You would think that the story of the single-minded Gertrude Bell - explorer, spy, traveller, adviser to the British Empire on the dividing up of the Ottoman Empire after World War 1 - would be the perfect fodder for Werner Herzog. After all, the great explorer, adventurer-director of the 1970s German New Wave movement has always loved a good story about one dreamer taking on the elements and the world as evidenced by films such as Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo. However, Queen of the Desert, Herzog's boring, sometimes camp and strangely focused take on the woman whom the Arabs remembered so fondly is his most disappointing film in years.It seems that for Herzog the key to understanding Bell (played with brave but futile grim determination by Nicole Kidman), a thoroughly individualistic woman who fought against the convention of her times, is to see her through the lens of a woman unlucky in love. She first captures the attention of Teheran-based diplomat Henry Cadogan (a doe-eyed James Franco) whose love of Farsi poetry and knowledge of all things Bedouin quickly draws her into a horribly sentimental romance-novel relationship that ends in tragedy. From there it's straight off to Damascus and the attentions of married soldier Charles Doughty-Wylie (a stiff Damian Lewis) to whom she writes love letters while making further inroads into unexplored Bedouin territories. Along the way she has a fine old time quipping with TE Lawrence (a horribly miscast Robert Pattinson) and becomes the Bedouins' biggest fan. When Doughty-Wylie doesn't make it back from the war that's it for Bell and the film wraps up its pedestrian two-hour tale of a fascinating woman whose actual achievements and role in shaping her times we learn very little about.If you're hoping for a Herzog version of Lawrence of Arabia you'll be even more disappointed - shooting in wide-angle digital, the director does very little to explore the epic nature of his locations and pastes on some terribly emotional music at inappropriate moments. The atmosphere of fear and dread of the unknown which worked to such great effect in his earlier films is completely absent.In the end it's a wasted opportunity that reduces an interesting story to one all about a woman riding on camels through the desert for no apparent reason other than she's "a woman who just misses her man".What others sayThere is a great story to be told about Gertrude Bell I'm sure, but this is not it. JimmyO, JoBlo's Movie EmporiumEverything proceeds in bog-standard, romantic movie-epic fashion. Matthew Anderson, BBC.comVisually exquisite. Giovanni Marchini Camia, The Film StageAlso openingCAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WARIt's the cinematic superhero showdown you've dreamt of since childhood, precisely because that's everything - and all - it wants to be. Robbie Collin, © The TelegraphKEANUInitially amusing but fatally overstretched action-comedy that's lamer than expected. Justin Chang, variety.comRATCHET & CLANKThe lack of scope for emotional engagement and unoriginal feel means it'll likely be a distant memory by bedtime but, in the moment, it has just enough spark. Emma Simmonds, The ListFREE STATEAbout a love affair between a white girl and an Indian man in apartheid South Africa. It deals with bravery and compassion and is a captivating tale of love against the odds. Benjamin Poole, themoviewaffler.com..