes  the obligatory attempts at generating some genuine feeling, it actually  works better than when it’s just running, jumping, and defying death at  all turns. The themes are  basic stuff about loyalty, bonds of  brotherhood, and doing the right thing instead of mindlessly following  orders; fortunately, the cast sells it with a pleasing semblance of  sincerity.

 This helps redeem the more unpleasant elements of *PRINCE OF  PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME*, which occasionally s border on  misogynistic. Our hero’s noble brother at one point order Dastan to kill  Tamina if she refuses to join Persia and Alumet through marriage.  Dastan himself threatens to break Tamina’s arm at one point; at another  he sells her into slavery to get himself out of a bad situation. These  mismanaged moments turn out to be attempts to present characters who do  not live up to 21st century standards of behavior; these people are not  automatically chivalrous or merciful toward their defeated enemies, but  throughout the film we see glimpses of them evolving; they’re not  perfect, but they are trying to be better. And by the end, they succeed.

 Making improvements requires an admission that there is room for  improvement. Too often movie heroes are a bit smug in their own  self-satisfaction and deep conviction in the rightness of their cause.  For what could have been a dumb summer movie to come out in favor of  self-reflection and self-improvement, instead of the mindless jingo-ism  of war and victory – my country, right or wrong – deserves at least a  small nod of respect.






*PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIM*E (2010). 
*Directed*  by Mike Newell. *Written *by Boaz Yakin and Doug Miro & Carlo  Bernard, *screen story* by Jordan Mechner, based on his video game series.  

*Cast:* Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina,  Steve Toussaint, Toby Kebbell, Richard Coyle, Ronadl Pickup, Reece  Ritchie, Gisli Orn Garoarsson.


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## Little Wing (May 30, 2010)

who cares.... they got the least interesting guy ever to play the hero. he has ZERO sex appeal. it'd be like getting ellen degeneres to play wonder woman. YAWN.


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## Curt James (May 30, 2010)

Little Wing said:


> he has ZERO sex appeal.



That's okay. Gemma makes up for Jake. 






She's a former Bond girl.






And does a fair turn as Princess Tamina. 








Plus it's more about the cast overall than just the lead actor or his sex appeal (or lack thereof). I guess that goes for Gemma's sex appeal, too. 

Alfred Molina's rants against an unfair government and taxation are worth the price of admission!​


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## SYN (May 30, 2010)

Little Wing said:


> who cares.... they got the least interesting guy ever to play the hero. he has ZERO sex appeal. it'd be like getting ellen degeneres to play wonder woman. YAWN.


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## maniclion (May 30, 2010)

Yeah, the Iranian's will love us even more when they see we got a white gay cowboy playing the "Prince of Persia"....I mean at least get a Mexican or someone who looks remotely the part.....


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## Little Wing (May 30, 2010)

Curt James said:


> That's okay. Gemma makes up for Jake.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




if i was gay a sexy chick would help but alas i'm not and the POP is a hottie in the game. i been ripped off!!!!!


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## Little Wing (May 30, 2010)

SYN said:


>








he looks dangerous, daring, dashing, mysterious... 

vs





good god, he looks like he can't remember where he left his can of spam.

or he just read the missing bambi page....


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## Little Wing (May 30, 2010)

he has that inverted triangle thing going on his measurements aren't 42 42 42.


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## Curt James (May 30, 2010)

Little Wing said:


> he has that inverted triangle thing going on his measurements aren't *42 42 42.*



Remind me never to get naked in front of you.


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## Curt James (May 30, 2010)

Little Wing said:


> he looks dangerous, daring, dashing, mysterious...
> 
> vs
> 
> ...



Ya gotta admit they got the hair right.


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## Little Wing (May 30, 2010)

POP doesn't have a chest pelt.


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## Little Wing (May 30, 2010)

good lord. he's just so wrong.


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## Little Wing (May 30, 2010)

maybe disney can cast goofy as conan the barbarian next year.


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## Little Wing (May 30, 2010)

he doesn't have the torso of a young hot-blooded prince he has the torso of an older dude that hasn't shit in a week.  he's so thick in a lot of the pictures of him in costume he looks 4 feet tall like hairy little fat weasel guy in the mummy.

jake is awesome in the right roles for him this is just notttt good casting.


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## Little Wing (May 30, 2010)

Jake Gyllenhaal's Abs Didn't Come Easily, Says Trainer | PopEater.com

But were rigorous training and a strict diet the only factors  contributing to *his new washboard abs*? Gyllenhaal's trainer, *Simon Waterson*,  spoke with *PopEater* to reveal how the doe-eyed actor  transformed his body in less than four months.



washboard abs


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## Curt James (May 30, 2010)

Little Wing said:


> he looks 4 feet tall like hairy little fat weasel guy in the mummy.



LMAO  That had me busting out laughing!

"4 feet tall like hairy little fat weasel guy"

Damn!



Little Wing said:


> jake is awesome in the right roles for him this is *just notttt good  casting.*



I'm not familiar with the game so my expectations weren't colored by that, but I did blink when the little white kid was presented as a young Jake or PoP. At least Gylenakajlkejrlkhall  looks swarthy. The boy PoP looked like Opie. _Wtf?_

But my only true disappointment for casting was Shelley Duvall as Wendy in "The Shining". Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance wasn't all that good for me either. "The Shining" was my first real book or novel read. Before that it was comic books (real enough, but, yeah) and See Spot Run books.

I loved that story and had a clear visual of those characters as King described them. NOT Nicholson and Duvall.


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## Curt James (May 30, 2010)

Little Wing said:


> POP doesn't have a chest pelt.



I give him credit for not getting waxed. You _know _some producer or movie person recommended a bald chest. lol


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## Curt James (May 30, 2010)

Little Wing said:


> maybe disney can cast goofy as conan the barbarian next year.



Haven't they already? 





Jason Momoa


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## Dark Geared God (May 30, 2010)

the girl was hott i jsut saw the movie


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## Curt James (May 30, 2010)

She's adorable. lol What is she, _22?_ Man, I can't even call her hot. 

I believe there's an age restriction.


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## maniclion (May 30, 2010)

I remember the Prince of Persia as a scrawny boy with baggy white pants, pointy red shoes, a red vest and a purple head wrap....


Here's an explanation:

"Many Princes
While there was some talk of making the new games prequels to the old ones, in the end, as Ubisoft producer Ben Mattes explains, “we never felt it was the Prince of Persia, it’s a Prince of Persia. There are many Princes of Persia within this fantasy universe that we call Prince of Persia.” To that end, the latest Prince of Persia game stars a new prince, one who Mattes says “is not a guy who’s going to save the world because it’s his duty to do so — this is a guy who’s an adventurer, he’s a wanderer.”

Yet another version of the Prince appears in the “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” film, for which Mechner served as one of the screenwriters. He also consulted on “The Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel,” where more Princes appear. A.B. Sina wrote the book, and in the afterword, Mechner writes: “Which one is the true Prince of Persia? All of them. And none of them.”

In a sense, all of these videogame, movie, and comic book stories form an updated retelling of ”1,001 Arabian Nights,” which was one of Mechner’s original inspirations. Thus the story of the Prince, who is one out of many, comes full circle, just as it does in the trilogy concluded by The Two Thrones."


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## Little Wing (May 30, 2010)

Curt James said:


> Haven't they already?
> 
> 
> 
> ...




oh what fresh hell is this???? what is he like 12?  conan the my nuts haven't dropped yet years.


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## Little Wing (May 30, 2010)

Curt James said:


> LMAO  That had me busting out laughing!
> 
> "4 feet tall like hairy little fat weasel guy"
> 
> Damn!








this guy.

and yea, your mind creates such great characters in books then hollywood gets it wrong, sometimes horribly wrong.


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## Curt James (May 31, 2010)

^Oof! His day has taken a bad turn.


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## Little Wing (May 31, 2010)

Bugs?!! I HATE Bugs!!! 

lol that was a great movie. Arnold Vosloo was perfect casting.


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## AKIRA (May 31, 2010)

I saw this movie last night.  I fell asleep within 15 min, woke back up to watch the rest and wow, it is awful.  The acting sucked, the actors are badly casted, throw away characters, and special effects that at sparing times look good and at others, REALLY look bad.  (The snakes, Destin riding the sand avalanche, etc)

We went to see a fun movie.  Whenever I say that, it means my expectations are low and I just want to see some foolish shit.  All I got was pure shit.

The only thing good were the hilarious ostriches.


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## SYN (May 31, 2010)

You guys are all making me depressed.  I was really excited for this film.


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## Curt James (May 31, 2010)

AKIRA and Little Wing should form a film criticism club. 

I freaking loved it. 

Of course, I was a big fan of Hudson Hawk and The Shadow. Believe those both got panned big time.


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## Curt James (May 31, 2010)

AKIRA said:


> I saw this movie last night.  I fell asleep within 15 min, woke back up to watch the rest and wow, it is awful.  The acting sucked, the actors are badly casted, throw away characters, and special effects that at sparing times look good and at others, REALLY look bad.  (The snakes, Destin riding the sand avalanche, etc)
> 
> We went to see a fun movie.  Whenever I say that, it means my expectations are low and I just want to see some foolish shit.  All I got was pure shit.
> *
> The only thing good were the hilarious ostriches.*



And what about Ben Kingsley wearing mascara? That had to be worth something.


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## GFR (May 31, 2010)

Ghey thread alert!!!!


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## Little Wing (May 31, 2010)

Curt James said:


> AKIRA and Little Wing should form a film criticism club.
> 
> I freaking loved it.
> 
> Of course, I was a big fan of Hudson Hawk and The Shadow. Believe those both got panned big time.



supposedly 13th Warrior was a shitty film according to reviews but i love it. i'll probably like this too i get caught up in films and enjoy them i'm really not very picky. watched Solomon Kane last night and liked that quite well.


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## Curt James (May 31, 2010)

Little Wing said:


> supposedly *13th Warrior* was a shitty film according to reviews but i love it. i'll probably like this too i get caught up in films and enjoy them i'm really not very picky. watched Solomon Kane last night and liked that quite well.








YouTube Video
















YouTube Video
















YouTube Video
















YouTube Video
















YouTube Video











That's the first bits of the film. If you double-click on the YouTube video you'll be able to see the entire film. The guy must have divided it into like 20 different YouTubes!


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## SYN (Jun 1, 2010)

Little Wing said:


> he doesn't have the torso of a young hot-blooded prince he has the torso of an older dude that hasn't shit in a week.  he's so thick in a lot of the pictures of him in costume he looks 4 feet tall like hairy little fat weasel guy in the mummy.http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/images/editor/separator.gif
> 
> jake is awesome in the right roles for him this is just notttt good casting.



Gross. I hope they photoshoped that shit in the movie. Tha puffer fish just does not go with those pants.


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## Little Wing (Jun 4, 2010)

DOMS said:


> Well, he's either straight, or gay with standards.
> 
> Jake is a butterface (butt_his_face?).  And even that may be an  overstatement.



if he waited on me at the grocery store my hot guy bells would definitely go off.  he has nice lips, which i love, and black hair with blue eyes is hot, he's  just not an exotic young prince. disney makes too many people white who  shouldn't be. prince white bread & princess white bread. it's bs.


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