Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Kingdom

I watched this expecting a lot of explosions and a lot of shooting. I wasn't disappointed. The surprise was that the movie was more thoughtful than I'd supposed it would be. Don't get me wrong. It's not a philosophical meditation (things blow up real good), but it does have something to say.

Here's the plot: Terrorists strike an American compound in Saudi Arabia. An FBI forensics team is give five days to investigate. Will they find those responsible? (That's a rhetorical question, of course.)

The story moves so fast that there's not a lot of time for character development, but the actors make the best of the time they have, each one adding a little touch to make us see an individual instead of a type. I enjoyed it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Overall it was a decent picture but I expected it to be better. The Saudi cop characters were the most interesting.

The problem with pictures like this is that they try to add as much realism as possible in some spots (the crime scene) and other parts are Hollywood shoot-outs (the apartment building).

mybillcrider said...

All I can say is [SPOILER] that when a character starts telling about his wife, family, and fine son, he might as well have a neon sign on his forehead that says, "I'm gonna die." [END SPOILER]

Joan Reeves said...

Bill, you're so right. We looked at each other and said: "He's a goner."

mybillcrider said...

Sometimes I get the feeling I've seen too many movies.

Keith said...

I had been wondering whether this was worth a watch or not. I'll have to add it to my Netflix queue.