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I know, I know, the poster makes it look like some lame-ass sequel to "Jarhead." Truth is though, this one stands alone just fine.

From the beginning, where we're filled in on the dateline of rough events that have led to the current relationship between US and the Middle East, everything is wham-bam-check-it-out, not yeah-we-know-it's-supposed-to-just-be-a-movie-but-we're-talking-about-some-serious-stuff-so-we're-sure-you-don't-mind-being-bored-for-a-while-because-we-know-if-you-fess-up-to-how-boring-this-is-to-anybody-people-will-think-you're-just-a-moron-who-doesn't-want-to-learn-about-the-world (ahem, "Syriana").

From the very getgo, where a gated community of Americans in Saudi Arabia (and protected by Saudi police) is brutally attacked by some jihadists disguised as cops, our built-in emotions that are brought to the image of Muslim extremists blowing up some innocents is combined with nail-biting filmmaking, and while this flick is unabashedly an action piece over anything, even a whodonit, it never becomes the garbage that plenty of action flicks could be called. In essence, it pulls off being an action flick with reality-based bad guys that manages to keep from being insulting to their reality-based victims.

This is all helped to be the case by a hearty cast, led by Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman, who play the FBI team sent in to investigate the murders. In a flawless debut for Hollywood (although he's likely gonna be confined to portraying 'the Muslim guy' and will just have to accept that) is Ashraf Barhoum, who plays the Saudi colonel assigned to protect them throughout their stay. Other than the whole name-of-the-character-appearing-on-the-screen thing that keeps popping up when someone new hits the screen, a tired and lame device usually applied to these political thrillers, "The Kingdom" director Peter Berg manages to create something new here -- a flick that entertains while provoking thought about worldly issues without being preachy or pretentious.

In fact, the whole thing's one weak moment may be the small tiny bit where the terrorists are humanized with a line about how a bond people have as human beings is their hope that all those who do harm to loved ones get harmed right back. While that's nice and peachy, what may be more moving is the moment where Al Ghazi (Barhoum) confides to Jamie Foxx that it matters not to him whether the people who were killed in the initial raid were Muslim or Christian, just that they were people who hadn't hurt anyone and didn't know when they woke up that it was the last day of their lives.

There's no way to not think of 9/11 just a teency weency bit when hearing that part about waking up (and going to work) and having no idea, and when he goes on to say that he doesn't want to ask any of the men they catch WHY they did it before he kills them, that's a line that sticks more than some crap about how we all hate our own enemies. Maybe I'm just a big sicko, but I'd have to agree with Al Ghazi's line and apply the same I-don't-care-if-they're-Muslim-or-Christian-or-Jew-or-whatever thing to the terrorists. Once people start blowing up little kids while thinking they're a hero, hearing that person's story of woe kind of takes a back seat to "Ahem, would someone kill this clod so the rest of us can try to have lunch in peace?"

In support of that though was something I read where Peter Berg screened this flick for Muslim audiences closer to the region it took place in, and was surprised to see how loud the applauses were when the terrorists got their asses handed to them. One woman said something to him like "What? This is a movie and those are the killers of innocents (bad guys). Why wouldn't I cheer?" Preach it, Sista. Good action flick.
 
(four bongs)

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