Overall I enjoyed watching the film because of the performances and the stunning cinematography. It's such a beautiful and interesting setting, geographically, geologically, religiously, mythically, historically. It's such a shame they weren't able to do more with it.
Against the stark but beautiful backdrop of the Arabian desert, leading stars Anthony Mackie and Aiysha Hart deliver solid performances.
It's neither the actors nor the cinematography that let this film down, but rather the lacking and incoherent plot line.
The portrayal of Persian empire as the embodiment of evil on earth is a tired trope, and in this film it seems like a distracting novelty. Although Ben Kingsley plays evil emperor well in his limited screen time.
Although set in pre-Islamic Arabia, there is zero reference to the religious and mythological context of the era. This would have been a huge part of the identity of our main characters, and would have played into the inter-tribe hostilities, but one is left wondering at who's discretion was this left out of the film.
The plot itself fumbles between tropes of broken but helpful rogue silent warrior, messianic leader uniting tribes, and war film. Never nailing either of them.
The messianic line is very poorly executed, and not due to a lack of performance on the actor's part. It's simply not given enough space to be convincing and no where near enough of the relevant cultural background.
As for the war scenes, they reek of a lack of expert input and an abundance of non-exert input. More elephants anyone?
Well worth a watch and I hope this isn't the last time someone tries to tell this story. We need more of these.
