2008 Woodie Awards
Kingdom reigns with suspense
Captivating thriller defies standards
Mark Freeman
Issue date: 9/25/07 Section: Detour
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110 minutes
Rated R (for intense sequences of graphic brutal violence, and for language)
Peter Berg's The Kingdom, set in Saudi Arabia, is more than just another shoot-the-terrorist thriller. It's CSI on steroids-a detective story laced with political maneuvering that exposes a culture frightening to Americans.
The movie earns its "R" rating by the first scene as dozens of foreigners are blown to bits by suicide bombers. The scene is heartbreaking and painful: a father is gunned down in front of his son and innocent people are shot looking out their windows. As one of the terrorists forces his son to watch the chaos, feelings of revulsion a la 9/11 come rushing back.
FBI agent Ronald Fleury (an effective Jamie Foxx) loses a friend in the attack. Unfortunately, his efforts to get an investigative team to Saudi Arabia are hampered by government higher-ups. Frustrated and running out of time, Fleury cuts through the bureaucracy by convincing a Saudi official to intervene. Foxx is impressive here, but his character takes a back seat to the action.
The Americans get their trip to the Middle East-but only for five days. Fleury's team consists of Janet Mayes (Jennifer Garner), Adam Leavitt (Jason Bateman) and Grant Sykes (Chris Cooper, the epitome of a government agent). The team isn't very effective at first-they're locked in a gym by their Saudi escort, Colonel Al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhoum) and kept under constant guard.
The film's strength comes from the relationship between the security-conscious Saudis and the Americans who are desperate for evidence. Each side feels the other is hampering the investigation and at times cultures clash; Mayes isn't allowed to touch dead Muslims and the Americans have to deal with meddling princes.
Along the way, Fleury develops a friendship with Al-Ghazi. The men find they're both out for justice. We also learn that the Americans aren't the only ones dealing with a culture gap-Al-Ghazi is mystified when Fleury proclaims, "That's my shit." Al-Ghazi does not catch on to Fleury's slang. "Do you need to use the bathroom?" the flustered colonel asks.
Their friendship is the only real character development we get in the movie. Cooper is funny as Sykes, but he spends most of the movie digging through a mud hole. Leavitt whines a lot and Garner is reduced to playing a token woman character who has to cover up in front of the self-conscious Saudis-until she starts kicking bad-guy butt, that is.
Unfortunately the movie's message about improving American-Arab relations falls on deaf ears. The shoot-outs with the terrorists are so violent and mind-numbing that it's easy to feel prejudiced against the well-intentioned Saudi police force. Al-Ghazi appears to be the only Saudi out for justice-the princes and generals only want photo-ops.
But while The Kingdom shouldn't be viewed as the defining film of the War on Terror, it does provide thoughtful entertainment in a normally dead time for movies. By the time the shooting really starts, one would expect the movie to turn formulaic, but we're kept in suspense, never knowing who is lurking around the next corner.