THE KINGDOM is a 2007 action thriller directed by Peter Berg and starring Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and Ashraf Barhom, with Kyle Chandler, Jeremy Piven, Richard Jenkins, and Ali Suliman. After an American oil company housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is bombed by al-Qaeda terrorists, FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) forces the Saudi ambassador into allowing an FBI investigative team into Saudi Arabia. Fleurys team is only allowed to observe the Saudi investigation. However, when Fleurys convoy is attacked by terrorists, and one team member is captured, the team has to go into action. The film is fictional, but it was inspired by bombings at the Khobar housing complex on June 25, 1996 and the Riyadh compound on May 12, 2003 in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan has summarized the plot as, What would a murder investigation look like on Mars?” The film was screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival as its yearly surprise film on August 22, 2007. The film got a moderate response from critics. The box office returns were a modest $86.5 M, in relation to the $70 M budget. PLOT: During a softball game at an American oil company housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, al-Qaeda terrorists set off a bomb, killing Americans and Saudis. While one team hijacks a car and shoots residents, a suicide bomber blows himself up, killing everyone near him. Sergeant Haytham (Ali Suliman) of the Saudi State Police kills several of the terrorists. The FBI Legal Attaché in Saudi Arabia, Special Agent Fran Manner (Kyle Chandler), calls his US colleague, Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx), to advise him about the attack. Manner is discussing the situation with DSS Regional Security Officer Special Agent Rex Bura when an ambulance full of explosives is detonated killing Manner, Bura and many others. At FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Fleury briefs his rapid deployment team on the attack. Although the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. State Department hinder FBI efforts to investigate the attack, Fleury blackmails the Saudi ambassador into allowing an FBI investigative team into Saudi Arabia. Fleury gathers Mayes, FBI analyst Adam Leavitt (Jason Bateman), an intelligence analyst, and Special Agent Grant Sykes (Chris Cooper), a bomb technician, go to Saudi Arabia. On arrival they are met by Colonel Faris al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom), the commander of the Saudi State Police Force providing security at the compound. The investigation is being run by General Al Abdulmalik (Mahmoud Said) of the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG), who does not give Fleury and his team permission to investigate. The FBI team is invited to the palace of Saudi Prince Ahmed bin Khaled (Omar Berdouni) for a dinner. While at the palace, Fleury persuades the Prince that Colonel al-Ghazi is a natural detective and should be allowed to lead the investigation. With this change in leadership, the Americans are allowed hands-on access to the crime scene. While searching for evidence, Sergeant Haytham and Sykes discover the second bomb was detonated in an ambulance. Fleury learns the brother of one of the dead terrorists had access to ambulances and police uniforms. Colonel al-Ghazi orders a SWAT team to raid a house, managing to kill a few heavily armed terrorists. Following the raid, the team discovers clues, including photos of the U.S. and other Western embassies in Riyadh. Soon afterward, the U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Damon Schmidt (Jeremy Piven), notifies Fleury and his team that they have been ordered to return to the United States. On their way to King Khalid International Airport, their convoy is attacked. Fleury manages to wound one attacker, and al-Ghazi commandeers a civilian vehicle to chase the fourth SUV and the other car into the dangerous Al-Suwaidi neighborhood of Riyadh. As they pull up, a gunman launches rocket-propelled grenades at them and a fierce firefight starts. FBI analyst Leavitt is tied up inside a complex. While Sykes and Haytham watch the entrance to the complex, al-Ghazi, Fleury, and Mayes follow a blood trail and kill many gunmen inside. Mayes, separated from the others, finds Leavitt and his attackers. She kills the remaining insurgents, and al-Ghazi and the team start to leave. Fleury then realizes there is a trail of blood leading to the back of the apartment, and al-Ghazi sees the grandfather and inspects his hand. When the old man gives him his hand, al-Ghazi sees that the man is missing the same fingers as Abu Hamza al-Masri in the terrorist groups many videos and confirms his suspicion that the grandfather is the terrorist leader. Abu Hamzas teenage grandson walks out of the bedroom and shoots al-Ghazi in the neck, then he starts to point his gun at Mayes, prompting Fleury to kill him. Abu Hamza then pulls out an assault rifle and Haytham kills him. As Abu Hamza dies, another grandson hugs him and Abu Hamza whispers something into his ear to calm the child down. Al-Ghazi dies in Fleurys arms. At al-Ghazis house, Fleury and Haytham meet his family. Fleury tells his son that al-Ghazi was his good friend, mirroring a similar scene earlier in the movie wherein he comforted Special Agent Manners son. Fleury and his team return to the U.S., where they are commended by FBI Director James Grace (Richard Jenkins) for their outstanding work. Leavitt asked Fleury and Mayes what he had whispered to her to calm her down. The scene cuts to Abu Hamzas daughter asking her own son what his grandfather whispered to him as he was dying. The grandson tells her mother, Dont fear them, my child. We are going to kill them all, a similar line Fleury whispered to Mayes, implying that this is a never-ending, vicious cycle. A good action movie with a good storyline. See you at the movies...
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 05:39:07 +0000
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