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Rating:  - one of best movies in years
I rate this move as tops. If you liked black hawk down, this should be down your alley. Excellant film, filmed in Abu Dabi and everythings looks authentic...Jamie Foxx does a wonderful job acting...I enjoyed the plot, the bad guys were bad, the good guys were good. Suspenseful, action packed, almost too fast moving...I watched second time to pick up details I missed first time...glad I bought this movie as will watch many times.
Rating:  - Witness in the Desert
This is a solid movie well-worth seeing.
Ever seen The Witness? Harrision Ford finds himself in an Amish community, having to learn their ways and abide by their rules? You get a lot of that in The Kingdom, but it is done in very interesting and compelling ways.
As if mimicking stories from the headlines, the movie follows four FBI agents as they try to solve a number of terrorist actions in Saudi Arabia. They have five days but they're not allowed to work at night, they can't touch anything, especially Muslim bodies, and they have to be guarded at all times. The real story is how they overcome all of these restrictions and get the job done.
All of the performances are top-notch and believable. The story is well-crafted and tense. I actually watched it twice in one day and was just as drawn into it the second time as I was the first.
The biggest drawback to the movie is its name! We've got The Kingdom, The Kingdom of Heaven, the Forbidden Kingdom, and Indiana Jone's Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, to name a few.
The Kingdom (that's this movie) should be on your list for what to watch this weekend.
Rating: - Fox & co fight the the terrorists in HD
It's too bad that this fine action/themed film did not get it's due at the box office. Well directed by actor Peter Berg who also does a small cameo in this flick, the cast is well served by Oscar winners Jamie Fox & Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner (Alias) and Jason Bateman as FBI agents sent to the Middle East to investigate a bombing which took the lives of civilians, American and Arabs, alike by a terrorist group. The tension is high throughout and the transfer to HD is excellent. Fox more than makes up for his previous bummer, "Stealth", with this winner.
Rating: - A Superb Thriller
From its opening scenes, depicting the Kingdom of Saud and its turbulent modern history following the discovery of oil in its barren deserts, THE KINGDOM sets the table for a white-knuckling political/cultural thriller. And director Peter Berg (so outstanding with 'Friday Night Lights') delivers a keeper, as an elite FBI team of investigators travels into the American compound in Riyadh to investigate the recent slaughter of numerous U.S. citizens--ostensibly perped by terrorists. Berg successfully sets the pace, tone, and tension between the FBI team and their Saudi hosts, then moves the viewer full tilt into a hair-raising climactic action sequence that never takes its foot off the gas.
The cast is topnotch, headlined by Jamie Foxx as the FBI field commander. Foxx is tough, no-nonsense, machismo, yet periodically lets down his guard to show a rippling of emotion and compassion. Jennifer Garner plays the investigative team's forensics expert (and plays it convincingly), while FBI specialists Chris Cooper and Justin Bateman get to share the film's best lines. Country crooner Tim McGraw is impressive in an extremely emotional cameo role, yet this cast is most enhanced by the performance of Ashraf Barhom. Playing a Colonel in the Saudi national police--a Colonel in charge of the team's security--Barhom represents the contrast between his Arab culture and the West. The tension is established from the onset, yet the story delves deep enough into Barhom's character to reveal a humane man with only the best, most honorable intentions.
This is a brutal, violent film--a film with an ending that will definitely raise eyebrows. Yet when it comes to heart-pounding action, intrigue, and suspense--with a story that sprints to the finish line--THE KINGDOM is a thriller as good as it gets.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning
Rating:  - Great action, mixed message
A wonderfully executed action movie with a mixed message, The Kingdom stars Jamie Foxx as Ronald Fleury, the leader of an elite group of FBI government agents (which also includes Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman) who are assigned to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East. Things aren't quite what they seem however, and soon enough Fleury and his crew have five days to figure out just what happened. As The Kingdom moves along, Fleury and his crew find unlikely allies and traverse the local politics, leading up to an explosive finale. With everything that The Kingdom does action-wise, it disappoints in it's script. The entire film sends a mixed message that feels as if it doesn't even know what it's trying to convey to the viewer. This isn't always noticeable thanks to the great performances from Foxx and co., and director Peter Berg (Hancock, Friday Night Lights) manages to wonderfully orchestrate some spectacular, and surprising, action sequences. All in all, despite the mixed message that The Kingdom delivers, it's worth seeing for the action elements alone, which are enough to make anyone stand up and cheer.
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