Preying on Americans‘ two greatest fears—Muslims with
explosives and paying more than three dollars a gallon for
gasoline—The Kingdom tries to be a lot of things. There
are the mystery elements, the thriller elements, the police procedural
elements, and the social commentary elements. By the time it all wraps
up, all are overwhelmed by the film’s action elements, which turn
The Kingdom into a full-on Bruckheimer homage, with the entire
Middle East situation boiled down to Jamie Foxx firing off rounds from
an assault rifle while running from rocket-propelled grenades.
After some snazzy opening credits—which lay out America’s
involvement in Saudi Arabia’s oil fields like a CliffsNotes for people
who don’t watch the news—The Kingdom gets right to the
point. American oil workers in Saudi Arabia live in isolated
townships—with green grass, neighborhood barbeques, and softball
games—that are apparently constructed out of perfectly
clichéd Americana. And then—right in the middle of a
barbeque, no less—KA-BOOM! Saudi suicide bombers invade. Machine
guns pump lead into terrified Americans, terrorists gleefully shout
some terrifying statements I’m relatively sure are lifted from Team
America: World Police, and a whole lot of stuff explodes.
Government agent Ronald Fleury (Foxx) learns of the attack while
he’s sitting in a classroom (the first of many 9/11 references
scattered throughout The Kingdom). Soon, Fleury’s heading up a
team of Americans (including Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, and Jason
Bateman) as they head to Saudi Arabia to investigate the attacks. Like
Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic or Stephen Gaghan’s Syriana,
The Kingdom lays a fictional glaze over real events. But while
Traffic, and especially Syriana, dug deep, taking risks
to comment intelligently on current events, The Kingdom is
irredeemably stupid as it flails about, pounding ineffectually at hot
button issues between its many explosions. According to The
Kingdom, it’s all quite simple: Saudis have oil that we need, and
Americans (most of whom are either wiseass cowboys, dumb jocks, or
pretty girls) need to deal with Middle Easterners to get it (all of
whom are loveable bumblers, vaguely sinister officials, or
bomb-building jihadists). Our heroes’ idea of educating themselves
about Saudi Arabian culture begins and ends with Jason Bateman thumbing
his way through The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Koran, while
at its close, The Kingdom shows how all the region’s problems
can be solved when Jennifer Garner, looking adorable in combat gear,
offers a little Saudi girl a Tootsie Pop.
Not only is director Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights,
The Rundown) out of his league, but Matthew Michael
Carnahan’s script messes with issues it has no business dealing with.
You can make solid, intelligent, and entertaining movies about
controversial topics and current events; instead of doing so, The
Kingdom mashes and twists those events into a trashy, pulpy popcorn
flick. The result is questionably intentioned, messily executed, and
loud and boring and ignorant. Actually, come to think of it, maybe I’m
not giving The Kingdom enough credit—all those things
might, in fact, make it the perfect film about America’s role in the
Middle East.
