Rupert Wyatt has always been an intriguing director, in part due to how selective he is with the projects he takes on. He broke through into the mainstream with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which felt ahead of its time in terms of tone and tackling of an established franchise. Since then, the director has continued to choose projects scarcely. He popped up in 2014 with The Gambler, starring Mark Wahlberg, and then again five years later with Captive State. Both films highlighted his qualities as a filmmaker, even if they didn’t quite land overall. Now, Wyatt is back with another film – Desert Warrior.
Desert Warrior is a large-scale historical epic set in the heat of the desert and following a political conflict between two tribes. The story follows a young princess who flees the Emperor and heads straight into the Arabian desert, where she meets a ragtag group of heroes and helps to unite tribes to rise up against the oppressive ruler. Anthony Mackie stars as the title character, who is promoted from petty thief to savior as the film goes on. Alongside Mackie is an ensemble cast that includes Aiysha Hart, Ghassan Massoud, Ben Kingsley, and Sharlto Copley.
Wyatt’s sturdy direction largely saves Desert Warrior from total ruin. The filmmaker makes the story feel far more compelling than it actually is, and makes up for weaknesses in the film’s script with well-framed action sequences and stylized direction. Despite its 7th century setting, the film plays very much like an old Western, with particular parallels to Pale Rider and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The wide shots of the desert and particular focus on building atmosphere with a plot that, if adapted, would not feel out-of-place in a classic Western imbues Desert Warrior with a unique blend of historical epic and Western.
Unfortunately, the filmmaking is undone by a weak story. The ensemble cast, while impressive, means that the narrative is overstuffed with characters, and not enough time spent on the ones that actually matter. There are many moving pieces in the film’s story, which also requires significant backstory and exposition. The opening sequence is attempting to serve as this background, but it falls flat. Desert Warrior is a movie that is desperate for more exposition, but never presents any, which then goes on to greatly impact the rest of the story in rendering it more underwhelming than gripping.
That’s an issue that is especially prevalent with Mackie’s character. He’s the central hero, and there’s a lot of potential there (especially given the performance Mackie puts in), but he’s simply not in the film enough to make an impact. Despite the film being named after him, and the title popping up on a freeze frame of Mackie in the opening scene, the audience simply doesn’t get to spend enough time with the character to truly get to know him. Again, Mackie does well with the material he’s given, making the character feel simultaneously interesting and mysterious, yet he isn’t featured in the story enough to make a real impact.
The scale of Desert Warrior helps to make up for some of these shortcomings. Right from the get go, it’s clear that this is an incredibly high budget film. The scope of the world and the size of the conflicts are both felt immediately, which does make the story feel significant. Even when the narrative falls flat, which only increases as the movie goes on, Desert Warrior still feels grand because of the scale. Wyatt’s direction certainly helps in this regard, and it overall makes the film feel like an event, such is the ambition present in this project, even if the story is lackluster.
Ultimately, Desert Warrior is a bit of a mixed bag. Rupert Wyatt shows once again how promising of a director he is, elevating what’s on the page into something that is (somewhat) interesting. The script doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain, which means that the flashes of brilliance that arise on occasion (such as the first action sequence) are all for nothing. Engaging in some moments, dull and frustrating in others, Desert Warrior feels like a film that has all of the right pieces in place, but doesn’t quite know where to place them to make it all come together.
5/10
