The Kingdom

(2007)

Todd Says:

4.5 STARS

I was just expecting this to be a typical action flick about blowing up the terrorists that hate Americans, but I was pleasantly suprised to find that there was more to it than that. The Kingdom offers a somber comentary on the state of relations between the US and the middle east. This movie is very political, but not so much that it overshadows the story itself.

The actors all do a great job, in both the action sequences and the real acting scenes. Who would have thought that Jason Bateman could ever look good getting shot at, and then shooting back. The whole thing is just well done.

This is a thought provoking film, that hopefully will leave you thinking about the way you look at the world and others in it. It's not neccessarily a hopeful movie though, and it may leave you quite disheartened. You know, one of those 'this is the way it is, and it looks like it will never change' kind of things. I think that we need more films like this, the ones that make us confront the way we look at the world.

All in all, this is a good film for lovers of action as well as political thrillers. I feel good about recomending it to everyone.

Alexis says:

3.5 STARS

I would be lying if I said I wasn't really looking forward to this movie. Todd had suggested it several times before we finally bought and viewed it. I was for the most part pleasantly surprised. As always Foxx and Cooper are superb and Bateman and Gardner showed they can do well with dramas as well as comedies and super hero let down films. The story is all too real and revealed some insight into the affairs of the middle east that I was unaware of beforehand. Overall, this movie is well written and directed, if only real life political movies such as these weren't so darn depressing.