Desert Warrior

"One warrior must unite them all."

2026 2h 7m EN

😐

6.0

MID

★6.0TMDB · 50

HistoryWarAction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In 7th-century Arabia, Princess Hind becomes a warrior to defy the ruthless Emperor Kisra. Forged into a warrior and aided by legendary bandit Hanzala, Hind unites warring tribes for a last stand—the historic Battle of Dhi Qar—that will change history.

“One warrior must unite them all.”

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Cast

Anthony Mackie
Hanzala
Aiysha Hart
Princess Hind
Sami Bouajila
Hani
Sharlto Copley
Jalabzeen
Ben Kingsley
Emperor Kisra II
Ghassan Massoud
King Numan
Lamis Ammar
Medicine Woman
Ramsey Faragallah
Ibn Qabisah

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Rupert Wyatt
Writers: David Self, Rupert Wyatt, Erica Beeney
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America, Saudi Arabia

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$150M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 0% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Saudi Arabia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Rupert Wyatt, shot by Guillermo Garza. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Rami Basahih. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Richard Mettler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Anthony Mackie and Aiysha Hart and Sami Bouajila carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Rupert Wyatt directs. Guillermo Garza behind the camera. Rami Basahih scores. Richard Mettler cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America, Saudi Arabia. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1$150M budget — tentpole studio territory.
2Earned back only 0% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
3Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.
4International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Saudi Arabia.
5Directed by Rupert Wyatt, shot by Guillermo Garza. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Rami Basahih. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Richard Mettler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Anthony Mackie and Aiysha Hart and Sami Bouajila carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "One warrior must unite them all.".
10IMDB entry: tt13570066 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Only 50 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
12Classified under 15 themes, including "princess", "saudi arabia", "emperor", "concubine".

The technical file

Cinematography: Guillermo Garza
Original score: Rami Basahih
Editing: Richard Mettler
Production design: Paki Smith
Costume design: Bojana Nikitović
Sound: Paul Hsu
Runtime: 127 min · 2h 7m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $150,000,000
Box office: $742,066
Return: 0% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Desert Warrior (2026)

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Rupert Wyatt

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Sierbahnn2026-05-28
★ 5/10
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.
JPRetana2026-05-30
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. It also sounds like a bunch of taurus cacas — a variation of the equally spurious droit du seigneur stuff from Braveheart. There must be several documented causes of conflict endemic to that time and place; the film itself mentions two that are very plausible: water and land. Why make something up wherein the conflict boils down to the heroes and villains fighting over a girl? And the answer is, because it’s a convenient narrative shorthand that stands for three things. First, it lets us know that Kisra is a power-hungry tyrant — which Ben Kingsley’s can-I-have-my-money-now cameo isn’t enough to establish. Second, it reveals that Hanzala (Anthoy Mackey) may lust after gold but is also a Thief with a Heart of Gold when he protects Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart). And last but not least, #MeToo. Kisra II gets to be — retroactively and, I suspect, undeservedly — a patron devil of dirty old men because he had more than one wife at a time and God forbid we fail to project modern sensibilities onto ancient history regardless of what was customary back then. What Desert Warrior lacks in the way of a sense of time, it makes up for with a sense of place, at least during the first half of the movie. The desert looks as harsh as advertised, and the action sequences feel of a piece with the environment. It’s as though the filmmakers disregarded the past fifty years in order to deliver as historically inaccurate yet authentic looking an experience as the epics of old. Those were my thoughts until they showed us a “panoramic” view of Ctesiphon, the historical capital of Iranian empires. I know seventh-century Ctesiphon is not a place you can send the second unit to get some establishing shots; nevertheless, they could have recreated it like Olivier recreated London in the opening of Henry V. If the “exterior” looks like something out of 300, the interiors, specifically Kisra’s court/arena, look like something out of Caligula. Oddly, Kingsley gives a sedate performance when he should be hamming it up Malcolm McDowell style. There are several other shots and scenes that we may generously call “composites” throughout the film — mainly landscapes, armies, and a herd of war elephants that made me yearn for the documentary-like realism of Babar — none of which holds a candle to the movie’s primary aesthetic. Desert Warrior ends with a caption informing us that Kisra II was “poisoned by an unknown assassin. There are those who believe it was a concubine.” Is that so? Who exactly believes that? Well, you know, “those.”

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