New to Home Theaters: Historic drama flops despite star cast
One of Hollywood’s favorite leading ladies and a solid supporting cast couldn’t save the latest film new to Blu-ray and DVD this weekend.
Werner Herzog, the man behind “Grizzly Man,” “Rescue Dawn” and “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” brings the latest historically based drama to the screen, “Queen of the Desert.”
Based on the true story of Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman, “Moulin Rouge!” and “Eyes Wide Shut”), the British politician turned adventurer, traveler, writer and explorer, the movie follows Bell’s trek through the Tehran desert as she meets Henry Cadogan (James Franco, “127 Hours” and “Spider-Man”), Charles Doughty-Wylie (Damian Lewis, “Homeland” and “Dreamcatcher”), Cal. T.E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson, “”Twilight” and “Remember Me”), Fattuh (Jay Abdo, “A Hologram for the King” and “Bon Voyage”), Florance Bell (Jenny Agutter, “The Avengers” and “Logan’s Run”), Hugh Bell (David Calder, “Rush” and “The World Is Not Enough”) and Winston Churchill (Christopher Fulford, “Scoop” and “Millions”).
“Queen of the Desert” has received only a 15 percent and 34 percent fresh rating from critics and audiences, respectively, from the media review website, RottenTomatoes.com. Members of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) gave it only 5.6 out of 10 stars.
Richard Roeper wrote for the Chicago Sun Times that the film moves at a “camel’s pace,” to which he looked pointedly at the director.
“Alas, the great and usually fantastically innovative Werner Herzog has turned Bell’s story into a conventional, cliche-riddled, overly talky and plodding biopic where very little happens for long stretches of time, and we have to endure deadly-dull voice-over narration while looking at an admittedly gorgeous scenery and, well, camels,” Roeper wrote.
“The results of a well-made invitation to nod off,” he concluded.
Roeper did, however, applaud Kidman’s “fine work,” noting that she is fresh off the recent achievements for her work with “Lion” and “Big Little Lies.”
In a review for Rogerebert.com, Angelica Jade Bastien added that while it seemed like a good role for Kidman on paper, “even she can’t bring much gravitas to a film that seems to lack any cohesive thematic perspective.”
“Writer/director Werner Herzog makes the fatal error of confusing loving his star and subject with understanding her,” Bastien wrote.
“It takes more than a sweeping score, beautiful cinematography and drawn out narrative to make an engaging star vehicle,” she added. “More than anything they require a strong personality and point of view from both director and star, which is regrettably in short supply here.”
The film is rated PG-13 for brief nudity and some thematic elements.
Other films that arrived on Blu-ray and DVD this week include:
n “47 Meters Down” starring Mandy Moore, Claire Holt and Matthew Modine, directed by Johannes Roberts, is about sisters trapped in a shark cage in Mexico.
The film is rated PG-13.
n “2:22” featuring Teresa Palmer, Michiel Huisman and Sam Red, directed by Paul Currie, follows a man whose life changes at 2:22 p.m. daily.
The film is rated PG-13.
n “Transformers: The Last Knight” directed by Michael Bay, starring Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins and Josh Duhamel, is about the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons.
The film is rated PG-13.