The Kingdom - Review

I am surprised at no mention of Ashraf Barhoom... (Col. Faris Ghazi). He enacted his role to perfection. Even more than the other members of Foxx's FBI Secret Team.
As for others above who are trying to make me believe of the Oil factor involved in it... well listen to the Prologue the "voice" says during the begining of the movie... its about a Scorned Osama Bin Laden and he doesnt care two hoots of Saudi Oil... he just wanted the Americans or whites and non muslims out of the Middle East!
Get your facts right please....

This is an okay moive. Just that I think its pretty off beat, with Islam. Islam is not really like that. Kind of funny, this movie is very screwwy to Islam, I don't like it.

Good Movie because without giving the the Main Plot away which is two words in the Film,its a Fact that the American Goverment knows when big Terroist attacks are going to Happen. They have enough intelligence to know but dont try to stop them, it keeps them in Power.Sure there are Terroists out there, but there not just Arabs.

This movie is just beautiful. Its based on a true story that happened in saudi where i lived for 18 years before moving to the US. What i liked about the movie is that its not biased against saudis and looks at things from a neutral prespective. It only shows the modern technology and how saudi is really is compared to every other movie that try to wash american minds with the idea that everyone who doesnt live in the US is still riding camels. The only thing that disturbed me a bit is the idea that these extremist groups screamed muslim phrases before their ugly acts. I dont blame the producer as this group really came out and did what they did but it should have been pointed out that these are not real muslims as islam is a religion of love and peace. Well that would be asking too much but in general the movie was amazing. good acting, hardcore action and nice story.
For that person who asked why they hate us? the movies says it at the end, they both want to kill them all, they hate u for the same reason u hate them.
We all just have to stop listening to our media and being so gullible and start thinking on our own and behave like human beings.

Movie is brilliant, moves swiftly after every scene. The moderate Muslim element in the form of Col Al Ghazi is fantastically woven across the film, Jamie foxx is as usual great in his part. Though movie is tilted a bit towards creating a not so good impression about middle east muslims on American viewers (thogh Al Ghazi's character does its bit to repair the damage)but I think thats understandable since it being an American picture. Only hoping it doesn't widen the rift between two major civilizations of this world and do not promote negative thought process in the mind of the viewers as both sides want peace.

Amen!

is it anyone who knows how old you have to be to see this movie?

Ray and JW... you're way off on your prediction. I saw it today and I'm not giving anything away in saying that the oil/Texas element isn't even a factor. Sure, there are not-so-subtle anti-administration characters and exchanges but they don't dominate the plot and don't factor into an evil twist at the end. Great movie and very thought-provoking in a non-partisan way. There should be Oscar buzz for Ashraf Barhom.

Did you all see the same movie I saw last night? I felt frustrated by the entire business of them hating us for no reason and we all killing each other until everyone is dead. But frankly, the camera work was the worst I had ever experienced. In the fight scenes the camera was moving so fast I couldn;t tell who had hit who and the whole thing was a wash. But I experienced such bad motion sickness for the hand held camera I had to turn away. The performances were superb but what we don't need right now is more hatred towards the middle eadt and thats exactly what this movie is going to create. I love Peter Berg but was that his goal? To leave is feeling there is no end until we all kill eah other?

Saw the sneak last night and wow. Well written and produced with great contributions by the cast. Ashrof Barhom was a gift and carried the mantle well for all of the moderate Muslims in the world who must be at a complete loss about how to improve the Middle East, being stuck between the Islamic radicals who want them dead and the Westerners (not all, but some, including one well-played in the film by Tim McGraw) who lump them in with those jihhadists. An excellent mix of humor and horror, I sat shocked through the images and, as one who cries at the drop of a hat, couldn't because I was simply stunned at how well the reality of it all was captured. It created for me of the "Traffic" of the Middle East conflict because it showed that world from which those of us not in the military are so insulated. That said, the last lines of the film for me were the most difficult and, once the credits were over, were what did cause me to break down and cry...because I knew they were true of all conflicts today in the world where one side believes so much in its cause that it will stop at nothing, including civilian deaths, to reach its goals. It will continue to be self-perpetuating and we -- moderate Westerner and moderate Muslim alike -- will be challenged for generations to root it out and replace it with a peaceful coexistence.

Hey JW...you read my mind! The first time I saw the preview I turned to my wife and made almost exactly the same comment. Hope we're both wrong.

I saw a sneak preview screening of this movie, and I must say that I'm throughly impressed. The performances were amazing, (especially from the aforementioned Ashraf Borham), the plot was gripping, and the action sequences were intense, if somewhat innacurate (it's called reloading, people! Most fully-automatic weapons today can only sustain 2-3 seconds of continuous fire before running outta ammo). The film also made certain to show that Crazy Fanatic Islam isn't the brand of Islam that most Muslims adhere to, and one of the more powerful scenes shows Al-Ghazi in his home praying with his children and reading to them from the Koran.

Jason Bateman shows that he can, at times, be serious when he acts, and that impressed me all the more. The film has a good dose of humor in it as well, most of it coming from natural problems that arise when different cultures clash. The ending was well done, and the juxtaposition of two completely different reactions to the same bit of dialogue was rather cool in my book.

As pessimistic as this movie is, I also feel that it has some bit of positivity to it...it shows that despite religious or cultural differences, and the misconceptions that arise from both, good people exist everywhere.

Why do I expect the man responsible for the bombing will be some white, oil baron from Texas played by Tom Wilkinson with an over the top southern accent? The fatigue caused from the moral relativistic, blame America gang leaves me suspicious of every Middle-East movie made today. This solid review leaves me hopeful the film will try to avoid OVERT politicization, but I remain dubious. The comparison to Greengrass's excellent film is a definite plus. The best - and least political and guilt-ridden "Middle-East-9/11" film by far.

"The Kingdom" is one of many middle eastern terrorist movies that Hollywood has made and will keep on making. We've had "Syriana" "Munich" "Black Hawk Down" and the tv show "24", which the "The Kingdom" has more in common with then anything else. The movie captures the desperation and hopleseness of that continuing conflict within that region of the world. Director Peter Berg handles the action setpieces with great finesse and the expertise of a proven action filmmaker. It is a film that doesn't provide easy answers, and is a better film for it. As the conflict of terrorism continues cinema audeinces are constantly going to get more and more films on this controversial subject of international terrorism. On the horizon there's Mike Nichols "Charlie Wilson's War" Brian De Palma's "Redacted", and director Kathryn Bigelow is currently shooting an Iraq movie. In the 50's and onwards it was the cold war. Today it is desperate and psychopathic Middle Eastern terrorists as our cinematic and real life villians