A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: The Kingdom

Date Viewed: 10/19/07

Details:

Jamie Foxx

Chris Cooper

Jennifer Garner

Jason Bateman

Ali Suliman

Ashraf Barhom

Director: Peter Berg

Score: Danny Elfman

Score: +

The Review: In the wake of a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia targeting an enclosed American workers' compound, a small CSI-like team is assembled by the FBI and sent to the site to investigate. Cooperation by local authorities varies from actively antagonistic through nonexistent to grudgingly reluctant. The stakes escalate when it becomes clear that the team itself is the next target for the terrorist cell. Action adventure with a tinge of anti-terrorist rhetoric, with a plot-line that never lets up.

The team is well cast with Foxx, Cooper, Garner and Bateman. They work well together -- as characters and actors -- and some of the mystery slowly gets pieced together. The pleasant surprise is Ali Suliman as the team's liaison officer -- both his role and his character (Sergeant Haytham) make the film.

Effective; not overly strident.

Decent score by Danny Elfman.

(1-Jan-08)

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