Since the 911 incident in the US, there have been several movies on Hijacking, Kidnapping, Terrorism, etc. The Kingdom is one such movie. It is however not just any action flick. The subject matter is kinda interesting, focusing on the US – Arab relationship since Osama Bin Ladin and Saddam Hussein.

The movie is directed by Peter Berg and stars big name actors and actresses like Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Chris Cooper, Richard Jenkins, Jeremy Piven and Ashraf Barhom.

In a nutshell, it is about how shady Arab fundamentalists wipe-out a lot of Americans in an American estate in Saudi Arabia. Since one of those killed was an FBI agent stationed there, therefore the whole the FBI team consisting of Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman’s character, is determined to catch the terrorist, mostly for revenge, but also to make a point that terrorism never wins.

To me, the killing scene was a little too much like the killing scenes in a video game, with lots of action and gore happening really fast. But one of the things that made the movie stand out for me was the subtle focus on the treatment of women in Muslim countries. Sad to say, it is a case of movie mirroring reality as women are still considered as 2nd class citizens in places like Saudi Arabia, where despite all the progress made in the country, women still have to appropriately covered up at selected places, and they are considered as non-important as compared to men, no matter how good they are in their profession.

I have to admit that because I went to see the 9:30pm session of the movie after a pretty full dinner, I was actually sleepy, yawning and fidgety in the first hour of the movie. Then the pace of the movie caught up when they finally got to Saudi Arabia and by the time they were trying to work as team with 2 local policemen to find the terrorist, I was fully awake, alert and paying attention

The climax of the movie had to be when Jennifer Garner gets tossed around. Considering that she, in real life, gave birth not too long before making the movie, one can imagine the stress and pain involved. The motherly bond also showed up in scenes involving her character with a Saudi Child.

Despite all the big name actors in the movie, I feel that Jason Bateman did a really fantastic memorable job this time. For those of you who still remember, Jason started his acting career really early. He was already a teen idol in the mid-1980s, starring in TV sitcoms like Silver Spoons, It's Your Move and The Hogan Famil. He was also the Directors Guild of America's youngest-ever director when he directed three episodes of The Hogan Family at the age of 18. After the series ended its run, his career slowed down for nearly a decade. In 2003 his career made a major comeback with the role of Michael Bluth on the FOX television comedy Arrested Development. More recently, he has appeared in Dodgeball as ESPN 8 ("The Ocho") commentator "Pepper Brooks", and in Starsky & Hutch.

Overall, this is a really interesting movie and definitely is worth spending 2 hours on.

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