The Kingdom

The reviews would have you believe that this was going to be yet another examle of a film that wanted to be more than what it was, at the truth is that walking in I was kind of expectng that, but I think this film acheived exactly what it intended to and it did it effectively.

I know some may scoff at my comparissons to this film and Syriana, but I think there are parrallels between the two worth considering.

Syriana, for most audiences, was an impossible film to sink their teeth into, because Syriana demanded a certain level of foreign policy knowledge before you even walk into the theatre. Not a basic understanding, but you have to have been properly educated on the subject of the US foreign policies with the Middle East or you had to be a CNN junkie. I conisder myself, at least to some extent, the latter, but I still had a difficult time with Syriana.

The Kingdom on the other hand, spent the opening credits not giving you the full meal deal, but they gave you enough to satisfy your needs. We got a basic but necessary overview of the US relationship with Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom was essentially trying to deliver the same message as Syriana, but delievering in such a way that a mainstream audiences would be able to connect.

Yes, sometimes this means flaws. It does sometimes come across as a really expensive version of a really good tv show (it doesn't help that Jennfier Garner, Jason Bateman and Jeremy Piven all star). But it had enough action and enough suspense I felt to at least keep us interested while it worked to get to the real point, which flawed or not, did not come until the last 5 seconds of the film. Was it a waste of time to deliever the message. I don't think so. It was one of the moments where you kind of want to role your eyes and say "Obviously, like i didn't see THAT coming" and some may even shrug this off as mindless and pretentious in some ways. But the truth is, that is the reality. That is the problem.

Syriana wanted us to understand that the US is just as much a part of terrorism as their middle eastern counterparts. That because of our dependency on their country we will always maintain this toxic and unhealthy relationship no matter how potentially devestating the concequences. It wanted us to understand that even when bad things happen to their own people, they aren't really that interested is solving it or making it better, but about covering it up. The Kingdom said all the same things, they just did it with Jamie Fox, some dumb laughs, lots of guns and shittier dialogue. But ultimately, we walk away with that same message, but sadly or not, we are more willing to accept it and understand it with the guns and shitty dialogue.

The Kingdom is flawed, but it made efforts to cinematically be creative with handheld camera and zoom on the fly to make an attempt to put us into the action instead of being a bystander, with I thought was really a great choice, as the theme seemed to be we can't be satisfied with being a bystander when our brothers are in trouble, we need to get dirty to make a difference. I thought that while the performances were generic and recycled, they worked within the context of the film and enviroment in which they were thrust. And I'm glad that it didn;t want to focus so heavily on the politics because that's where the film would have died as it was not the right mix of talent ot deliver that message effectively.

You could go see Feast of Love this weekend....think about that.

3.5 out of five