'Kingdom" embraces its action formula

The "Kingdom" is better than the intense marketing campaign claims it to be. In fact, it's so much better that I'm not sure they haven't shot themselves in the foot by implying it's some complicated, terrorist/socio-religious, political drama. No, it's just an edge-of-your-seat action flick set in Saudi Arabia.

And however simple, or unsophisticated, the story is in its politics, the story it tells is quite good. It uses current hot-button issues to lay out a "tried and true" story arc. From Sophocles to Spielberg, those who can tell a simple story well will always secure an audience.

The film takes place in a heavily guarded "western" compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Here westerners, who presumably work for large corporations and western governments, can live and dress as if they were in middle America. In the center of this insular cocoon a terrorist attack followed by a suicide bomber sets off an international incident. That evening, as an FBI agent tries secure the scene, another large bomb goes off and kills the agent -- along with hundreds of others.

While diplomats for the U.S. and Saudi Arabia argue about what's to be done, FBI agent Fleury (Jamie Foxx) gathers an investigative response team. When the diplomats agree to let the Saudis handle the investigation and deny U.S. entry, agent Fleury takes matters into his own hands by blackmailing a Saudi ambassador with embarrassing information about the royal family's ties to known terrorists.

Fleury's team is allowed five days to investigate the scene.

Once in Riyadh, Fleury's team (played quite straight -- though maybe a bit too down-homey for portraying the Best and the Brightest -- by Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) are hamstrung by suspicious Saudi authorities. But Fleury recognizes a fellow good cop in the like-minded Colonel Al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhoum), who eventually helps them navigate royal politics. With Colonel Al-Ghazi and royal support, the team quickly gets down to business and finds the bad guys.

The "Kingdom" is clearly no "Syriana." It's more like a traditional western, or a cops and robbers played large in the Middle East. And like a western, "Kingdom" is a stage for determining right and wrong while not allowing exterior forces to interfere with the unfolding drama.

You can assume the Americans are Christians and the bad guys are Muslims, but you'd be missing the point.

In this world there are only good guys and bad guys, and although there are no "bad" Christians portrayed in the film, there are many "bad" Muslims portrayed. But, really, the Muslims in the film aren't really that bad -- if it just wasn't for their Islamic faith, dang it. They're just misguided by their beliefs.

And there we go, a big-budget formula film playing with matches.