THE KINGDOM

Confession time. I haven't really been looking forward to the next 2 months of movies, mainly because of the sheer amount of 'war on terror' flicks that are set to be released. It's not that I don't like movies based on the subject matter and it's not because I don't care about the politics or what they have to say, it's because I often find them absolutely draining beyond belief. UNITED 93 last year was a terrificly powerful film which just missed out on a Top 10 spot on my favourite movies of the year just because I found it such a harrowing experience to watch it. I don't think I will ever bring myself to watch it again, I see no entertainment value in doing so. Superb film though and Greengrass did a wonderful job of telling a difficult story. It's a sad fact of life that all of us have to deal with terrorism all the time. When I go on a plane these days, it's not the worry that we are going to crash that bothers me like it use to, it's looking around - suspecting that your fellow passenger could be planning to hijack or blow up the plane. I'm constantly looking at the size of the bags they are carrying and it's the same on a train and on bus journey's. My fear for an accident has now turned into my fear for a planned one. So came THE KINGDOM, Peter Berg's latest film which was originally set to be released earlier in the year but was pushed back a few months to fit in better with the other political movies of 2007. And it's a good movie, with a couple of interesting ideas. At the heart here is whether terrorist acts should be seen as a civil crime or a military one and although it can't sustain it's logic, it's interesting enough for a while. After a horrific opening sequence of a terrorist attack on American civilians living in Saudi Arabia (which represents I think everyone's fears of a bomb going off in public place), a special team of investigators led by Jamie Foxx are sent over to find evidence and bring the culprit of this heinous act to justice. His team includes Jennifer Garner who lost a close friend in the terrorist act, the smart veteran Chris Cooper who is wasted here and Jason Bateman, the guy who unwillingly volunteered for the assignment and is almost playing the everyman here, as he wisecracks and jokes his way through the daily situations of his dangerous job. What the four Americans find is a Saudi Arabia that is mostly unwilling to corporate with them, and the team begin to suspect some kind of conspiracy. For me, this is the part where the movie shines as we try and put together each individual puzzle of who did this and why, and we are shocked by the Saudi Arabian Government and how unwillingly they are to corporate. We are fully with these four Americans through this experience and it's a side of the 'war on terror' that we don't get to see very often. This is more about the investigation than the loss of human life. The film kind of disregards Bateman, Garner and Cooper in the middle portion and begins to focus on the relationship between Jamie Foxx and his Saudi officer played by Ashraf Bahom, and there's some touching scenes and they almost became a strange version of a detective duo. As the Americans are given more access, the evidence begins to point towards who might have caused this but instead of the film descending into a political conclusion as you might expect, it turns into a action filled thriller. Without trying to spoil things, the final act may turn a little people off and be insulting to many viewers as a long video game like sequence where our U.S. team are gunning down the 'evil' Arabs left and right begins with little remorse and little humanity and of course our good old Americans acting like Superman - because they just can't get shot despite having 1 man to every 30, is more than a little hard to stomach. Berg somehow though manages to direct a thrilling last 20 minutes but it feels like it has been cut together by George Bush to show us just why these people should be killed and why the 'war on terror' is justified. You could almost make an argument that this final sequence is a little mis-guided in it's projection of Saudi's and any higher meaning he was trying to bring to the picture has surely been watered down by this. Anyone who takes the portrayl of the 'enemy' seriously here, should never be allowed to vote in an election again. What worked as a nice little political thriller, turns into a gusto final act filled with mindless action but again, it's really well shot by Berg with the shaky cam technique which works well here for me and the cinematography from Mauro Fiore (SMOKIN' ACES, TEARS OF THE SUN and the upcoming AVATAR) is amazing at times. It's been a while since a middle east movie made me feel like I was there. It's good for the most part and if there's no else out you fancy, then this movie will entertain you. Shame that Matthew Carnahan's script descended into a bad remake of BLACK HAWK DOWN.

rating: 3.5

It ends up being pretty mindless, but THE KINGDOM has some interesting ideas and some terrifically thrilling moments and I suspect it will be the most entertaining of the terrorism movies that we are too be bombarded with. This is a pro-Bush film if I ever saw one and although Cooper, Bateman and Garner are wasted, Foxx is interesting enough for this to be recommended. It won't be as good as LIONS FOR LAMBS or probably RENDITION, but I can guarantee it will be more fun.