'The Kingdom,' not an idea movie

By Dan Moore

Published Oct. 2, 2007

That "The Kingdom" has been lambasted as both jingoistic and anti-American, a "Rambo" in sheep's clothing and the poor man's "Syriana," is interesting, to say the least. That people on each political extreme have denounced it as a dangerous movie could be construed as evidence of either an increasingly angry society or a capital-I important movie.

I'll spoil it: "The Kingdom" is not an important movie — at its heart, it's an action movie whose innermost desire is to blow things up.

The title kingdom is that of Saudi Arabia, America's political ally and cultural opposite. The film begins with a slick expository presentation about the discovery of oil in the Middle East and America's subsequent presence in the area, culminating in the creation of largely westernized compounds on which American oil workers live. The movie begins on one of these compounds, with a terrorist cell planning and executing an attack on a company picnic. We watch this play out from the unsettling viewpoint of several of the planners silently videotaping the events.

After the attacks have played out, the movie cuts to the beginning of the FBI investigation, and here is where it could have become stridently political. But "The Kingdom" is the rare story of political intrigue in which we are presented with government agents as protagonists; it assumes, correctly, that it would be hard to get lathered up over corrupt agents in a movie in which people car-bomb an ambulance. The obligatory government enemies in this case are the emissaries of the State Department who try to block the FBI's involvement to avoid diplomatic problems. Jeremy Piven, as the diplomatic liaison to the Saudi princes, comes off as a combination used-car dealer and talent agent as he tries, insincerely, to keep all feathers unruffled; at one point he tells Jennifer Garner's character to "dial down the boobies" in preparation for a royal visit.

Director Peter Berg shows a light touch with the material. Although the movie suffers from the modern action movie's congenital aversion to the tripod, the action is presented with minimal shake and longer takes than are the action movie norm. The action's slow build allows time for its team of FBI agents to interact with one-another, creating a level of characterization rare for "team" movies; these aren't the "Armageddon" group archetypes at work. The impressive cast, among them Garner, Jamie Foxx, Jason Bateman and ("Syriana" vet) Chris Cooper, runs with this chance to act in between gunfights.

Aside from a slapdash, morally equivocating O. Henry ending, one that seems to come out of nowhere and betray the movement of the story up to that point, "The Kingdom" is a thoughtful and well-made action movie. It is not an idea movie, and it lacks the damning, angry force that pundits on either side of it were hoping for, but maybe that's the best, most shocking political idea of all.