Movie review: "The Kingdom" (2007)

When an enclave of US citizens in the Kingdom Of Saudia Arabia is bombed by terrorists, the FBI uses political blackmail to get four special agents flown over there – without the permission or knowledge of its own government – and involved in the Saudi police investigation.

A ridiculous premise, I know. But for a dumb revenge flick, "The Kingdom" has its merits. The Yank quartet – team leader Fleury (Jamie Foxx), forensics specialist Mayes (Jennifer Garner), intelligence analyst Leavitt (Jason Bateman) and demolition expert Sykes (Chris Cooper) – are appealing for their down-to-earth characters and lack of flag waving or one-liners.

As endearing if not more so are their Saudi minders and co-investigators, Colonel Faris Al Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom) and Sergeant Haytham (Ali Suliman), striving to solve the case, placate their paranoid superiors (the terrorists used cop uniforms) and make sure the foreigners behave.

I was left wondering what the story might have been like without the FBI angle – so that it wasn't just another case of America vs the Arab world, but rather a study of the relationship between moderates and extremists within the one country. Sadly, that's a film far less people would wanna see.

Spectacularly shot, "The Kingdom" does succeed in making you feel you're in an alien land. It also builds a real sense of danger before the badda-badda of machine guns and whoosh-BOOM of rocket-propelled grenades. There’s even a moral footnote, though I reckon it was lost on the morons at the screening I attended - they applauded whenever the Hollywood stars hit their targets.

Final word: A far-fetched firefight you *will* soon forget.

[Australian cinema release date: October 11]