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The Kingdom (Operation: Kingdom)

Movie · 2007 · 15 people

Peter Berg directed the 2007 American-German action thriller The Kingdom from a screenplay by Matthew Michael Carnahan. It follows FBI Special Agent Fleury and his team, who are sent to Saudi Arabia after a bombing at a housing compound for foreign workers. The plot is fictional but draws on the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, the 2003 Riyadh compound bombings and the 2004 Khobar massacre. Universal Pictures released it in the United States on 28 September 2007, and it reached Turkish cinemas on 2 November 2007.

Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman lead the cast, with Kyle Chandler, Jeremy Piven, Richard Jenkins, Ashraf Barhom and Ali Suliman also appearing. The American agents have to work with Saudi security forces to find those behind the attack. The film uses the political tension between America and the Middle East, and the violent setting of a terrorism investigation, as its backdrop; dialogue is in English and Arabic.

Michael Mann produced the film, Danny Elfman wrote the score, Relativity Media was the production company, and the budget was $80 million. It first screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. It stirred controversy in some Middle Eastern countries, drew mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office.

DirectorPeter Berg
Production companyRelativity Media

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Cast

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Ashraf Barhom Ashraf Barhom Actor · 47 years old Ali Süleyman Actor · 49 years old Jamie Foxx Chris Cooper Jennifer Garner Jason Bateman Kyle Chandler Richard Jenkins Jeremy Piven Frances Fisher Danny Huston Anna Deavere Smith Ashley Scott Minka Kelly Peter Berg

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Through different eyes

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

The Kingdom's strength is how it turns an investigation step by step into street combat. Michael Mann's hand as producer shows too: the action scenes are realistic, loud and tense. At about 105 minutes it doesn't dawdle much. But since it's an investigation story, the haggling over cooperation takes up room too, so action fans need a little patience. As the stakes rise, that patience pays off.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Although it calls itself fiction, the film draws on real attacks in Khobar and Riyadh, which places on it a heavier responsibility than it can carry. The forced cooperation between American agents and Saudi security forces is a productive frame for showing distrust between the two countries, helped by dialogue in both English and Arabic. Yet the political tension is too often used merely as a backdrop for action, simplifying the subject rather than deepening it. It is no surprise that it stirred controversy in some Middle Eastern countries; it largely tells the region through an outsider's eye.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Peter Berg gives a story drawn from real attacks a hard, direct action language, and that is the film's most consistent choice. The problem lies in the script. Carnahan's screenplay drops the political complexity it sets up early on and reduces the story to a familiar 'team on a mission' structure. The characters remain largely defined by their function, a pity for such a strong cast working with so little material. Its underperformance at the box office despite an $80 million budget, and its mixed reviews, stem in my view from this imbalance: technically solid, dramatically half-finished.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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