The Kingdom: "This is a bad neighborhood".

Posted by mr grits on September 28, 2007 at 14:59:11

Gritty, graphic, and believable, this mostly steady-cam film bruises your sensibilities with a uncomfortable feeling of realness. After the queasy opening act of terrorism we are introduced to a FBI evidence team who is bursting at the seams to investigate the crime scene where two of their fellow agents fell. We see the immediate State Department reaction and the politics of keeping "The Kingdom" happy with our presence. After some clever "black mail" by Agent Jamie Foxx the team is allowed into SA to conduct their investigation.

Once Foxx, Cooper, Garner, and Bateman arrive in SA they are greeted by a Colonel who's mission is to button-down the investigation and render it ineffective. Events progress and we see a very real Arab world (filmed in Abu Dhabi) and the slow turn of the Colonel to the team's mission.

At a decisive point the film drops into "Blackhawk Down" mode and all hell breaks out. The action and flying lead will satisfy the most hardcore war-junkie as our agents pursue an abducted Bateman into a bad neighborhood.

This film runs the gamut of political and emotional intricacies and ends on a very strong point: We will never settle our cultural differences.

The film has its uneven parts and perhaps Foxx was miscast but overall it worked. Two big fat "ulululululu's" to The Kingdom.

.

Complicit Constapo Talibangelical since MMIII

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Topic - The Kingdom: "This is a bad neighborhood". - mr grits 14:59:11 09/28/07 (18)

I just saw it, too... - mkuller 23:37:10 09/29/07 (3)

RE: '...reality-documentary type of feel.' - Vinylized 14:15:25 10/04/07 (0)

I give it... - EBerlin 19:15:06 09/30/07 (1)

Hmm......a constellation...(nt) - mkuller 19:17:51 09/30/07 (0)

Just saw it: ho hum. I was bored as my ears rang from explosion after - tinear 15:49:01 09/29/07 (1)

Get your money back. * - mr grits 20:25:00 09/29/07 (0)

Three reviews I read used the phrase, "CSI: Riyadh". Not as a compliment! nt - clarkjohnsen 09:52:12 09/29/07 (5)

Have you seen it? (Usually your Boston critic does your thinking.) * - mr grits 14:48:05 09/29/07 (4)

Rude man! Plus... WRONG! - clarkjohnsen 12:33:04 09/30/07 (3)

Go polish your monocle, Dom boy, * - mr grits 19:22:16 09/30/07 (0)

Hey Clark! OT but do you remember the Berklee Perf Ctr. - ArdRi 13:30:32 09/30/07 (1)

I recall it as a deep, narrow auditorium... but it's been almost 25 years myself! nt - clarkjohnsen 08:38:26 10/01/07 (0)

Steadi-cam? - EBerlin 16:19:26 09/28/07 (2)

RE: Steadi-cam? I was not that fellow.....but, ok, hand held will do. * - mr grits 16:39:57 09/28/07 (1)

Then that's a strange coincidence... - EBerlin 20:04:44 09/28/07 (0)

RE: The Kingdom: "This is a bad neighborhood". - townsend 16:06:07 09/28/07 (1)

I didn't award this TWO "ulululululu's" because it was for the "discriminating" viewer... - mr grits 18:29:18 09/28/07 (0)

The wrong "The Kingdom" - David Aiken 15:38:13 09/28/07 (0)

The Kingdom: "This is a bad neighborhood".

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