Posted on 09/28/2007 1:53:08 PM PDT by LS
Edited on 09/28/2007 2:36:32 PM PDT by Lead Moderator. [history]
This action/thriller could have devolved into a giant PC "can't-we-all-get-along" tolerance-fest. Fortunately, except for a line at the end (no, I won't spoil it), it does not. It brings home the lack of freedom present in Saudi Arabia, combined with the best in suspense and action. Although Jamie Foxx is clearly the star, the ensemble that includes Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and Ashraf Barhoum keeps the focus on solving the terrorist attack on the U.S. compound, not on personalities.
Directed by Peter Berg ("The Rundown," "Very Bad things"), the story follows four FBI agents who desperately want to go to Saudi Arabia to find out who killed 100 Americans, including one of their colleagues. Through subtle blackmail, Foxx (Special Agent Ronald Fleury) convinces the Saudi ambassador to "insist" on obtaining the FBI's help---despite the fact the politicians in Washington want to leave it in the hands of the Saudis. Fleury's team arrive on what is essentially Mars: they cannot have firearms, passports, cannot touch evidence, cannot even poke around at the "crime" scene; they may not touch dead Muslims at all; and the Saudi men nearly have a heart attack when Garner (Special Agent Janet Mayes) steps off the plane in a tight t-shirt. They face further obstructions in the form of the local U.S. representative, Damon Schmidt (played ever so smarmily by Jeremy Piven). And they are given only five days to solve the "crime," although the line between terrorists and criminals is appropriately blurred.
The bombing scene is horrific: a compound baseball game is interrupted by literally a "drive-by" shooting (no, not the U.S. media---the other terrorists). But that's a diversion for the suicide bomber, who takes out a good 20 people. . . . but he's just a diversion for the truck bomber, who kills over 100 in a gruesome explosion. Director Berg does not go overboard, but he does show enough to get the revenge juices flowing.
Colonel Faris Al Ghazi (Ashraf Barhoum), a Saudi military policeman, is the only competent Saudi on the scene, but he's subordinate to his blunt-force Army general. Fleury pockets enough evidence that he convinces Al Ghazi to let the team work; and in turn, through a meeting with Prince Khaled, Al Ghazi and Fleury gain enough clout to seriously investigate.
Trailers say don't miss the last 30 minutes. That's because the terrorists decide to take out the agents, first through the old car-bomb trick, then by snatching one of them (Adam Leavitt, played by Jason Bateman) from the explosion scene so they can behead him in front of the camera.
Neither Al Ghazi nor Fleury's team will allow that to happen, tracking the terrorists in a high-speed chase to their lair in an apartment building, where Mayes (naturally, the female always manages to separate herself from the rest of the group) stumbles upon a tied-up and gagged Leavitt and blasts away at the bad guys. The outcome of this battle within a battle even elicited cheers from our small audience in mid-afternoon, and other reviewers say audiences everywhere erupt in cheers over the conclusion of this scene.
While there is something of an obligatory "violence begets violence" line at the end, it's a throwaway. The audiences know what has happened: the Americans and their decent ally have kicked terrorist butt. A number of scenes, however, subtly show how immense the task ahead of us is, because for every Al Ghazi we see in the movie, there are at least three bomb-makers, all missing a couple of fingers. On many levels, this movie depicts the larger struggle behind the War on Terror, namely the fight for liberty over an oppresive religous world-view.
BY THE WAY, ALL, HEADS UP: I forgot to mention a preview of a movie (forget the title) about an Arab American who is “unjustly” nabbed by our security at an airport and whisked off to Egypt or some other friendly country for “questioning.” It’s all about the evil Patriot Act/War on Terror/Club Gitmo!
Yeah it got a little heated for a bit but that is healthy. Passion seething quietly is a most dangerous thing. I’m just happy there is a bit more sense now that the bill has been soundly defeated.
All people were asking was that the borders be secured first. I think what fueled a lot of the angst was the attitude coming out of Washington that we just had to take what they had put together like it or lump it. Calling people who didn’t want amnesty granted racists didn’t help either.
I’m just happy to see you still frequent FR. As for Movie Trailers.
Here is a little history of them you might find interesting:
http://www.movietrailertrash.com/views/history.html
That director shot down Chris Matthews last week when he appeared on the show .. apparently, Matthews was setting him up to explain how hated Americans are in the ME. Instead, he said it’s a close call, more like 50/50, not the 99/1 Matthews wanted him to say.
Damn no reason to live ..........LOL !
PS: I love your tagline. It cracks me up every time I see it. ROTFLOL
Isn't that the truth?! (Hmmm... maybe that's why I was so stunned...)
= )
Re: my tagline... it still makes me laugh too. Which is why I stole it from a classic Calvin & Hobbes.
;^)
LOL If you’re going to steal steal from the best. ;^)
Your daddy sounds like he was a mover and shaker, and had influence.
Can’t say I’m surprised. ;o)
I didn’t know Frist is short!
Learn something every day, I guess.
I try not to go to new movies - I know where these “directors” are coming from. I am disgusted with Brian De Palma. His attitude towards our troops is disgusting. Only one side will benefit from his film - the jidist side. The same with the movie that has Reese Witherspoon in it and slams Gitmo. I will be boycotting those actors and their films. I like the old classics anyway. Remember that a pro Palestinian suicide bomber film almost won for best foreign film last. Almost won until the relatives of some of the victims started speaking out. I despise Hollywood!
I saw The Kingdom yesterday and I thought it was an excellent action film. It had good FBI guys, creepy crazed terrorists, pompous but nervous sheiks, smarmy witless State Department twits, etc.
Also, I didn’t see the ending as PC. To me, it was more on the order of “the battle’s going to continue until one side totally wipes out the other.” And we actually knew which side this movie thought was the good one - ours!
That's kind of how I took it, but I wasn't sure if Hollywood meant it in that way.
I took the lines at the end to show how deadly serious BOTH sides are.
Saw “The Kingdom” this weekend.
The producer/director, Peter Berg, who also wrote/ produced/directed “Friday Night Lights” has a few FNL actors in this cast ~ Kyle Chandler & Jamie Fox’ son’s teacher, Minka Kelly.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000916/
It’s also filmed exactly like “Friday Night Lights” ~ shaky camera style
Whooeeee ~ the last 20 min are I.N.T.E.N.S.E!!!
Jennifer Garner in true “Alias” mode.
Am still contemplating that poignant, chilling ending.
A line about a 5-year-old with a box of band-aids just about totalled me...
I highly recommend this movie, but be prepared.
Your thoughful comments are so right on.
Thanks. I was starting to think that maybe I'm just out of my mind (that, or just getting old and weepy...).
P.S. LOVE the quote on your profile page -- it made me think of a much-loved Dylan song, and the line by the Apostle Paul that inspired it. I think I'll print it up.
= )
I saw the movie and liked it. It was fair to Muslims, and it was fair to Americans. It actually shows some bad Muslims. The PC crowd would have you think there are none.
Yah, on the other hand, the three new movies out there, “Rendition,” “Lions for Lambs,” and “Valley of Elau” are all hysterical anti-war screeds, and they are flopping big time.
Finally saw it yesterday at the theater. This was one of the year’s best. Well made, come off like a true story, though it’s not very far from the truth. Great bunch of actors. Genuine on-the-edge-of-your-seat, heart-pounding moments. Very little to complain about in this film. Paints radical Islam extremists accurately but also portrays the non-radicals well. One of the heroes of the film is a Muslim defending his country from radicals. Not just an action film, but a timely film on the Middle East. Do not miss it.
Peter Berg gets it.
Forget about the Scott brothers directing a war movie we've got a guy who can do it just as well.
All he has to do is find a good story. Paging Michael Yon...
It was exactly as you described. I hadn’t heard anything about it before my wife picked it up on Saturday. I was very nervous that it was going to be a “Blame America” film, but it was just the opposite.
Actually, I took the “throw away” line at the end with a Heck Yea, and told my wife we should start burying them in pigs blood. No virgins that way.
Anyway, very good movie and the last 30 minutes will keep you glued to your chair.
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