A dizzying adrenaline-pumper with a brain, *The Kingdom* pushes all our buttons about terrorism and fear of the other, but with a torn-from-the-headlines flavor that manages to feel more rational than hysterical. It is a real white-knuckle movie. Film fans 16 and older with strong stomachs for hyper-realistic screen mayhem and an interest in world affairs should find it riveting.
The dialogue is well seasoned with banter among FBI agents played by Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman, who are investigating a terrorist attack against Americans living in a foreigners’ compound in Saudi Arabia. Screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan and director Peter Berg, while portraying the radical Islamist terrorists as ruthless, also create a quietly heroic Saudi colonel (excellent Ashraf Barhom) who despises terror, but has unspoken feelings about the repressive Saudi regime he serves and occasionally pushes against it, helping the agents get past restrictions on their work.
The film opens with a slick prologue compressing decades of Saudi Arabia’s recent history and internal contradictions. The initial terror attacks are portrayed with a shattering realism and a nervous camera lens.
Children are shown at risk and victims depicted with bloody injuries, missing limbs and shattered skulls. Action sequences also include point-blank gun battles, stabbings and an abduction. At one point the terrorists seem about to decapitate a hostage.
The script contains occasional profanity, rare mild sexual innuendo and crude language.
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