THE STORY – Seventh-century Arabia is ruled by the power-hungry Emperor Kisra. Kisra sends his best soldiers to capture Princess Hind, daughter of the once-revered Arabian King, to make her his concubine. A mysterious bounty hunter helps Hind as she evades the grasp of the Arabian Emperor.
THE CAST – Aiysha Hart, Anthony Mackie & Ben Kingsley
THE TEAM – Rupert Wyatt (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 114 Minutes
Rupert Wyatt’s $150 million epic, “Desert Warrior,” is a colossal blunder. Backed by the Saudi studio MBC, this big-budget historical western had immense potential, as its scope is vast, the locations are nothing short of stunning, and Anthony Mackie is the star. It feels as if Saudi Arabia wanted to create its own version of “Dune,” but instead ended up with a cheap-looking knockoff that features laughable scripting, performances, and editing.
The film opens in the Arabian desert in the 7th century, where Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart) and King Al-Numan (Ghassan Massoud) are being chased by Emperor Kisra’s (Ben Kingsley) soldiers. An unnamed bandit (Anthony Mackie) assists the two desperate fugitives, leading them to a nearby village. The Emperor’s Commander (Sharlto Copley) approaches the local tribe leader, Chief Hani (Sami Bouajila), explaining the Emperor’s intentions. The Princess is to be his concubine, a woman who is forced to live with a man but would not be his wife, or if she refused his desires, she would be killed. What ensues is an expansive, large-scale mission to gather many opposing tribes to work together to defeat the Emperor and his forces. This happens after Princess Hind suffers a tragedy and decides to take her place on the throne and overthrow the Emperor. With the help of the mysterious Bandit, the Princess draws the Emperor’s forces into the last oasis in the Arabian desert. The final battle puts an enormous number of lives in jeopardy, but also has the potential to restore order to Arabia if the Princess is successful.
“Desert Warrior” was shot in 2021 in Neom, Saudi Arabia, and after a long shoot, the epic western faced further issues as writer-director Rupert Wyatt exited the project due to creative differences, but later returned during the editing process. Hollywood studios were left unconvinced after the film received negative responses at test screenings. Without a doubt, MBC Studios intended for this to be Saudi Arabia’s big opportunity to break into the Western market, having backed it with considerable investment. The Zurich Film Festival selected “Desert Warrior” for its world premiere, where it received mixed responses. The reality is Wyatt’s latest is a poor excuse for a western that fails to live up to its big-screen cinematic influences, such as “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Dune.”
“Desert Warrior” stumbles in its very first scenes as the Princess and King escape to a nearby tribe. Wyatt’s direction is poor from the start as his actors overact and deliver shockingly contrived pieces of dialogue. Nothing is believable as everything feels heavily staged. The film moves from set piece to set piece, but it’s broken up by some shockingly poor scenes where tribe leaders argue and inevitably unite. It’s all filler to get to the next big, final battle that everyone is waiting for. It’s somewhat embarrassing to watch, and one can’t help but feel bad for the actors having to deliver such terrible dialogue. With all of this in mind, it’s no surprise that Wyatt had issues with the project, as it feels passionless and more of a money-making venture that echoes other successful films.
Set in Arabia, casting Arabic actors would’ve been the logical thing to do. However, as mentioned earlier, this film was made to appeal to Western audiences, hence the diverse mix of races and ethnicities in the ensemble. The casting of white European actors feels just as out of place as it did back in the 1960s with “Lawrence of Arabia.” Aiysha Hart is the lead, and she plays Princess Hind with a dramatic, heavy touch. Her presence echoes that of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides in “Dune,” commanding an army and garnering respect. However, Hart’s character is a surface-level portrayal that lacks depth, falling short of being an archetypal heroine; she never feels believable. Anthony Mackie is an odd casting choice, as his Bandit puts on an accent and aids the Princess in combat. He never feels fully committed to the role; perhaps poor scripting and big paychecks could be the cause here. He is no “Man with No Name” like Clint Eastwood’s unlikely hero in Sergio Leone’s classic westerns, which is another apparent influence here. But ultimately, this feels like one of those made-up movies Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, “The Studio,” was making fun of, starring Mackie. The film’s ensemble is too large to juggle, and it attempts to build its world out for the audience too quickly; it’s hard to name a single key figure beyond the Princess, King, Bandit, and Ben Kingsley’s brief cameo as the Emperor.
The stunt work in the film’s many set pieces is somewhat impressive, particularly in sequences that utilize donkeys instead of horses. However, the coverage for the fight scenes is edited into oblivion, resulting in a complete hodgepodge. It’s incredibly hard to understand who’s fighting whom due to rapid cuts to cover holes in the film’s camera coverage. Guillermo Garza’s cinematography consists of endless, intense close-ups ripped straight from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, which looks good. Still, there is little innovation or creativity to make this visually distinct from its predecessors. One major off-putting factor of the film is the editing and sound design, which feel completely disjointed and cobbled together. Odd moments of silence, interrupted by harsh cuts in the film’s numerous chase scenes, give the impression that the editor is trying to salvage what he’s been given. All this to say, the action, which should’ve been the one saving grace for this disgrace of a film, never feels fluid.
“Desert Warrior” is an action-adventure western that suffers from its expansive scope, lacking focus in its direction. It would’ve greatly benefited from being simplified, removing unneeded characters, retouching stereotypical dialogue, and building a genuine emotional connection to the leading characters. Wyatt’s big-budget foray is an oddity, as it feels like it should be truly epic and a film for Hollywood studios to gobble up, but something went seriously wrong when making it. The troubled production history is palpable in the disappointment of this movie.
