Yeah, because no Carradine ever made a bad movie, right? LOL!
This movie is awful, even by Cirio H. Santiago standards and I've seen a lot of his work. When watching this marvel of film-making it's quite obvious to any viewer, who has more than three brain cells, at just how little care and effort (let alone passion or enthusiasm) was put into it. The films "hero" is a middle-aged, sword-swinging, David Carradine... but temper any expectations you might have, because he looks and sounds completely bored with the movie and no doubt just showed up to get paid.
Just to cover some of the films short-comings (and there are many), you have the indifferent and uninspired direction of Cirio H. Santiago (he put more effort into his earlier PAW films, one strongly gets the since he was just bored while making this). The acting is mostly lame and flat, with some occasional over-the-top moments. The films dialogue is remarkably boring and cliché-ridden and generally delivered with zero enthusiasm. The sets are insanely cheap, even for Cirio H. Santiago standards, which is really saying something. On several occasions you can plainly see the flimsy, paper-thin sets shake from the concussion of the pyro-charges during the films action scenes.
I won't waste time explaining the plot, it's just not worth mentioning. There's precious little in the way of vehicular stunts (most, if not all good PAW flicks are loaded with them), even the gun fire and explosions sound weak and muffled, the films soundtrack is modestly effective - but generic as hell. As I said Santiago's earlier PAW films are better, especially WHEELS OF FIRE! However by 1990 when this crap-heap of a movie was made, Cirio H. Santiago must have been bored out-of-his-mind with these types of films.
From experience I can say that Dune Warriors is the kind of movie that literally saps you of your energy, as you sit there waiting and wishing for it to be over souring any semblance of a good mood you might of had, due to sheer boredom and disappointment. I hated every minute of Dune Warriors and I was lucky enough to see the "Directors Cut" which is even longer and more boring. Having seen many movies of this type I can say with confidence, that NO ONE should waste their time or money with what is a complete dud of a movie. Dune Warriors flat out sucks!
From what I've seen of his work from this time period, it's pretty obvious at this point, that Carradine was a middle-aged burn-out and was simply making a living, ambling from one lame, low-budget, production to the next - in a state of chronic mediocrity. David Carradine seemed to except ANY script that was handed to him - not unlike Bela Lugosi decades earlier. What other conclusions can one draw. If you've seen Future Force and it's sequel (or several others Carradine flicks from that era) that only strengthens my point. Sad to say, but Future Force is actually a slight up-grade from this movie...... just plain pitiful.
Lastly let me leave you with this quote: "Yep, if your movies terrible enough David Carradine will magically appear." - Michael J. Nelson
