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The Kingdom is basically Syriana for the blockbuster crowd: lots of important issues involved (terrorism, oil, the Middle East conflict, yada yada), but more loud noises and stuff blowing up. That description isn't intended to be derogatory, however, as there's no reason why a film can't combine the entertainment of an action movie with more thoughtful questions that a slow-paced drama might evoke. Truthfully, though, The Kingdom is much better in the action department than the more talky parts, although the latter are not handled badly, just unremarkably. The film begins with an ingeniously edited montage covering the history of the last century or so of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, assembled from archival news footage and diagrammatic CGI, providing a brief but extremely interesting snapshot of history. It won't make anyone without prior knowledge an expert but it excellently establishes the background to the fictionalised (but inspired by a true event) narrative of the film. Thus follows the incident that sets in motion the plot: an American residential compound in Riyadh is targeted by suicide bombers disguised as security personnel. As if that isn't shocking, if scarily believable, enough, they happen to commit the atrocity while a bunch of families are playing a softball game. It's a compelling opening.
Enter the USA-team. Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman are all members of an elite FBI squad with different fields of expertise. The only one of these who's given any introduction is Foxx, who is shown to be a good and caring father, but we learn little else. We learn even less about the others, who have very little in the way of memorable characters but all the performances are solid. Cooper is the grizzled veteran, Garner is the forensics expert whose femaleness is a slight problem for the religious Saudis, and Bateman (from acclaimed-but-cancelled sitcom Arrested Development) the slightly incongruous but nevertheless successful comic relief. A standout is Ashraf Barhom as the Saudi official who at first is somewhat antagonistic towards the Americans but slowly begins to help their investigation; Barhom makes the character more than just one-note and is the main reason that the depiction of Muslims in the film cannot be seen as completely negative. In the middle section the pace of the film slows but it remains thoroughly engrossing as plot developments keep coming at a decent rate and the investigation inexorably builds towards finding the perpetrators. Then, at about the 90-minute mark, there's a sudden gear-shift into exciting all-action territory.
A pertinent question here is should we gain enjoyment from a situation that is currently adversely affecting so many people's lives? Get past that (probably non-existent for most people) moral hurdle and it's difficult not to enjoy The Kingdom, especially the chaotic, action-packed third act when all the bullets start flying. The sequence, superbly handled by Peter Berg, has producer Michael Mann's fingerprints all over it, combining the efficiency of his famous shootout in Heat with the mayhem and arid-climate surroundings of Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. The sustained, lengthy sequence certainly gets the pulse racing but does also enhance the fantasy aspect of the film as everything is conveniently wrapped up afterwards. If only fighting real terrorist cells was so straightforward. It's this gung-ho attitude that lessens the film's status as a comment on the Middle East - it seems to suggest that everything can be solved by opening a good old can of whup-ass - but divorced from the current political situation and taken simply as a very good action movie, albeit one where you have to wait for the action, it's easily worth the ticket price.
The summary
Don't expect a great deal of insight into the current Middle East problems, but do expect an engrossing first two acts and an explosively entertaining finale.
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