'The Kingdom' Movie Review

What you’ve heard is true. The last 30 minutes of The Kingdom are incredibly intense. Bullets fly at a frantic pace and director Peter Berg’s in your face style and fast cutting put you in the center of the action. The final shootout is so realistic you may feel the need to bob and weave away from the bullets, even though you know you’re sitting safely in a darkened theater and it’s just a movie. Feel free to dodge away.

The Kingdom gets your heart racing and your blood pumping, and it’s perfectly fine to get caught up in the action. Director Berg and screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan’s timely film respects its subject matter – terrorism – while putting forth an entertaining product. It’s a fine line the film walks and Berg and Carnahan pull it off by focusing on the characters amidst action, rather than action amidst international terrorism and politics.

The Story

The Kingdom kicks off with a brief and informative history of the Middle East. From there, the action moves to an American compound in Saudi Arabia. Despite the presence of heavily-armed guards, terrorists are able to attack the compound, setting off bombs and killing hundreds of people who minutes prior had been barbecuing, playing softball or otherwise just relaxing on their day off. It’s a devastatingly brutal attack made all the more horrific because it could, literally, be happening now.

Stateside, a crackerjack team of FBI investigators begs to be given the opportunity to travel to Saudi Arabia and assist in the investigation. Higher ups don’t want the four agents to go, but somehow they finagle their way into being allowed to help the Saudis track down the terrorists responsible for the killings. It’s not just a professional gig for these four, it’s also personal. They lost friends during the blasts and they want answers – and justice.

Once on Saudi soil, agents Grant Sykes (Chris Cooper), Adam Leavitt (Jason Bateman), Janet Mayes (Jennifer Garner), and team leader Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) are paired up with a topnotch Saudi cop and given just five measly days to conduct their investigation. Complicating matters, the Saudi government doesn’t want the FBI agents to step outside the compound or actually conduct any useful tests. Citing fear for their safety, Saudi officials confine the team to very limited areas, basically handicapping their work.

Fortunately for Fleury and his fellow agents, the high-ranking police official assigned to be their watchdog is extremely proficient at his job. Colonel Al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom, delivering the best performance of the film) and Agent Fleury have a lot more in common than either would have assumed, and the friendship they forge allows the agents to access sections of the bomb site and areas of the city that would otherwise have been off-limits. It’s highly dangerous for all involved, but neither the FBI agents nor their Saudi counterparts are willing to settle for anything less than the capture of those responsible.

The Cast

Academy Award winners Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper aren’t called on to show a wide range of emotions, but it doesn’t matter. They’re playing analytical tough guys who mean business. While Cooper does his good ‘ole boy best, Foxx takes a more muscular approach to his FBI character. He’s thoughtful and intellectual, but you know when push comes to shove he’ll be the first to step up and inflict damage. Foxx’s done action films before (Miami Vice, Stealth) but The Kingdom is the first film where his action skills are fully tested, and he handles the job beautifully.

Jason Bateman, so excellent in the ‘shouldn’t have been cancelled’ series Arrested Development, provides the film with a little comic relief – when appropriate. Bateman’s experiencing a career resurgence and with The Kingdom he’s officially back in the feature film game. And action veteran Jennifer Garner (Alias) totally fits the part of a female FBI agent who can handle herself as well, if not better, than her male cohorts.

The Bottom Line

The Saudi cops and the FBI agents work together – and together is the key word here – in The Kingdom, and America’s not depicted as the big hero of the piece. Foxx’s character puts it bluntly when he says America’s not perfect but that there are some things we’re good at, and analyzing forensic evidence is one of them. There are clearly defined heroes and villains in this piece, and it’s refreshing to see that not just the FBI agents are on the right side of the law.

Peter Berg says he didn’t set out to make a political statement with The Kingdom, and Iraq is never brought up in the film. However it would be impossible to watch this action thriller without thinking about current events. Yet the film actually does a good job of taking a huge international story and making it into an intimate whodunit with a handful of central characters pursuing a very specific goal. Because of its narrow focus and because of the incredible action sequences, The Kingdom reigns as one of the best thrillers of 2007.

GRADE: A-

The Kingdom was directed by Peter Berg and is rated R for intense sequences of graphic brutal violence, and for language.