Review of Dagger of Time
Prince of Persia Prop Replica

Introduction

There's no doubt that the new Disney film Prince of Persia had it's issues. From a miscast lead to a weak script, the movie was a mediocre mish mash. But the prop that the film revolved around - the Dagger of Time - was a pretty damn cool looking knife. United Cutlery picked up the license to do replicas of both the knife and Dastan's sword, another very cool design.

United Cutlery has been doing prop replicas for almost 30 years, although they had a few rocky years around the turn of the century. They are one of the bigger players, and generally produce high quality items.

The dagger is available at a number of retailers, or through ebay.  I've included some suggestions in the Where to Buy section at the end of the review. Expect to pay around $125 or so, depending on the retailer of course.

Packaging - **1/2
If you've purchased past UC products, you'll know what to expect. There's an outer slip sleeve which has decent graphics and some basic text, but the interior box is all utilitarian. The knife and backdrop are carefully wrapped in Styrofoam and cardboard, and will make it to you safe and sound. There's a basic Certificate of Authenticity, but no edition size or number. This is not billed as a 'limited' edition, although I'm betting there are fewer produced than some supposed limited editions produced by other companies.

Sculpting - ***1/2
There are three main materials in use - metal, plastic, and of course, sand.

Most of this knife is metal, including the blade and all the intricate pieces of the hilt. These are sculpted with intricate details, which look screen accurate as best as I can tell. It really is a beautiful knife, largely because of the detail work on the metal blade and guard.

The plastic pieces are the interior translucent handle that holds the sand, and the red ruby-like jewel on top that doubled as the time trigger in the film. While glass would have been nice, at this price point it wasn't really expected.

The sand is where you'd expect it to be - inside the plastic section of the hilt. It should stay there too, because the hilt is quite sturdy and solid.

I do wish that the plastic seam along the side wasn't quite so obvious. I included a photo showing it. While this isn't an extremely expensive replica, they still could have formed the plastic interior handle pieces so that this seam curved, and would have been completely hidden by the curved gold metal pieces that wrap around it.

The dagger is about the right scale as well, and while the blade is not sharpened, the tip is quite sharp. This is one of those rare cases where I don't think the knife in the film looked particularly sharp either, so the dull edge actually matches up.

And before you ask, no, you can't push the button. Well, you can, but it doesn't move. And time doesn't turn back - I tried.

Paint - ***1/2
There's not a ton of paint here - metal is metal, plastic is plastic. But they have added a wash to give some age to the metal, especially the bronze colored handle, and to bring out the sculpted details on the blade. It works well, and isn't overdone.

Accessories - **1/2
The knife comes with a display stand that's intended to hang on the wall. That works great for me, since that's how I display this type of item, but if you were looking to display it on a table or shelf, this really won't help you.

The plaque has an attractive movie inspired design, and a small brass colored metal nameplate that attaches at the top with double sided tape. There are also two rubber covered hangers that screw into pre-drilled holes.

My only issue is that the holes aren't quite in the right spot. One post is shorter than the other, and that post (according to the instructions, which are correct) goes on the left side. When you hang the knife on the pegs, it leans slightly to the right, because that post isn't quite high enough on the plaque. The knife should hang perfectly straight, and it doesn't. I'm going to correct that by putting a small chunk of rubber between the knife and the peg to raise it up on one side, but that really shouldn't be necessary.

Value - **1/2
While retail is closer to $150, you should be able to snag this guy for something closer to $125. I picked it up for about $115 shipped, but that dealer has since sold out. That's about right for a knife like this, especially when you consider the detailed work on the hilt and blade.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing!

Overall - ***1/2
I'm always looking for unique and different prop replicas, stuff that really stands out and is highly recognizable. This dagger fits that description perfectly, and was just the thing to add to the wall.

I do wish that the seam for the plastic handle wasn't so obvious, especially since I think there was a way to hide it with a little imagination. That, and the issue with the mispositioned post, are the only two issues I have.

This knife is nice enough that it now has me quite interested in Dastan's sword, another very nicely designed prop. Considering that the sword is also relatively inexpensive - around $120 - it might be well worth a pick up.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - **1/2
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Accessories - **1/2
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has it at $150.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
My only previous review related to the Prince of Persia was my look at the 12" figure from Hot Toys.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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