Sleeeepy. I used up all my words today already, sorry.
Jamie Foxx, star of much stuff, is on tonight re: his movie "The Kingdom" that we've been seeing commercials for. It opens Friday, so there aren't a whole lot of reviews up yet (unfortunately, only a few venues seem to have mastered internet time travel). What Rottentomatoes does have tallies to an, um, unencouraging 43% Rotten. I found a couple interviews etc. with Foxx about the movie, and undoubtedly by the time this posts there will be more.
So in the movie,
Foxx stars as whip-smart FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury, ... the assignment of his career: assemble an elite team ...and go to Riyadh to hunt down and capture the terrorist mastermind behind a deadly attack on Americans working in Saudi Arabia. ... only one week to infiltrate and cripple a cell bent on jihad to western society.
No training could prepare ... for the disorienting culture shock ...Bound by handlers who refuse to play ball with the U.S.... find the local law enforcement more hindrance than help and soon grow uncertain of anybody’s allegiance.
But when a sympathetic Saudi police captain helps them navigate Riyadh politics ..., Fleury finds an unexpected comrade-in-arms. In their lightning fast attempt to crack the case, the partners’ search leads them straight to the killers’ front door. Now in a fight for their own lives, two teams on opposite sides of the war on terror won’t stop until justice is found in The Kingdom.
Etc. I thought I'd just post the cliches in that official synopsis, but the damn thing is all cliche. Oh well. Maybe just a judicious bit of ellipsing...
I did read a couple of reviews, none of which thought the movie completely without worth. Variety includes this:
Rather than a "Rambo"-esque vengeance-is-mine retribution story, however, auds get something akin to "Adventures in Bureaucracy."...
Which is too bad, because "The Kingdom," for the most part, tries to be a serious drama about an ongoing crisis, begging the question of whether a movie attempting to spark serious debate should be pandering to the worst instincts of its audience. On the other hand, this isn't exactly "Frontline."...
And the New Yorker review is worth reading. Here are some choice lines:
No film whose closing credits list a "senior inferno artist" is likely to lull us with its tranquil charms...
...If Frank Capra had ever made a Rambo movie, it would have looked like this...
When Mayes is first told of the assault on the compound, she slumps into disbelieving grief, although her nose-wrinkling expression is more suggestive of a plumber, sniffing your property for blocked drains. Still, she cheers up, relishing her opportunity not merely to see the sights of Saudi Arabia but, whilst there, to stab a knife into the groin of a terrorist. This is what is known as symbolism...
I'm expecting a standard FunnyMovieGuy interview, with possibly a brief foray into SeriousThoughtsFromTrulyDeepMovieGuy. I suppose we'll see. |