Review of The Kingdom (2014) by Bill B — 10 Sep 2013

Following a deadly attack on American forces in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, a group of elite FBI forces are dispatched to investigate the case, and take care of the perpetrators along with help from their Saudi counterparts.

Due to bureaucratic red tape and a delicate political situation, the team have only a few days to accomplish their mission. To add to the tension, the Americans aren't exactly welcome, they had to manipulate their way into the case, and they have to operate in a strange environment with customs and a culture pretty different from their own.

This is a pretty ambitious film. It tries to be a heavy political drama, investigative/procedural thriller, and a slam bang action film all in one. Somehow it manages to be all of these. It starts out as trying to be like Syriana then turns into a thrilling actioner, but I was okay with this.

The film is decently paced, adds a bit of depth and proves to be quite suspenseful, thrilling, and entertaining. I think what also helps is that the film isn't overtly one sided in its politics, and avoids being a propaganda piece. And, while Al-Qaeda are the villains, the film manages to be fairly sensible in its portrayal of Arabs, featuring some sensible and fairly realistic characters.

We get an all star cast here, with the main team being played by Jaime Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman. They all seem to have decent chemistry with one another, and pull off some fine performances. Filling out supporting roles we get the likes of Jeremy Piven, Kyle Chandler, Danny Huston, and Richard Jenkins. These people likewise do a decent job, though the main focus is on the main FBI team as well as their Arab counterparts. I'm not familiar with any of the Arab performers, but they're also pretty good.

The film really changes pace when it turns into a series of spectacle driven action set pieces, but I thought it was cool. The freeway scene is well done, quite suspenseful, and pretty neat since it's a rare chance to see a Hollywood style car chase/crash through Riyadh. The apartment shootout is also pretty gripping.

All in all, this is an interesting, fun, and mildly brainy action movie that I think is definitely worth your time.