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As Serious Film, 'Kingdom' Falls

Unrealistic action movie doesn't carry the weight it wants to, critics say

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 28, 2007 11:47 AM CDT

(Newser) – The Kingdom, starring Jamie Foxx and directed by Peter Berg, wants to be a thoughtful action movie about terrorism—part Rambo, part Syriana, muses the Washington Post. Instead, Newsday says, it's a “clamorous and patronizing” popcorn flick, that EW calls “shameless” in pushing audiences’ buttons.

The film follows a Foxx-led FBI team’s investigation into a suicide bombing in Saudi Arabia. It’s sometimes a “jingoistic CSI: Riyadh,” says Rolling Stone, but Berg “stages every ambush, gun battle, and car chase as if his life depends on it.” The real reason to see it, the Village Voice says, is the “utopian spectacle of wounded Americans heading home, mission accomplished.”

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Universal provided this photo of (left to right) Jennifer Garner, Ali Suliman, Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper in "The Kingdom." (AP Photo/Universal/Frank Connor) (Associated Press)

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As Serious Film, 'Kingdom' Falls