The Kingdom

Berg doesn't let up on the tension, even when the action is bloodless.

Overall, the film is smart and engaging, and if it plays a little on our fears of the next big terrorist attack, it does so without feeling exploitative.

A timely--if tepid--fantasy of American vengeance on the Qutbian extremists of Saudi Arabia.

Berg has an excellent eye for violent extravaganza and the action - especially a 10-15 minute set piece midway through - is as cleansing as a high colonic.

Berg's movie is no more than an action movie with an exotic backdrop. That would be fine, if only the movie were more exciting. It succeeds neither as a pointed political commentary nor as a taut thriller.

The heroes of Peter Berg's gung-ho retribution tale are fighting the terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them here, but his film is indulging in a queasy brand of escapism. Winning imaginary wars isn't the same as winning real ones, but The Kingdom nonetheless smells like victory.

At its core this is just another piece of big-studio nothingness. The characters are so underwritten they barely qualify as types, and the movie is badly paced, bookended by high-ordnance action sequences but painfully static in the middle.

A good movie that really shows what was going on in the Middle East at the time it was made.

The Kingdom, at its best, is a riveting and powerful look at the effects of war on those in the Middle East and in the United States, as well as the politics leading up to modern day conflicts. At its worst, it is an anti-Muslim film that plays far too much into action movie cliches. The positives largely come in the first half, in which the film is far more detective-based as this group of FBI agents head to Saudi Arabia to investigate who perpetrated a bombing in the American compound in the country. Here, the writing is quite good and the film showcases just how much the Saudis hate the terrorists as well. However, it seems as though director Peter Berg thought this was boring and decided it was best for the final half hour to turn into a shoot 'em up action movie that demonizes the Saudis and half hazardly tries to show some of their humanity, only to revert to concluding that everyone - even children - are evil anti-Americans. This is unfortunate, but luckily does not completely wipe out the positives of the first half, in which the film is a very compelling and interesting look at determining the guilty parties behind such an awful attack. If only Berg had confidence in this portion of the film enough to see it through to the end without relying on every cliche in the book.

Good movie , a little because it has not reached the Oscar knowing it was so but I'm honest, the war against the Islamic State is not over , and i don't knonw what's happen with Saudi Arabia.

This is a reasonable war based thriller film. It seemed a bit predictable and while the performances are alright, its nothing to write home about by any means. What really frustrated me was the constant, overuse of very jerky/shaky camerawork - if you're prone to motion sickness then you may be best to avoid this one. There have been many films made which reference the Middle East, Saudi's and the demand for oil, I imagine - I wouldn't recommend this one particularly. It's not unwatchable, there are some tense moments and one or two surprising details towards the end I guess but its certainly not great.

Ok we like action movies in our family. We all zoned out pretty quick with this one. This had zero family retention rate. Snooze fest...