The Kingdom

Total satisfaction. Peter Berg serves up an interesting story that looks at the issues of the Western and Arab worlds in a quite clever way. Visually, the film is top notch from the first to the last second, Jamie Foxx is superb, and the final action set-piece is something that makes you want to take cover from bullets. I can't wait to see it again. (2007-09-14)

A very strong four stars. Berg really knows his stuff. It begins with an ingenious collage of archive images of U.S - Arab relations combined with computer graphics. I'd even venture to guess that these are this year's most impressive opening titles. The approach to the subject is matter-of-fact, with no embellishments and unnecessary frills. The acting performances are all high caliber. I was very surprised by Jennifer Garner, the surprisingly "ordinary" Jason Bateman, and I have to take my hat off to the performance of the almost unknown Ashraf Barhom. The final action inferno ranks among this year's best, and I will stress once again that I don't mind shaky camera. So, my last words about the Kingdom? I'll just say this: In the end, we're all the same. (2007-12-14)

The Kingdom is a precisely constructed and directed thriller with a generic plot that very much conforms to the American geopolitical agenda of the time, but also attempts to disguise its propagandistic dimension by building kitsch-laden sympathies for some of the characters of other nationalities. In the end, it even allows itself to poke at the supposed moral superiority and unambiguous firm resolve. But, of course, it remains solely at the level of an easily digestible mainstream flick that resolutely does not go against the grain. However, the effectively built team of main characters, each with their own role in the narrative, and especially the action are definitely worthy of praise. Though viewers will have to wait until the end for that, it is the natural culmination of the preceding events and the depicted characters, and above all it is realised with an outstanding symbiosis of dramatic construction, spatial topography, nervous camerawork and quick editing, as well as astonishing physical dynamics. (2021-01-12)

I don’t share the artificially formed cult around Peter Berg in this part of the world (Czech Republic). I consider him to be a reliable routineer who understands technical aspects and is good at pumping a movie full of pace, but he isn’t so good at drawing you into the story. Although the producer’s name draws the attention. Judge for yourself - Michael Mann. Sounds promising, huh? The Kingdom isn’t an action movie and isn’t at all a “hamburger movie", or at least as little as a potential blockbuster can be. It says neither one thing or the other. You find yourself believing that this is more or less what things would turn out in reality if an FBI team were really to assist in investigations in an Arabian country. Luckily it didn’t descend into a big-budget episode of CSI with naive natives and unerring, great Americans. Everything from political tricks through division of power to differences in cultures is addressed pretty realistically here. Even so, The Kingdom has one fundamental problem. But it isn’t the actors, who are outstanding and especially the Arabs headed by Ashraf Barhom in the role of Col. Faris Al Ghazi. The problem is the forcibly and completely unnecessarily grafted-on closing action sequence. Don’t get me wrong, it was excellent, raw and gripping... But only on its own. It seems like fifteen minutes of the highlights of Black Hawk Down, but it absolutely destroys the message of the entire movie and fits in like... Like nothing on earth. Which is a shame, because it’s good, it just should have appeared in a movie of a totally different kind. At least the last two sentences of The Kingdom saves the originally intended impression and pleasantly aptly remark upon the preceding events. (2007-10-12)

The craft is excellent, Berg does a good job with the action, although it all seems so polished that it is impersonal. The schematism in the world vision can be carried away, you can feel how much the screenwriter tried to plastically see the problem. Not that it is completely successful - the overall message in the style of "we all have families and we love them, so we are just people" is pleasantly dulled by the final point. I don't know if the creators wanted to suppress that cleverly cynical message at the last minute, and I really didn't understand the choice of music. Given the acting and the really frenetic and swollen last twenty minutes, The Kingdom will definitely pay off... A mastered genre film, but Peter Berg still lacks considerable dose of individuality to achieve the brilliance of Mann or Scott. (2009-01-18)