The Kingdom

UK Release Date. 5 October 2007
Certification. 15
Running Time. 1 hour 50 mins
Director. Peter Berg
Cast. Ashraf Barhom, Jason Bateman, Chris Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jeremy Piven.
Rating. 72%

Review.

The opening credit sequence serves as a breakneck distillation of 75 years of history, from the formation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, and the subsequent discovery of oil beneath the arid desert the following year, to the geopolitical aftereffects of September 11, 2001. Saudi Arabia is portrayed as a nation where modernity and tradition are in violent conflict.

From there, the audience is thrown straight into the action, a horrific attack on a Western housing compound in Riyadh. The act of terrorism upon the seemingly idyllic setting of families enjoying a community picnic and softball game is chillingly realised, with director Peter Berg opening with deliberate, lingering shots, before tearing the tranquillity apart. The opening salvo only causes mass confusion, before the genuine act begins, before the audience, or the victims, realise what’s happening. The shock of this initial act echoes through the remainder of the film. 

In fact, its a good 15 minutes before the film slows enough to introduce the principal characters - Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx), forensic pathologist, Janet Mayes (Jennifer Garner), intelligence analyst, Adam Leavitt (Jason Bateman) and explosives expert, Grant Sykes (Chris Cooper) - and then only as thumbnail sketches rather than portraits of our protagonists. FBI crime scene investigators sent to work through the crime scene and identify the terrorists behind the attack.

Initially hamstrung by protocol, Special Agent Fleury must deftly negotiate the complex practicalities of launching a murder enquiry in one of the most hostile countries in the world. Berg's engrossing film combines the detail of Syriana with a clashing-cultures motif redolent of Black Rain. 

The strength of the film is its intensity. Even during the slower sections, Berg manages to continually elevate the tension. Yes, the premise is simplistic, and the film's depiction of Arabs as largely villainous perpetuates a racial stereotype, but The Kingdom is a heart-pounding blend of action and politics.

The film's most chilling moment comes in the final scene. A potentially too-contrived parallel between Special Agent Fleury and the terrorist serves up a killer last line, a moment of political honesty that will stay with you long after the film ends.