Posing as a politically aware thriller, The Kingdom may dupe some potential viewers into thinking that they’re in for a smart and relevant movie, only to unfold itself as a typical macho American action movie. It’s classic good guys against bad guys, painting patriotic heroes and demonizing the opposition—reminiscent of the kind of action movies Hollywood used to make during the Cold War.
Inspired by the 2003 Riyadh compound bombing perpetrated by Al-Qaeda, The Kingdom depicts a team of four elite FBI agents who cut through all the red tape to investigate an identical attack in Riyadh for personal reasons: one of their friends was killed in the explosion. The cast that makes up the team is an example of convenient casting. They all match their roles exactly the way you\'d expect the actors to be typecast. Jamie Foxx plays the cool all-capable leader Fleury, the typical action hero role. Jennifer Garner is Janet, a variation of her character from Alias, the tough-one-moment-crybaby-the-next female member, who\'s also the forensics expert of the team. Jason Bateman is of course the comic relief, as the lovable intelligence analyst Leavitt. Chris Cooper plays Sykes the demolition expert, a cranky straight-shootin’ old coot. Then there\'s Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold, except this time he manages the Embassy instead of celebs. They all fit like gloves, and they’re all disappointingly familiar archetypes.
The United States government doesn’t want them there and the Arabs don’t want their help. Investigating the crime scene, they find themselves at the heel of culture shock and uncooperative local law enforcements. The only goal on their mind is to apprehend Abu Hamza, a leader described as “an Osama wannabe.”
The film never addresses the current volatile relationship between the US and the Middle East directly, but drops plenty of acknowledgments to let you know that it’s the same world the story take place in. Yet it doesn’t let the politics bog down the gun toting. While significantly darker, grittier and more cynical, in terms of portraying terrorism and anti-terrorism, it’s only two steps removed from True Lies. It\'s escapism. It\'s Hollywood. And it\'s a good one at that. When the rockets and grenades start flying, it’s so intense that you won’t be able to move, though you probably won’t be able to move Team America’s observations out of your mind either. Here you have a team of American elites dropping in on a foreign country and blowing the hell out of the whole block. The bad guys die, but those innocent civilians must be pretty pissed off afterwards.
To compare it to another action movie spoof, the structure of The Kingdom actually mirrors that of Hot Fuzz, and both films reward the audience in a nearly identical manner. The first hour of the film is a straight-up police procedural, not exactly bad but quite unremarkable. It should not surprise anyone that more than a few people will jokingly refer to this portion of The Kingdom as CSI: Saudi Arabia. Flattering comparison or not, it’s true. The film maintains and builds on its low-key investigative approach until a pivotal turning point in the movie. Once it clicks, it’s like someone has thrown a grenade at Archduke Ferdinand. The last half hour of the film is a drawn out firefight/chase scene that spikes the film’s adrenaline level so far up that virgins are waiting at the top. Director Peter Berg shows how masterful he is framing intense scenes, filming explosions the way he filmed football tackles in Friday Night Lights. His style is like a cross between Michael Bay and Paul Greengrass—chaotic enough to feel raw, yet glossy enough to give the audience their money shots. Although Michael Mann only serves as a producer here, his touch is also deeply felt in the loudness and realism of the firefights.
For the most part, The Kingdom feels like a paper-thin film with a cool action climax, but it’s at the very last minute that the film finally offers a simple yet brilliant insight—in the form of a twist. Not a plot twist, but an emotional twist. The third act is skillfully designed to get a rise out of the audience. It’s no accident that the characters the audience identifies with the most are the ones put in danger. It’s packed with so many testosterone-pumping moments, that when the dust settles, the only appropriate response is to cheer for the heroes. That’s when the film hits you with a revelation that questions why you’re cheering. Oops. It’s a striking and effective ending, because it springs on you out of nowhere. Looking at the audience reaction, Michael Haneke would have been proud.
"The Kingdom" opens September 28, 2007 and is rated R. Action, Drama, War. Directed by Peter Berg. Written by Matthew Michael Carnahan. Starring Jamie Foxx, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Jeremy Piven, Chris Cooper.
