Title – Desert Warrior (2025)

Director – Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist)

Cast – Aiysha Hart, Anthony Mackie, Sharlto Copley, Ben Kingsley

Plot – Set in seventh century Arabia and based on real-life legends, follows the exploits of exiled queen Hind (Hard) who partners with a rugged bandit Hanzala (Mackie) to take down ruthless king Emperor Kisra II (Kingsley) and free their lands once more.

“I’m tired of fighting”

Review by Eddie on 13/07/2026

Wrapping filming all the way back at the start of 2022, it took some years for the Saudi Arabia backed Desert Warrior to see the light of day, but after collecting under $1 million dollars at the global box office on the back of a $150 million production budget, it’s fair to say that it might just have been better for Rupert Wyatt’s Temu Lawrence of Arabia to remain out of sight and out of mind.

The world has certainly seen its share of box office disasters over the time but there’s rarely been a more colossal waste of 100’s of millions of dollars than Wyatt’s film, one that suffered from numerous post-production issues, as many of its backers had hoped that this epic would reinvigorate the local Saudi film industry.

What exactly went wrong and when it went wrong is likely always going to remain a mystery, but when you watch this drab and lifeless affair it’s hard not to think that Warrior was doomed from the start thanks to its listless script from screenwriters Erica Beeney, Gary Ross and David Self, who based this tale around reported real life events that took place in seventh century Arabia but as a finished offering, this is an uninteresting good vs evil battle without a leg to stand on.

Billed humorously around Hollywood star Anthony Mackie’s role as bandit Hanzala, who helps Aiysha Hart’s banished queen Hind seek revenge against Ben Kingsley’s concubine seeking emperor Kisra II, Mackie may well have not even shown up on set as Warrior relegates him to a supporting role that supports very little as Hart is left to carry this heartless and pedestrian affair through the rugged sands of the unforgiving barren landscape in which it is set.

There’re a few slight and brief moments within Warrior that suggest there might have been an old-school like Hollywood sword and sandals epic to enjoy somewhere in a version of this tale but all those instances are fleeting and worth very little when they’re weighed up against the arduous nature of the rest of Wyatt’s film, in what is a career low for the director who has at times showcased he’s more than capable of delivering the goods.

Announcing himself with his low-budget British crime thriller The Escapist in 2008, Wyatt appeared set for the big time when he helmed the beloved 2011 sequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes but since then his career has badly stalled with the likes of Captive State and The Gambler, with Warrior another sad and sorry effort from a director who may forever be relegated to floundering properties that don’t pass the most basic of tests.

Unlikely to be thought of or spoken about much into the future outside of its outstandingly bad financial performance, Warrior was not the film Saudi Arabia needed to prove to the world and themselves they have what it takes to match it with the best, with this effort becoming one of 2026’s most disastrous offerings.

Final Say –

A once in a generation box-office bomb that is sadly deserving of its frosty reception, Desert Warrior may have had grand ambitions and means to meet them but as it stands this forgettable epic is a joyless feature devoid of any reason for viewers to invest their time.

1 rampaging elephant out of 5