Movie Review: The Kingdom

The Kingdom is one third a great action film, and two thirds CSI: Middle Eastern Edition (if there were such a thing).

The movie tries to be more complicated than its core, which is a quasi-revenge story about a team of US Government agents who are sent to investigate a terrorist bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The action is front and back-loaded, with the middle chunk consisting of semi-improv-ed funny moments with an ensemble crew of FBI special Agents trying to solve a horrendous crime while being restrained and baby-sat by Saudi authorities.

Peter Berg is the kind of director who loves to mix Hollywood gloss with the shaky cam documentary style. If you're a fan of Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner or Jason Bateman, you may find some of these sequences amusing. Jeremy Piven essentially reprises his Entourage character Ari Gold, but instead has grey hair. Berg knows action – the last 30 minutes of this film will have you on the edge of your seat. But unfortunately, the rest is quite the opposite. Show up or fast forward to the climax, and you'll probably enjoy this film a lot.

/Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10