Official Trailer
Rating: 6.7/10 | Genre: History, War, Action, Drama | Runtime: 127 min
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Sami Bouajila, Sharlto Copley, Ben Kingsley
Desert Warrior is a historical action film about Princess Hind, who becomes a warrior to challenge Emperor Kisra’s rule in 7th-century Arabia. It’s got a solid cast and an interesting historical premise, but the execution is where things get messy.
Anthony Mackie plays Hanzala, a legendary bandit who helps train Hind into a fighter. He’s fine in the role, giving it enough charm and gravitas to keep scenes from falling apart. Aiysha Hart carries the film as Hind, and she does the heavy lifting here. She has to make us believe in her transformation from princess to warrior, and mostly she pulls it off. When the movie lets her just be in scenes and react to what’s happening, there’s real potential there.
The problem is that the script doesn’t give her much to work with. There’s a lot of exposition. Characters explain things that would be better shown. The pacing drags in the middle section where Hind is being trained and learning to unite the tribes. These scenes should build momentum, but instead they just feel like we’re checking boxes on a list of story requirements.
Where It Works
The Battle of Dhi Qar, which happens in the third act, is the best part of the movie. It’s chaotic and brutal without feeling fake. The camera work is steady enough that you can actually follow what’s happening, which is more than I can say for a lot of action movies these days. There are moments of real stakes here.
Ben Kingsley shows up as Emperor Kisra, and he’s doing his thing. He doesn’t have a ton of screen time, but he makes it count. Sami Bouajila is solid as well. The cast clearly brought their A-game even when the material didn’t always deserve it.
Where It Stumbles
The first half moves too slowly for an action movie and too fast for a drama. We don’t spend enough time with the characters to really care about them before the big battle. The tribal politics that Hind is supposed to navigate just blur together. At 127 minutes, this movie needed to either cut some fat or use that runtime to actually develop its characters.
The soundtrack is forgettable. Not bad, just not memorable. It doesn’t elevate the emotional moments when it should, and it doesn’t add much flavor to the action sequences.
There’s also the issue of the historical accuracy. I’m not expecting a documentary, but some of the choices feel like they were made just because they looked cool on screen rather than because they served the story. That’s fine sometimes, but it adds to the overall feeling that the filmmakers weren’t totally sure what they wanted to say about these events.
Desert Warrior is a 6.7 out of 10 kind of movie, and that rating feels about right. It’s not terrible. There’s enough here to keep you watching. But it’s not great either. It’s the kind of movie you watch on a streaming service on a lazy weekend and forget about by Wednesday. Anthony Mackie and Aiysha Hart do their best, and the final battle is worth the price of admission, but the movie around it needed more work.
If you’re really into historical war films, you might get something out of this. Just go in with moderate expectations. Have you seen it yet, or are you thinking about checking it out?
Where to Watch
Rent on: Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home, Plex