Tough, action-packed and unrealistic
By Phil Villarreal
Pvillarreal@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.27.2007
Since 9/11, Hollywood has almost completely avoided depicting terrorists as extremist Muslims, but "The Kingdom" doesn't kowtow by sticking with the usual generic European or South American enemy.
Instead the drama addresses the very real threat of Saudi Arabia, a cesspool of anti-Westernism controlled by an elitist, disconnected royal family with deep ties to American money and power. "The Kingdom" begins with a torrential multimedia timeline about the multifaceted nature of Saudi-American entanglement, leading up to the establishment of Western settlements on Saudi soil, the 1970s oil embargo, the exploits of Saudi-born Osama bin Laden and the revelation that the majority of 9/11 hijackers were Saudi.
Following the timeline, terrorists disguised as Saudi police officers assault Americans at play in a park, then murder agents who respond to the scene.
Enraged FBI Special Agent Fluery (Jamie Foxx) circumvents a directive to stay out of the fray by blackmailing the head of a Saudi terrorist-funding front to let him and his team into the country for a weeklong black-ops investigation. The squad fills the typical stereotypes: Fluery is the tough-as-nails leader, Leavitt (Jason Bateman) is the sarcastic coward, Sykes (Chris Cooper) is the grizzled old hand, and Mayes (Jennifer Garner) is the token female.
Fluery's team sleepwalks through a typical procedural, sifting through obvious clues and the expected cross-cultural conflicts with the locals. Saudi Col. Al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom) helps the Americans navigate through laws and customs, which prevent infidels from touching Muslim corpses.
This is fertile ground for an invigorating exploration of Saudi-American interaction, but the whole thing eventually devolves into a run-of-the-mill shoot 'em up. We're talking break through the windshield, grab a grenade and chuck it back just in time stuff. You'll find deeper, more nuanced plots on an Xbox 360. The big bad guys — more difficult to find than ghosts, according to the Saudis — conveniently pop up once the Americans stop looking for them.
Director Peter Berg ("The Rundown," "Friday Night Lights") has no problem stringing together scenes of fiery action or hard-edged dialogue, but making the story coalesce is another matter.
Much of the film was shot in Arizona, including the Phoenix and Casa Grande areas, although only people with sharper eyes than mine will be able to spot anything recognizable. That's a testament to the location scouts — it certainly wouldn't do to have Picacho Peak poking out in the backdrop of oil fields. But then, that wouldn't be out of place given the action scenes' level of realism.
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