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As we stand in a war that has already lasted longer than all of World War II and Hollywood’s map for handling the material is to shoot for the jugular, then crack a one-liner. Audiences can’t seem to handle anything remotely serious without shenanigans on the side, but fortunately The Kingdom is so well-made, spicy (even if the screenplay talks smarter than it is), and, at times, heart-stopping that it’s impossible to discover away As the film opens, terrorists (dressed as Saudi police officers) initiate a suicide attack on a softball game moving mostly Americans living inside a Western compound within the capital city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While the suits debate their next depart, FBI agent Ronald Fleury (Foxx) negotiates a five-day slump to Saudi Arabia to investigate the crime firsthand. Joining him are three others; the bomb expert (Cooper), the forensics guru (Garner), and the guy whose sole purpose is plunge annoying one-liners (Bateman) . Once the crew arrives they support Colonel Faris Al Ghazi (Barhom), a man who knows the inner workings of the horror cells in the plot. As the investigation deepens the team finds themselves at odds with who to trust - and who might be the apprehension mastermind.
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Director Peter Berg has a alive to examine leisurely the camera and his pacing is what drives the film. While it’s more of a procedural than a straight-up action film, once things inaugurate getting really ramped up in final forty-five minutes you’ll be hard-pressed to get your breath. That’s when it truly becomes apparent that The Kingdom is more about action than sincere substance, which is what an astute viewer will hold up on early. I don’t have a predicament with that as the film is always animated, but it’s impossible to dismiss the fact that had the screenplay, by Matthew Michael Carnahan, really taken it up a notch in terms of social relevance, this could have been so considerable more.
Jamie Foxx is tranquil as the leader of the team and Jason Bateman provides a sly comment or two. Jennifer Garner goes into action like Alias - The Complete Collection (Seasons 1-5 + Rambaldi artifact box) or Elektra - The Director’s Slit (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition) and certainly shows what she is made of in fight scenes. It’s suited to peep her on the camouflage again. Ali Suliman as the Saudi police officer and Ashraf Barhom as the Saudi Colonel are names not familiar to American audiences. They picture their roles well, especially Barhom. You sight the mind station of both sides in The Kingdom, from the Americans presence and help to the groups of terrorists in the Middle East who don’t want Americans there at all. The terrorists seem to reflect, “Death to everyone but you and me and sometimes I wonder about you.” Not everyone in the Middle East is against Americans and we also observe that terrorists target anyone—Americans or Saudi in this film—who go against what they want. Nothing original there, this type of mind station has been going on around the world for thousands of years.
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This movie is a aesthetic and glowing rarity: a film where tough, competent, gleaming characters actually expose exact human emotions.
One of the investigators is kidnapped and nearly beheaded. He fights fiercely, taking a severe beating but saving his contain life by delaying the filmed execution while he’s subdued. When rescue arrives he fights his captors, while spin, 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 ask that this man is insecure. After his rescue, one of his friends asks if he’s all proper. The hilarious and utterly truthful plan 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 awful guys, he stays unhurried, sinking to the floor in level-headed shock. A movie that doesn’t demonstrate the tough action hero immediately grabbing a gun and rushing into battle without blinking gets my vote for something exceptional.
In an intense sequence come 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 valorous task. In the confusion after the attack, Haytham is suspected of being alive to, 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 view him peek at his colonel, Faris Al Ghazi (who is clearly haunted by the process) during the beating, there are tears in his eyes. Simple touches like this throughout the film steal 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 (peep the fight when she rescues the kidnapped team member - dang!), but also portrays a woman with exact female emotions.
There is actual conflict and sincere 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 suitable 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 Astonishing Hulk ring suitable and let the audience in on the careful affection that develops between them.
Al Ghazi is a classically American character, a obliging 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 treasure for that character, and - why not set aside that to agreeable exercise? One develops a deep affection for Faris, and surely that can’t be a terrible thing for millions of Americans to experience.
Faris speaks quietly of 100 people killed who had woken up with no notion they were going to die, and says that if they earn those responsible, he doesn’t want to ask them. He wants to ruin 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 dispute 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 Tall Hollywood Action Movie. It’s a buddy cop film status in Saudi Arabia. But it happens to demonstrate 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 situation in the middle east (or, most movies made in the past couple years!) can be seen as commentary on Iraq, and I can’t abet but behold more of Iraq than Saudi Arabia in The Kingdom. But the Stout Hollywood Action edict rescues this from being cloying, preachy political commentary. This utterly American style of filming is almost like a wash of unique air in such a politicized environment.
