Hollywood’s “sensitive” boy actor Jake Gyllenhaal is all manly and epic for Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. In the film, he’s a buff man’s man who’s able to leap tall buildings with a single bound as a noble-hearted royal avenger, the adopted son of the King of Persia. His adventures begin when his father is murdered and he is framed for the crime.  Armed with the gorgeous Princess Tamina played by Britain’s Gemma Arterton and a steadfast horse, Dastan (Gyllenhaal) heads into the desert to undo the wrongs done to him and his family.

The movie’s an old-fashioned, ’50s special effects extravaganza — the way they used to make them with Errol Flynn, Cornel Wilde and Charlton Heston.  But it’s based on a totally modern video game. It’s also a big-budget gambit for Jake Gyllenhaal. And this Jake is all new.

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Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the hottest A-Listers in Hollywood and it has nothing to do with his Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time beating out Sex and the City 2 from the second spot of the North American box office on Memorial Day weekend.

The 29-year-old actor’s winning attributes are talent, versatility, elegance and intelligence. Throw in good looks and innate charisma, and you have a superstar.

From the very dark Donnie Darko (2001) to the brilliant Brokeback Mountain (2005) to the gorgeously made Arabian Nights-styled fantasy, Prince of Persia, based on a video game and given the epic treatment for the big screen by movie mogul producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Walt Disney Studios, Gyllenhaal has proven that he’s got the chops to carry the weight of a major motion picture. That ability, in the multibillion-dollar movie industry, is no minor feat.

Special effects and CGIs aside, it doesn’t require a statistician to calculate that the reason why Prince of Persia grossed more than $37 million in the United States and Canada, based on published industry figures, is the obvious fact that Gyllenhaal, with the physique of an Olympian, drew the public like a magnet to the their local cineplexes.

On Sunday, lists of the leading moneymakers had the divas of Sex and the City 2 following the reigning king, Shrek Forever After, among the Top 5 highest ticket sellers. Then, on Monday, updated numbers showed Prince had topped Sex‘s intake, after all, despite mixed reviews that leaned toward the darker side of the star-rating system.

Before Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time opened after a strong publicity campaign, The Herald spoke with Gyllenhaal about his latest movie. Had Jarhead (2005) and the more recent Brothers (2009), both with Gyllenhaal, been as fun to watch as this one, they may have fared better in the mainstream marketplace. However, that was then, Prince is now, and it is better than what you may have heard: a movie whose sole purpose is to entertain and does.

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