The Kingdom (Widescreen Edition)

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
Set in Saudi Arabia, The Kingdom is a political action thriller with good acting and wonderful visuals. Its so-so script, though, at times meanders aimlessly until a good explosion jolts the viewer's attention back to the screen. Jamie Foxx stars as FBI special agent Ronald Fleury, who leads an elite team into Saudi Arabia to find the terrorists who attacked American employees working in the Middle East. He has been given the unlikely deadline of five days to infiltrate the compound, with just his wit and his crew, which includes forensics expert Janet Mayes (Jennifer Garner), explosives guru Grant Sykes (Chris Cooper), and intelligence analyst Adam Leavitt (Jason Bateman). It's unclear how helpful smarmy U.S. diplomat Damon Schmidt (Jeremy Piven) will be, but Fleury knows enough to surmise that the media-hungry Schmidt might not be completely trustworthy. Foxx and Garner have wonderful screen presence, but it's Bateman and Piven who get the best lines. Director Peter Berg peppers The Kingdom with actors he has worked with in the past. Berg, who guest-starred on Alias opposite Garner, casts Tim McGraw in a small role here. (The country singer also had a co-starring role in Berg's 2004 film Friday Night Lights.) And Kyle Chandler and Minka Kelly--two of Berg's lead actors from the Friday Night Lights television series, , make appearances in The Kingdom. The action sequences he creates are impressive and generate a sense of panic that The Kingdom producer Michael Mann (Miami Vice) undoubtedly applauds. While a tauter script would've rounded out the action nicely, the action in many cases does speak for itself. --Jae-Ha Kim

Product Description
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/06/2008 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: R

Customer Reviews: Read 129 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

They'll never miss the water `til the wells run dry December 19, 2007
36 out of 46 found this review helpful

Background:

Once upon a time, the government of Saudi Arabia granted permission for an American company to dig some exploratory holes around the country. As luck would have it, instead of water they found oil, and lots of it, and so began the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco.) This discovery and the resulting agreements for profit sharing gave the Saudi monarchy the wherewithal to purchase yachts with gold toilets and other such necessities, but also brought about the hatred of certain fundamentalists.

Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):

1.Terrorists attack the residential compound of an American oil company, killing many innocent people
2.FBI team of Jamie Foxx (team leader), Jennifer Garner (forensics), Chris Cooper (demolitions) and Jason Bateman (intel analyst) have five days to find out whodunit
3.Middle of movie takes a while to get around to the point, establish relationships, sort through debris, find clues and create a speaking role for Jeremy Piven.
4.Ending rocks

Conclusion:

1.Somewhat political, but not overly so
2.Somewhat religious, but not overly so
3.Extremely moving at times, with characters from both sides freely showing their emotions
4.Well acted in most cases
5.Great beginning and end, but a little too much left in the middle
6.Recommended for those who like well-acted action movies with a political/religious slant and not much of a plot

Amanda Richards, December 19, 2007

5 out of 5 stars

Incredible movie, incredible picture and audio December 23, 2007
19 out of 22 found this review helpful

First of all I have to address absolute haters of HD DVD that spew constant nonsense as good little trained doggies for Sony corporation and other BDA partners.

This HD DVD / DVD combo is absolute marvel. The price is the same as any other HD DVD and the added benefit of having a SD DVD version to watch in your SUV, your portable player or bedrooms is a HUGE plus. I don't want to buy 5 version of the movie to watch it everywhere. Combos are good for consumer. Even Warner releases that come in combo flavor (SD DVD and HD DVD) cost the same as their inferior Blu-Ray versions. As a consumer, it is very important to say that because the PR campaigns from an inferior format will make unsuspecting customers think that there's somethign wrong with having more for the same money.

And also, this movie works perfectly on my 2 DVDs and 2 HD DVD players.. no problems whatsoever. I never actually had problems with combos too and very little people had any problems that were present were due to authoring problems or replication, but these are pretty rare anyways.

Okay, now when cleared that, I will say that The Kingdom is truly incredible. It touches up on today's situation with middle east, connections with Saudi Arabia and the slow fallout of the tight partnership since a lot of terrorist attacks originated or are linked to Saudi Arabia.

The Kingdom is about a team of FBI agents on a special mission to investigate an attack on US camp, but are faced with a whole lot of problems during their investigation. The movie extremely intense, action-packed and the performances of the actors are on par with their reputation, they do a very good job. When you are watching this movie you do feel like you are kind of watching a documentary and it will definitely make you yell "Holy Sh**" a couple of times during the movie's action sequences.

The picture quality and audio are impeccible. You really start appreciating HD DVD when you see Jamie Foxx's face up close and see every pore, every little drop of sweat on his face or when you are surrounded by flying bullets and jaw-dropping sound of explosions.

interactive features are very nice. There's an interactive timeline of American/Saudi alliance about oil, the introduction of Osama Bin laden, information about everything really connected to terrorist attacks too ranging from early 50s as far as I remember to 2003. It's great addition to the movie not to mention web enabled content as a plus to everything and engaging tour and commentaries along with deleted scenes and regular dvd stuff.

I have not seen this movie in the theater and I picked it up as a blind buy, but boy I am glad.. this is a definitely movie for your brand new HD library.

3 out of 5 stars

Needed better directing and editing January 1, 2008
17 out of 21 found this review helpful

Other reviewers have done a decent job summing up this film. It has some good moments and as an action thriller the final half hour is great stuff.

But one of the things that annoyed me most about the film was that it resorted to too many standard Hollywood cliches. And at times it painted with too broad a brush.

Take the four main characters. Each is straight out of Hollywood's stock supply of cliched characters:

-the self-assured cocky commander who protects his people (Jamie Foxx)
-the good ole boy (Chris Cooper--who, after 'Breach," deserves better)
-the wise-cracker (Jason Bateman)
-the tough chick (Jennifer Garner)

Right from the beginning the director wants us to know that Jamie Foxx's character is a good guy, and so when we are introduced to him, he is at his son's school talking to a bunch of wide-eyed tykes. Obviously he is a good guy, because he loves his son and little children, right? And this is supposed to contrast with the terrorist leader who also loves his son, but shows it by making him watch a suicide bombing.

So then the film goes on and all of these stock characters pretty much do nothing. I cannot remember Jason Bateman's character actually doing anything for the investigation. All he does is tell jokes, whereas one agent asks questions, another digs for evidence of the bomb, and the third collects evidence from the bodies. Why is he there at all? Well, we find out that he's there simply to be the likable guy who gets taken hostage. He's the token victim (whereas if any other member of the team had been taken hostage, presumably they would have killed all their assailants by themselves).

There's another cliche in the form of the State Department jerk. The FBI must love this film, because their director is portrayed as heroic and their field officers are smart and brave, whereas every other government bureaucrat is a slimy dweeb. The only honorable people in the US government are at the FBI, apparently. And when the State Department guy shows up in Saudi Arabia he wears a bad suit, a bad tie, is unshaven and totally smarmy. We're supposed to love the FBI agents and hate the State Department guy and the director wants no ambiguity about this. It reminds me of Star Trek, where the bad people always have bad skin.

None of the American actors really puts in much effort. Foxx just doesn't own this film like he has some others. Jennifer Garner probably does the most with her character. The only real standout is Ashraf Barhom as the Saudi police colonel, Faris al Ghazi.

The final action sequence is also a bit of a story-telling cheat. Clearly the writer and director wanted a reason for the Americans to go all Rambo and save the day, but the way to get them to this point was rather cheap: the Americans get attacked, one of them gets taken hostage, and then the three remaining FBI agents turn into a rescue force that takes on dozens of terrorists more heavily armed than them--and on their own turf--and wins. It's like the director was desperately searching for a reason to have a big firefight, even though it does not fit with the script.

I also found the ending of the film to be really odd. After the FBI agents are portrayed as noble heroes, the last lines of dialogue essentially equate what they did with what the terrorists did. For both, it was all about vengeance. The never-ending circle of violence and all that. This did not really fit the rest of the film.

It's too bad. With a better director, this adequate film could have been much more interesting.

3 out of 5 stars

Average December 22, 2007
16 out of 24 found this review helpful

This was basically a stereotypical Hollywood action flick transplanted onto Arabian soil. It's about four FBI agents who travel to Saudi Arabia to investigate a terrorist bombing at an American compound. There is the inevitable clash of cultures, in this case amplified by the current hostility between the west and Islam, thus assuring that these Americans will have less than a pleasant stay in the Kingdom. There's some good action and cinematography, and it was relatively moving at times, but I never felt like I was watching anything original or exceptional in any way. The dialogue was pretty weak, the acting was average, and there were several aspects that just seemed a bit too contrived. Sorry folks, but Jennifer Garner as a rough and tough, hand-to-hand combat fighting special agent just didn't have that ring of authenticity to me. I did like the mini-documentary of Saudi-American relations in the beginning, but the film quickly descends into a cliched exercise of good guys versus bad guys, with lots of explosions and posturing protagonists. In other words, heavy on style, light on substance. One positive thing I will say, is that the film gives a decent look at how conflicted the Saudis are with each other, i.e. the modernists vs. the traditionalists. In fact, the most sympathetic characters to me were al-Ghazi and Haytham, two Saudi soldiers who were assigned to help the Americans. Overall, not a bad film, but nothing I plan on seeing more than once. I think a better script and maybe even a different cast could have made this better, but as it is, 'The Kingdom' is just another one-dimensional action flick that will soon be forgotten.

5 out of 5 stars

Solid, entertaining action with a splash of humanity December 16, 2007
15 out of 18 found this review helpful

This movie is a beautiful and stunning rarity: a film where tough, competent, smart characters actually show real human emotions.

One of the investigators is kidnapped and nearly beheaded. He fights fiercely, taking a severe beating but saving his own life by delaying the filmed execution while he's subdued. When rescue arrives he fights his captors, while bound, with a dogged ferocity that leaves no doubt as to his action-hero cred. But in the moments when the blade is at his throat, there is no question that this man is terrified. After his rescue, one of his friends asks if he's all right. The hilarious and utterly truthful way he responds with an expression is one of the best-acted moments in the movie. And when the rest of the team moves in to confront the bad guys, he stays behind, sinking to the floor in quiet shock. A movie that doesn't show the tough action hero immediately grabbing a gun and rushing into battle without blinking gets my vote for something exceptional.

In an intense sequence near the beginning of the film, a young Saudi police officer (Sergeant Haytham) chases down terrorists machine-gunning civilian housing, rams their car, and kills both men in a shootout...a heroic task. In the confusion after the attack, Haytham is suspected of being involved, and a ham-headed General has him subjected to a brutal interrogation. He endures it as though it's something to be expected, but when you see him look at his colonel, Faris Al Ghazi (who is clearly troubled by the process) during the beating, there are tears in his eyes. Simple touches like this throughout the film take ordinary action-film standbys and normal action heroes, and elevates them into something more: believable, exceptional human beings.

When the FBI team receives word of a member killed in the attacks, Jennifer Garner's character starts crying. Throughout the film, she represents the best of tough female-agent norms (watch the fight when she rescues the kidnapped team member - dang!), but also portrays a woman with real female emotions.

There is real conflict and real friendship in the relationship the team, (Jamie Foxx's Fleury) develops with their Saudi "watcher," Faris Al Ghazi, a man who turns out to be a very good cop, a warm friend, and a nuanced human being. Scenes of him and the FBI team leader bonding as they drive through traffic discussing such things as The Incredible Hulk ring true and let the audience in on the careful affection that develops between them.

Al Ghazi is a classically American character, a good cop partnering up with an outsider to solve a crime....an irony considering he's the main Saudi character. But we Americans have a long history of love for that character, and - why not put that to good use? One develops a deep affection for Faris, and surely that can't be a bad thing for millions of Americans to experience.

Faris speaks quietly of 100 people killed who had woken up with no idea they were going to die, and says that if they find those responsible, he doesn't want to question them. He wants to kill them. Fleury agrees, and another step towards a bond of friendship is formed.

The expected is consistently handled with unexpected care. In one scene Al Ghazi informs Fleury that Garner's character will be excluded from an upcoming audiences with the prince that night at the palace - no women allowed. Fleury responds by ordering him to tell her himself. The often brash cop's manner as he opens the conversation with a gently awkward inquiry as to how her hearing is faring after an explosion is a surprising touch.

Is this film politically and socially realistic? I doubt it. But let's face it, this is a Big Hollywood Action Movie. It's a buddy cop film set in Saudi Arabia. But it happens to show human warmth, friendship, and fragility amidst the beatings and gunfights. It shows cultural tensions gradually peel away as respect develops between the characters.

Any movie set in the middle east (or, most movies made in the past couple years!) can be seen as commentary on Iraq, and I can't help but see more of Iraq than Saudi Arabia in The Kingdom. But the Big Hollywood Action edict rescues this from being cloying, preachy political commentary. This utterly American style of filming is almost like a wash of fresh air in such a politicized environment.

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