40
Screen International by Allan Hunter
The issue of immigration couldn’t be more timely or poignant, but everything else in Desierto feels strictly by the book and it is a book we already know from cover to cover.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
38
Slant Magazine by Clayton Dillard
Any perceptive dialogue or contemporary socio-political subtext is pummeled by Jonás Cuarón’s preference for empty genre thrills.
75
The Film Stage by Jared Mobarak
As for the politics, even though the characters are stereotypes playing on the public’s liberal assumptions of human rights, Desierto is less interested in holding one side above the other as much as showing the true-to-life tragedy real life brings.
40
The Guardian by Jordan Hoffman
While engaging, this Desierto is a little dry.
70
Cuaron’s movie may be an exaggerated nightmare vision of murderous xenophobia run amok, but the catharsis in this tale of survival and payback is undeniably real.
40
We Got This Covered by Matt Donato
Desierto is one of those movies that's nasty without reason, and never really finds its stride by way of tone or message.
25
The Playlist by Nikola Grozdanovic
With a bare minimum amount of suspense, and a screenplay that needs too much work for one that has so many long stretches of silence, this film leaves you with too many reasons not to care about it.
75
Desierto is an action thriller that delivers unforgettable punches at a feverish pace. You won’t doze through this one.
50
Desierto never amounts to much more than a variation on a theme we know by heart, predictable at every single sandy step they take.
50
The Hollywood Reporter by Todd McCarthy
If the story is meant to represent a microcosm of the immigration problem, it’s woefully reductive. If it’s meant to be first and foremost an action thriller, it does have a few nice moves to offer.