The Kingdom

I find it really interesting that The Kingdom came out almost 10 years ago. This movie came out at a time when I had started taking interest in Rated R films and having more access to them. I wanted to see The Kingdom because it took place in the Middle East and the trailers made it seem like there was a lot of action and gunplay in this movie. And believe me there is, but young Connor didn't understand the political implications of this film and the story it was actually telling until I saw it again this weekend.

The beginning of The Kingdom is actually a really interesting history lesson on the United State's relationship with Saudi Arabia and the importance of the oil trade between the two countries. It creates all the context needed for the events that happen in the film.

In short, there is a special relationship between America oil companies in Saudi Arabia and there are communities in Saudi Arabia that are just Western communities that are subject to terrorist attacks, especially after 9/11. They also mention that the FBI are responsible for the investigation of attacks on US citizens attacked abroad, which I did not know until watching this film.

The film starts off with a really brutal attack on one such community in Saudi Arabia. And this is an intense opening scene. The director, Peter Berg, has since done movies like Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon, and Patriots Day, all movies that I want to see but have been told are incredibly intense. Just be warned, this was one of my first rated R experiences that had a big impact on me for a reason.

The movie centers on a team of FBI investigators led by Ronald Fleury (played by Jamie Foxx). He makes a case to the US government that the FBI needs to go to Saudi Arabia and investigate the deaths of American citizens abroad. His team consists of a lot of A-List actors like Jennifer Garner who plays a forensic analyst, Chris Cooper, an explosives expert, and surprisingly Jason Bateman in a strangely serious movie as an Intelligence analyst.

The reason I used the names of the actors is because I honestly can't really remember their character names. You can kind of tell that these characters don't have a lot of character, just personality. Jamie Foxx is the leader, Chris Cooper is the old rough and tumble type, Jason Bateman is the fish out of water, sort of comic relief who didn't really want to leave his desk analyst job to be in danger.

But anyways, the team finagles their way to Saudi Arabia where they are supervised by a Colonel in the Saudi State Police by the name of Farris Al-Ghazi (played by Ashraf Barhom).

 It's pretty clear at the beginning of their time in Saudi Arabia that the police and military don't want them there and they are only let in because Fleury does some kind of shady dealings with the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia. Farris wants to catch the guys who carried out this horrible attack and he is a good guy, but his main objective is to make sure that Fleury and his team are safe and there isn't an international incident where he is the one to blame because he was the one assigned to babysit them.

On top of that, the team has a representative from the State Department (played by Jeremy Piven) trying to get them to go home because the Department of Justice is not exactly happy that Fleury finagled his way to Saudi Arabia on unofficial channels.

A lot of this movie is the investigation. Which for a lot of people is a little bit boring. I remember watching this when I was only interested in the action sequences I had heard so much about, only to be a little bit bored with the meat of this movie. There is a political aspect of this movie that I didn't recognize when I was younger and I enjoy now, but if you're not as interested in foreign relations and anti-terrorism investigations as I am, you may think that a lot of this movie is pretty boring.

Something that this movie does kind of try to do is create a parallel between the lives we live as Americans and the lives of those living in Saudi Arabia, even the terrorists who carry out this plot. There's a little bit of a message throughout but especially in the end that a lot of our emotions are shared across cultures. It's not an incredibly profound movie but there are some things in it that try to get American audiences to start to think about the other side and their perspective instead of just calling them terrorists and wanting to shoot them.

This is most prevalent in the character of Farris and Ashraf Barhom gives a really good performance. You're able to see the humanity in this character and it points at there not being that huge of a disconnect between someone like Jamie Foxx's character and Farris.

But let's be honest here. The real reason anybody went to go see this movie in 2007 was because of the action they put in the trailer. This movie came out at a time where we were still in a little bit of a mood as a country where we wanted to go get the bad guys for what they did on 9/11. We saw an act of terror, we saw an Elite FBI team going to stop a terrorist, it was like Jack Bauer heading to save the day.

That's really not what this movie is about though. Because it's the FBI, this is almost treated more like a criminal investigation rather than hunting down the terrorist and Zero Dark Thirty-ing him (I'm going to be reviewing that movie any day now by the way). And I think everyone thought that was going to be the case.

The reality is, there is one really big shootout in this movie. The entire movie is building up to it, and it finally happens near the end.

And yeah, its really good. Everyone's got their assault rifles, they're armed to the teeth, there's terrorists EVERYWHERE it's a really great sequence.

Like I said before, Peter Berg really knows how to shoot these great intense action sequences and it makes me even more excited for a movie like Patriots Day which delves into an event like the Boston Bombing, something that is still pretty fresh in our memory. So I'm really glad I revisited this movie to get an idea of what I'm in for when I go and see that film.

But if you're watching The Kingdom, you should know that this one action sequence is not what the movie is. The entirety of this film kind of gives this false sense of danger the entire time and especially if you've seen it before, you know that they're really not in any danger.

And if you know anything about Saudi Arabia, you know that this is really not what life in Saudi Arabia is like. Now I say this with a disclaimer that I've never lived in Saudi Arabia and I could be wrong. But the reason I say this is because I think a lot of people may have forgotten that this movie takes place in Saudi Arabia not Iraq. Saudi Arabia, though it might have a problem with terrorism, is not a warzone state. They don't have epic shootouts like this on a regular basis but the movie would make you think that.

So the movie is really only appeal from two perspectives. The first one, you are watching it, knowing the context of Saudi Arabia and you are appealed by the foreign relations aspect of it and the intricacies that most people wouldn't catch on their first go around, especially in a movie that was advertised differently. Or you're watching it for the first time and you're given this false sense of urgency and danger when there really isn't much.

There's a lot about this movie I appreciate, especially on a second viewing and with a defined interest in foreign policy and the FBI. But I also realize that this movie was marketed as an action thriller. The weird thing is, its not really a slow burn thriller either. It wants to be this weird combination of both, a smart thriller and a shoot em up action movie and it's got elements of both, but instead of choosing one and making a really good film, its just kind of mixture of the two in a movie that is entertaining, but not really great.Which is a little bit of a bummer because I remember loving this film when I was younger. I still like it, but I recognize the problems with it. The performances in this movie are good, I liked everyone in it and they do a good job with what they're given but they're not given much. Like I mentioned, they really fall into their stereotypes and there's not a lot of growth. I really just figured out that Jennifer Garner's character's name is Janet tonight and I watched the movie two days ago.

The movie benefits by having all these really established actors because even if I don't know the names of the characters, I still identify with them and am along for the ride. But that also creates a problem when I only know them as the actor and they don't really have a character. Again, the big outlier is Barhom playing Farris and that's because I didn't know who he was as an actor and he stood out because of his performance and his character.

Overall, I like The Kingdom. That's probably my own personal interest in the subject and it is a decently made film. I just think it was trying to be a smart thriller while also being an action film and didn't quite succeed in either. The film is available on HBO Go if you have that available to you I wouldn't say its a waste of time to check it out. I wouldn't go out searching for this movie but if you get an opportunity, again, it wouldn't be a waste of time to watch it and see what you think for yourself.

But those are my thoughts on The Kingdom. What did you think? You can comment and discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews on this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Again, maybe another cop out but I wanna see if I can squeak out one more review or watch something to review tomorrow. Enjoy!