I am going to be
positive here and say I did my good deed by going to see "The Prince of
Persia" since I usually pick the Friday movie and Allen wanted to see
this one. Hey, for a friend you have to sometimes do things you don't
want to do.

Continuing to be
positive I will say that Jake Gyllenhaal really worked his butt out in the gym to get the body he needed for
this role but why did he have to keep that stubble beard? In fact why do
so many young actors think it is attractive? His co-star, Gemma Arterton, is a beautiful woman but
'swallows' a lot of her dialogue. The supporting cast is made up of
pros like Alfred Molina and Ben Kingsley with the former ofefring a few laughs and the
latter the latest in eye shadow. There are a few younger and new comer
actors none embarrassing themselves like Tony Curtis did many years ago
when he started his career typecast in Arabian night movies with a Bronx
accent.

Over the years I
have seen a few, as what is referred to as, 'sword, sand and sandals'
movies which at one time was a staple in Hollywood, As much as I like
Jake he doesn't bring to this film what a Doug Fairbanks, or his
junior,  Errol Flynn, Valentino or even Peter O'Toole could and would
have. Don't feel bad Jake Russell Crowe wasn't an Errol Flynn in/as Robin Hood last week.

There are sword fights, in fact too many, and
there are special effects, way too many and instead of a magic carpet
there is a magic sword. There are modern references to 'weapons of mass
destructions' and invading a country wrongly but that all takes second
place to Jake tumbling, scaling walls, jumping from roof to roof and
'playing' in the sand.

The most praise I
can give The Prince of Persia is that I have seen a lot worse this year
and that it gave me a chance to prove my friendship to Allen!