Desert Warrior

5/28/2026

So much money, so little to show for it. Obviously this movie looks great. Piles of money has been shoveled at it, but mere budget does doesn't make a good movie. And this is pretty dull. I am surprised at the lack of magnetism from the lead and the supporting cast isn't doing much to help him. Overall it's just pretty drab and the excitement feels very forced when it appears. I can't in good conscience recommend this, but I can't give it lower than five because of how good it actually looks even though it isn't that enjoyable.

5/30/2026

Desert Warrior (2025) is set “1500 years ago” in Arabia, “where tribes fight over territory and water.” And where everybody speaks English. I can only imagine how much more fighting there would have been if each tribe had its own language or dialect. According to the opening intertitles, “In a bid to take control[,] Emperor Kisra II of the Sassanid Empire demands all tribal Kings [sic] turn over their daughters as concubines. Those [sic] that refuse are hunted into harsh desert where only the strongest survive.” The strongest and the computer-generated. I’d wonder how that counterintuitive recipe for disaster could possibly help Khosrow (oops, I meant “Kisra”) consolidate his power, but it sounds like he already has plenty of it, if he truly is able to issue and enforce such a decree