The Kingdom works relatively well as an action drama with a pretty interesting plot, dealing with an FBI team's investigation of a terrorist attack on an American oil company in Saudi Arabia. This FBI team happens to be quit star-studded with Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and Chris Cooper all involved. Directed by Peter Berg (of Friday Night Lights fame) and produced by the one and only Michael Mann, the production is top notch and there are some very good action scenes. However, the movie ends up falling short by basically half-assing it when it came to the political side of the plot, kind of delving into why this terrorist attack happened and why the US is so hesitant to send investigators, but not really going into it all the way. It is also cringe-worthy how heavy-handed the final scene is. And oh yeah, it suffers from what I'll call the action movie syndrome, where the villains have seemingly never shot a gun before and the heroes are invincible. But even with these faults, this was a decently interesting and entertaining movie.
One other positive note - this movie had an astounding amount of actors from TV shows I like/liked - Jennifer Garner (Alias), Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Jeremy Piven (Entourage), and the dad from Six Feet Under all have prominent roles. And then Coach Taylor and Lyla Garrity from Friday Night Lights even show up for a scene each. I also could've sworn I saw Daniels from The Wire in there for a second but he didn't show up on imdb so I guess I was wrong on that one.
Oscar Outlook
Should be a contender in all the big categories...just kidding of course. No chance for any nominations.
Monday, January 14, 2008
The Kingdom - 6.0
The Kingdom works relatively well as an action drama with a pretty interesting plot, dealing with an FBI team's investigation of a terrorist attack on an American oil company in Saudi Arabia. This FBI team happens to be quit star-studded with Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and Chris Cooper all involved. Directed by Peter Berg (of Friday Night Lights fame) and produced by the one and only Michael Mann, the production is top notch and there are some very good action scenes. However, the movie ends up falling short by basically half-assing it when it came to the political side of the plot, kind of delving into why this terrorist attack happened and why the US is so hesitant to send investigators, but not really going into it all the way. It is also cringe-worthy how heavy-handed the final scene is. And oh yeah, it suffers from what I'll call the action movie syndrome, where the villains have seemingly never shot a gun before and the heroes are invincible. But even with these faults, this was a decently interesting and entertaining movie.
One other positive note - this movie had an astounding amount of actors from TV shows I like/liked - Jennifer Garner (Alias), Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Jeremy Piven (Entourage), and the dad from Six Feet Under all have prominent roles. And then Coach Taylor and Lyla Garrity from Friday Night Lights even show up for a scene each. I also could've sworn I saw Daniels from The Wire in there for a second but he didn't show up on imdb so I guess I was wrong on that one.
Oscar Outlook
Should be a contender in all the big categories...just kidding of course. No chance for any nominations.
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