“How do you beat an empire?” “We fight this battle together.” Vertical has revealed an official trailer for the movie Desert Warrior, an action thriller set in ancient Arabia, made by filmmaker Rupert Wyatt. This was filmed a while ago in Saudi Arabia but has been struggling to get a final theatrical release until this year – apparently the director even briefly left due to “creative differences” during post-production but then returned to finish editing it before its recent premiere at the Zurich Film Festival last year. Arabia was full of disparate, feuding tribes in the seventh century, one of which was led by the Iranian Emperor Kisra. After he comes across the Arabian Princess Hind, Kisra attempts to make her his concubine. Hind refuses, however, and escapes with an unknown warrior. It’s a feminist tale of a woman fighting back against a patriarchal world. Sound fun? “Rupert has delivered a thrilling, dynamic film, brought to life by Anthony, Aiysha, and an exceptional international cast & crew.” Desert Warrior stars Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Sharlto Copley, and Sir Ben Kingsley, along with Ghassan Massoud, Sami Bouajila, Lamis Ammar, Géza Röhrig, Numan Acar. This premiered at only one festival last year but I haven’t heard much about it at all. It looks quite epic – borrowing from Lawrence of Arabia and Lord of the Rings – but will it be any good? // Continue Reading ›
