First of all, let’s get the plot summary out of the way. After a particularly devastating terrorist attack on a Western housing compound in Saudi Arabia, the FBI sends a team of investigators to find out what happened. Once there, they soon discover that a lot goes on behind the scenes within the kingdom as they are hampered at every turn in their investigation.
OK, so that’s the boilerplate. The “broader theme” in the movie is the inevitable “us and them” comparisons, leading ultimately to the “I guess we’re all the same after all” as the film proceeds. At the same time, it also wants to be an action picture where things blow up and bad guys die. It’s a hefty challenge and although The Kingdom doesn’t completely succeed, it doesn’t fail either.
However, at times the Americans almost seem to be caricatures of real people. One character in particular, Agent Adam Leavitt (played by Jason Bateman) seems to go out of his way to be as offensive as possible while in Saudi Arabia. Despite repeated, polite, requests to modify his behavior, Leavitt continues to cuss like a sailor and berate every aspect of Saudi life as if it’s completely unreasonable. The developments with his character later in the movie came as no surprise. I get it. He’s the “ugly American,” but he’s so one dimensional as to be distracting.
Jamie Foxx does a good job as the lead investigator, Ronald Fleury. Of anyone on his team, he seems to have the firmest grasp on the social forces at work. This aids him and the team greatly as they try to solve the crime. Of course, he’s the leader, so he’d naturally have all those things, right?
So we’re left with a fish-out-of-water meets East vs. West meets Crime Drama meets Action Flick. That’s a lot of meeting. It’s also the reason why The Kingdom wasn’t a great movie. Had they tackled one or two of those, it could have been great. As it is, too many elements compete for dominance in the viewer’s mind.
I recommend seeing it, but I’m glad I got it through Netflix.
-K
