The Kingdom (2007)

A team of U.S. government agents are sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East.

Director:

Peter Berg

Writer:

Matthew Michael Carnahan

Stars:

Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jamie Foxx	...	Ronald Fleury
Chris Cooper	...	Grant Sykes
Jennifer Garner	...	Janet Mayes
Jason Bateman	...	Adam Leavitt
Ashraf Barhom	...	Colonel Faris Al Ghazi
Ali Suliman	...	Sergeant Haytham
Jeremy Piven	...	Damon Schmidt
Richard Jenkins	...	Robert Grace
Tim McGraw	...	Aaron Jackson
Kyle Chandler	...	Francis Manner
Frances Fisher	...	Elaine Flowers
Danny Huston	...	Gideon Young
Kelly AuCoin	...	Ellis Leach
Anna Deavere Smith	...	Maricella Canavesio
Minka Kelly	...	Miss Ross

Storyline

After a terrorist attack on an American housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where families and FBI Agent Francis Manner are murdered, FBI agent Ronald Fleury blackmails the Saudi Arabian consul to get five days of investigation in the location. He travels with agent Grant Sykes, Janet Mayes and Adam Leavitt to avenge their friend and try to find those responsible for the bombing. The agents find all sorts of difficulties in their investigation, but they are supported by Colonel Faris Al Ghazi that advises the team how to act in a hostile environment.

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Plot Keywords:

saudi arabia | investigation | die hard scenario | safe room | al qaeda | 

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Taglines:

How do you stop an enemy who isn't afraid to die?

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for intense sequences of graphic brutal violence, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Peter Berg: one of the FBI agents at the briefing about the al-Rahmah attack at the Washington DC Field Office.

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Goofs

When Robert Grace is meeting alone with Gideon Young, he has his glasses on at the start of the conversation. After Young removes his glasses, we see that Grace has also removed his, even though we have not seen him do it. Yet, when the camera shows the back of Grace's head, we can still see the side of the frame of his glasses.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator #1: After capturing most of the Arabian Peninsula with the help of the Wahhabi Islamic warriors, Ibn Saud establishes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Connections

References The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

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Soundtracks

Don't Start Countin' On Me
Written by Douglas Gilmore, Eddie Crandall

User Reviews

Very Well Made Geopolitical Thriller

I saw this movie in a dollar movie recently ... actually my 2nd viewing, I saw it when it first opened around her, a month or so ago. I liked it then, and I like it now.

First, I really liked the introductory "background history". I would not recommend for a moment regarding this as "real history". But a geopolitical thriller like this needs something to set the geopolitical stage for the story, and this introduction made for a great quick "set up" that to me works very well indeed.

The idea of intermixing this intro with the introductory credits saves time and sets it apart from the rest of the story … which is what a good "set-up" should do. It's very much like having an opening panel, such as we see in a lot of 1930s or 1940s historical romances, that gives us a similar "historical" set-up. "In 1592, King Richard had left England on Crusade. While gone, the Sheriff of Nottingham ruled supreme. Only Robin Hood and his band of merry men stood in his way." In this example, I'm pulling the date out of the air, and everything else is made up, too. But that's the kind of placard they used to use to set up a Robin Hood movie. Well, in The Kingdom, the introductory sequence was an elaboration of that introductory placard. And to me it worked great setting up the story.

And what a great story. Like any good geopolitical thriller, it maintains a careful if sometimes intricate balance between the individuals involved in the narrow, here-and-now action, and the personages and institutions involved in the much larger "big picture" So we have 4 particular FBI agents constantly interacting with and reflecting on the larger political context in Washington, DC and in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There's just enough dialog about these things to keep the story moving, without overwhelming the audience with the kind of boring "talking heads" scenes that afflict another contemporary movie about the War on Terror, Lions into Lambs. We have plenty of material to prompt from us a personal interest in the individuals involved here, who are presented as convincingly real people, and not as the kind of impersonal stereotypes who sit and lecture each other in Lions into Lambs.

The story is told with an immediacy and a fast pace that kept my attention throughout. Gritty realism is the style throughout and is carried off very convincingly, as far as I can see. All of the actors turned in solid performances from a script that seemed to me to be very convincing. The cinematography was excellent throughout.

All in all, I think The Kingdom is a wonderful movie that quickly engaged me, and then set about establishing and retaining my keen interest from beginning to end.

Details

Official Sites:

United International Pictures [Germany] United International Pictures [Japan]

Country:

USA Germany United Arab Emirates

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

28 September 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Kingdom

Filming Locations:

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,135,055, 30 September 2007

Gross USA:

$47,536,778

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$87,019,158

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Forward Pass

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1