The Kingdom (imdb)
Suppose the two Michael’s named above filmed a movie together. What would it be like? If the plot of this film deals with FBI elite agents fighting terrorists in Saudi Arabia, I’m sure the final cut would be something like The Kingdom.
The Kingdom is an erratic movie that is both inconsistent and flawed. It’s tone, visual style, and pacing change throughout, and the flick really loses its own identity. The film looks like a Michael Mann (he produced it) movie visually with some shaky camera work, not to mention the presence Jamie Foxx. However, it’s a Michael Mann movie on amphetamines; the film has the quick cutting and ridiculousness of Michael Bay - retaining only a bit of entertainment value.
The film’s tone is very mixed. While at times it seems to attempt to deliver a political message, the film quickly reverts back to an action flick. Its opening credits delivers a quick history lesson which seems a bit pointless as the rest of the film evolves toward a firefight climax. Acting is fine throughout, and its a lot of fun watching Jennifer Garner and Jamie Foxx shoot terrorists. Jason Bateman and Jeremy “Ari Gold” Piven add levity to the film with their funny dialogue. The Kingdom doesn’t know where it belongs - in the end its a flawed action movie that sometimes believes it to be something more.
The Kingdom is a bit of a mess (see the excessive use of titles for character introduction). Although some of my negativity is likely due to large technical problems during the screening, this film is pretty mediocre at best. There’s some entertaining action in it (see absurd climax), but the movie is a dud on the whole (see cheesy ending). In the end, this is one to skip; I’m glad I saw it for free…
2.5 elite FBI agents still alive out of 5
September 27th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
I guess I’m happy that they screwed up the second trailer enough to make me lose interest. The first trailer suggested this was more of a thinking man’s film but the second suggested all out gunplay which made me lose interest fast. I guess I won’t be missing much.