Those Gyllenhaal kids seem awfully determined to change my mind about them this year. First there was Maggie, whose wonderfully mature and earthy turn in “Crazy Heart” finally won me over after being completely immune to her charms since day one. And now Jake does what few of us ever thought possible: delivers convincingly as a charming, masculine action hero in the entertaining though nothing-special “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” which opens everywhere Friday and is deserving of many extra points for not being in 3D.
The mystical adventure, based on a popular 1989 video game, is set in ancient Persia and surrounds the quest for a magic dagger capable of doing all sorts of things that include, naturally, bringing about the end of the world. Keeping...