The Kingdom - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
THIS Fall would appear to be the season when Hollywood really puts current events under the spotlight.
Several big movies – and Oscar contenders – will examine the fallout from the war against terror, whether at home (in the States) or further afield.
These include Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise in Lions For Lambs, Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon and Charlize Theron in In The Valley Of Elah; Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal in Rendition and Michael Winterbottom and Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart.
Perhaps less serious among them is the Peter Berg directed, Michael Mann produced action vehicle The Kingdom, starring a richly talented ensemble including Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Chris Cooper and Jeremy Piven.
The film follows the aftermath of a terrorist bomb that’s detonated inside a Western housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
While diplomats slowly debate the issue, FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury quickly assembles an elite team and negotiates a secret five-day trip into Saudi Arabia to locate the man behind the bombing.
Once there, however, Fleury finds that the Saudi authorities are suspicious and unwelcoming of American interlopers until they find an ally in Saudi Colonel Al-Ghazi, who helps them navigate royal politics and unlock the secrets of the crime scene.
But as they draw closer to their enemy, they find their lives in danger and forced to resort to increasingly desperate measures to survive.
The film is loosely based on the FBI’s investigation of the 1996 bombings of Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and has been written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, who also penned Lions For Lambs.
Rather than sticking rigidly to the talky politics and rigorous procedures, Berg opted to deliver a big action spectacle that might appeal to a wider audience and force them to ask questions.
He told Entertainment Weekly, for instance, that “it’s kind of like tricking a kid to do his homework. You’ve got to make it fun.”
Hence, the film is packed with explosive situations. But that didn’t come without cost as the production was blighted by several tragedies.
First, a consturction worker on the film was killed in a motorbike accident, then a prop maker died from cancer after being admitted to hospital with stomach cramps and finally a prop master was killed in an on-set collision between an SUV and a small crew vehicle while the rest of the crew looked on in horror.
Berg, however, determined to work even harder to create a lasting tribute to one and all.
“It was the most tragic experience I’ve gone through,” he told EW. “But it galvanized all of us to honour Nick Papac with every creative fibre in our bodies.”
The results can be seen by UK viewers when the film opens on October 5.