‘Desert Warrior’ Review: Rupert Wyatt’s Long-Gestating Middle Eastern Western

It is a tale nearly as old as time — but enough about the creative differences that have conspired to keep this ambitious Middle Eastern Western away from movie screens since it went into production four years ago. Looking at it now, and knowing what we know about the shooting conditions, it’s a miracle Desert Warrior exists at all, never mind some of the extraordinary images captured by director Rupert Wyatt and his cinematographer Guillermo Garza. In fact, it’s not immediately clear that it was ever a troubled production at all, but what starts with a very lean and entertaining B-movie gradually becomes something of a slog; after setting up a very simple, almost Sergio Leone-esque scenario — a bandit (Antony Mackie) and a bounty hunter ( Sharlto Copley ) — Wyatt’s film somehow be