Movie review - "The Kingdom" (2007) ** (warning: spoilers)

So wanted this thriller to be better than it was because the trailer was so good and it's a great idea for a film: an FBI team investigating a bombing of a US compound in Saudi Arabia. Great format to explore Middle East-West relations.

But they muff it with far too many "movie scenes" that feel as though they've been "punched up" by script doctor hacks. Like introducing Jamie Foxx talking to a group of kindergarten kids where he talks about his son's birth ("you know, we need a scene where we establish what a good dad Jamie is" - but would kids care?); and these awful scenes where the FBI agents are in Saudi Arabia swearing and carrying on and being frustrated ("like, we need a scene to show them butting heads so then we can have a HERO'S JOURNEY where they come to respect the Saudis"). The sheer fact Americans are in Saudi Arabia is conflict enough without shoving in this crappy 90s cop movie garbage about "hey man let us do our job". They're in Saudi Arabia and they're being obnoxious. To make matters worse they bring a woman, Jennifer Garner, without even the courtesy of an explanatory line like "she's the only person we can get at short notice" - and she wears T shirts and singlet tops. I kept thinking, "cover up, Jen".

The film picks up once everyone starts co-operating and there's a nice scene between Foxx and the nice Arab (a like able character and the best performance in the film) and you think "that's what this movie should have been - a buddy flick in Saudi Arabia, instead of having these four not very likeable or -even less forgivable - different characters".

Why are all the FBI agent characters the same? Why not have one have a romance, or another be very anti-US in Saudi Arabia, or very proper, or extremely apathetic or whatever. The complexities of the US-Saudi alliance - our military propping up a dictatorship, moderate opposition forces with Saudi Arabia being pushed towards extremism, religious vs. secular - are raised briefly then mostly ignored. (It's a shame we couldn't have seen more of the Jeremy Piven character - Piven plays him like Ari Gold but you can imagine that's what would be needed out there).

Then there's that awful scene where the husband of a woman killed by terrorists attacks the nearest Muslim - OK, you're upset, but he's in Saudi Arabia and has worked there for a period of time, one would assume he knew there would be some risks or at least learn not to blame people just because they are Muslims, and anyway the fifty worder who plays him isn't much of an actor. (This isn't like the Sept 11 attacks - these Americans are on foreign soil.)

There is a pretty good ambush and race-against-time sequence at the end - even if you think would terrorists really stop to pull out the camera and film Jason Bateman getting his head chopped off with a bunch of Americans in hot pursuit. This sequence is done well.

But then they ruin it with the worst possible choice of endings - making the final battle unrealistic "Hollywood" (no innocent people hit despite being fought in a crowded urban area, no Americans killed, Bateman saved just in time)... but the nice Arab (Ashraf Barhoum) is there blasting away with Foxx kicking butt and taking names and you think "OK its an Arnie movie but at least a positive Arab is joining in the carnage" - then they kill him. The one nice lead character, four irritating Americans - the Americans live and the nice guy dies. So not only is it unrealistic, it's a downer. I ended up leaving the cinema just mad.