The CriticThe Kingdom
January 24th 2008 22:24
The Kingdom
Starring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Ashraf Barhom, Jason Bateman, Jeremy Piven
The beginning of this movie resembles Syriana, the middle an episode of Law and Order, while the
end could be Die Hard With A Vengeance.
It's a well told story of an investigation, but it is also an interesting take on terrorism. Essentially asking, what if we remove the word terror?
What if we view the taking of life not as an act of war, not as an act approved of by religion, not as martyrdom, and not as political anarchy?
What if we consider the actions against, frequently, innocent people, just as crime.
What if we send investigators to a crime scene where detectives will follow the evidence, and hopefully, apprehend the perpetrators of a crime. What if we remove the rhetorical component of murder?
The Kingdom
There are other elements to this movie, as well as the mentioned issues, of course.
The look at the factions and complexities of a detective just trying to do a job in the United States is shown to be beaurocratc and difficult; the Saudi counterpart's efforts are portrayed as equally frustrating and fractious.
To complicate the situation, imagine that the criminal act has occurred in another country. And the legal system in that country, an ally, is vastly different from the legal system of the country of the victims of the crime. The portrait of Saudi Arabian political stability seems not very flattering.
Jamie Foxx just seems to grow as an actor with each film, and the rest of the cast is very good. I did particularly enjoy Jeremy Piven in a small role as a US government official in Saudi Arabia whose sole hope is that the FBI team will leave immediately, alive. Now. Right Now.
The movie is very much from a United States point of view and well-made. Michael Mann is a producer of this film, and his participation is, I think, evident.
Recommended viewing.
18, 207 votes on imdb gave the movie 7.3 out of 10.
Other reviews:
variety
the vancouver voice
Asia Times Online
Japan Times
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