RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / The Kingdom
The Kingdom

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

The Kingdom (2007)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
51 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:181

Fresh:92

Rotten:89

Average Rating:5.8/10

Consensus: While providing several top-notch action scenes, The Kingdom ultimately collapses under the weight of formula and muddled politics.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for intense sequences of graphic brutal violence, and for language.

Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Theatrical Release:05-10-2007

Synopsis: Actor, writer, and director Peter Berg (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) delivers a fearless, action-packed political thriller with THE KINGDOM. Shot in the Middle East with unsettling immediacy, the hand-held... Actor, writer, and director Peter Berg (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) delivers a fearless, action-packed political thriller with THE KINGDOM. Shot in the Middle East with unsettling immediacy, the hand-held cameras put viewers right inside the action, while the tension between American FBI agents and their Saudi counterparts maintains an interesting uncertainty about who's "right" and who's "wrong." The bad guys, however, are unmistakable: the film opens with a brutal terrorist attack on an oil company compound in Saudi Arabia, where a visiting FBI agent is killed. Back home in Washington, fellow agents Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx, RAY) and Janet Mayes (Jennifer Garner, ALIAS), want revenge, and will do whatever it takes to gain access to the investigation. Fleury all but blackmails a Saudi prince to get clearance against the wishes of a timorous attorney general, and flies overnight to the scene of the crime. Accompanying him are the no-nonsense forensics expert Mayes, Southern-fried bomb authority Grant Sykes (Chris Cooper, ADAPTATION), and Jewish smart aleck Adam Leavitt (Jason Bateman, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT). Once there, they encounter the resistance of a Saudi government more interested in getting the Americans safely out of the country and avoiding conflict, rather than in solving the crime. They are assigned a smarmy handler with a weak stomach (Jeremy Piven, ENTOURAGE) to make sure they stay out of trouble. The team must navigate a maze of bureaucracy to begin collecting evidence, but they have an unlikely ally in their Saudi escort, Colonel Faris Al Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom, PARADISE NOW), a scrupulous and intelligent officer whom Fleury befriends. Soon enough, procedure and protocol give way to car chases and explosive fire fights, and the current bleak political climate of extremism and violence is portrayed in a stark light with no easy answers. [More]

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman, Jeremy Piven, Danny Huston

Director: Peter Berg

Director: Peter Berg
Screenwriter: Matthew Michael Carnahan
Producer: Michael Mann, Scott Stuber
Composer: Danny Elfman
Studio: Universal Pictures

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Trailer
    >
    Trailer #2
    >
    Training Featurette
    >
    Interviews
    >
1 - 4 of 4

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for The Kingdom

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

It's a frenetic, often incomprehensible film, full of rapid cutting, giant close-ups and muttered dialogue.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
10/20/07
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

Absurdly gung-ho but no less enjoyable thriller, providing you don't take the flag-waving politics too seriously.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/05/07
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/film/film-23339226-details/The+Kingdom/filmReview.do?reviewId=23414945

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
10/05/07
Derek Malcolm
Derek Malcolm
This is London

And that’s the problem. The Kingdom isn’t awful – the relentless pace, thumping soundtrack, twisting plot and shaky camera-work all see to that.

Full Review Source: thelondonpaper | comment Comment
10/05/07
Stuart McGurk
Stuart McGurk
thelondonpaper

If this mix doesn't entirely work, it's perhaps because there are so few surprises – the forensic elements of the investigation would be wrapped up in minutes by CSI's boffins. Still, it's possible to respect the effort while doubting the achievement.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
10/05/07
Tim Robey
Tim Robey
Daily Telegraph
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Intelligent films about US involvement in the Middle East can be counted on the broken fingers of one hand, and this one makes Syriana look like Citizen Kane.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
10/05/07
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

Rambo meets Syriana in this bloated action-thriller, which tries to be gung-ho and PC at the same time.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
10/05/07
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Macho lunacy.

Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
10/05/07
Nigel Andrews
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times

A cut above the bullish jingoism that would have characterised a film of this ilk at the beginning of this decade.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
10/05/07
Wendy Ide
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As a pure thriller, it's entertaining - but The Kingdom tries too hard to be a crowd-pleaser, and ends up standing in the shadows of better and more provocative movies.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
10/05/07
Saxon Bullock
Saxon Bullock
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It may feel a bit like CSI: Riyadh, but The Kingdom earns its keep when it addresses thorny political realities in the Gulf States through the milieu of a culture-clash thriller. Hard to excuse that banzai finale, though.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
10/05/07
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
Total Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

In twenty years this will look as subtle as an episode of "Love Thy Neighbour".

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
10/05/07
Mike Brett
Mike Brett
Little White Lies

A terrifically stupid film. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
10/05/07
Dave Calhoun
Dave Calhoun
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Think Team America with the radiators turned up....

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
10/05/07
Tim Evans
Tim Evans
Sky Movies

Not quite as smart as it wants to be, and a better action movie than it is a political thriller, this is still a heart-pounding drama.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
10/05/07
Helen OHara
Helen OHara
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Simplistic in the extreme and riddled with clichés, the quality of its execution can't excuse the dubiousness of its premise.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
10/02/07
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
09/29/07
Screen International

Berg struggles to blend rah-rah Top Gun heroics with spiky Bourne-style realism.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment 1 Comment
09/20/07
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

There's no real difference between choreographing a bloody jihadist skirmish and a gridiron match

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/27/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

A good deal more Transformers than Syriana, a movie that drapes a crisp, lightly browsed copy of The Economist over an enormous pubescent boner for grinding metal, busted glass, and crackling gunfire.

Full Review Source: Reverse Shot | comment Comment
08/08/09
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith
Reverse Shot
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
all

Latest News for The Kingdom

March 04, 2008: Rush Hour 3 Takes '07 DVD Rental Crown
It may not have been quite the box-office phenomenon that its predecessors were -- and critics may have disliked it enough to keep it down at 20 percent on the Tomatometer --... More...

January 18, 2008: Down but Not Out, HD DVD Soldiers On
The clock hasn't stopped ticking on the format, but HD DVD consumers can look forward to seeing new films on store shelves -- for at least the next few months, anyway. More...

January 10, 2008: Amy Ryan and Greg Kinnear Join Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon in the Green Zone
"Making a movie about the war in Iraq" is quickly turning into just another way of saying "losing tons of money at the box office," but director Paul Greengrass isn't letting... More...

December 24, 2007: RT on DVD: Rush Hour 3, The Kingdom, and More!
There's action and drama to be found this week, and not just with your family at Christmas dinner. And if you couldn't make it out of town for the holidays, you're in luck; this... More...

See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…
19% 19% Transformers: Revenge …
55% 55% Orphan

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
98% 98% Up
88% 88% Ballast
66% 66% The Merry Gentleman

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia

Your first look at the swashbuckler.

Vampires

Vampires

We rank cinema's bloodsuckers.

Avatar

Avatar

The full trailer for Cameron's epic.

2012

2012

12 facts about Emmerich's disaster flick.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Rachel McAdams Rumored for Spider-Man 4 Source: Mania.com
162
  • Danny Elfman Leaves The Wolfman Source: Cinemusic.net
28
  • Oldboy Remake Rumored Dead Source: Latino Review
20
  • Francis Lawrence Directing a Futuristic Sgt. Rock Source: Hollywood Reporter
3
  • Can Avatar Make Money? Source: New York Times
120
  • Robert Pattinson Says Breaking Dawn Could Roll in Fall 2010 Source: Collider.com
36
  • Joe Johnston Talks The Wolfman Source: Ain't It Cool News
8
  • Jason Schwartzman Talks Scott Pilgrim Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Abrams eyes Micronauts, Aykroyd as Yogi Bear
102
  • J.J. Abrams Producing Micronauts Movie? Source: Wall Street Journal
11
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Total Recall: John Cusack's Best Movies
77
  • Five Favorite Films with Roland Emmerich
72
  • Weekly Ketchup: Abrams eyes Micronauts, Aykroyd as Yogi Bear
34
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Christmas Carol Tops, Precious Rocks
32
  • 10 Movies That Changed The (End Of The) World
27
  • Friday Harvest: Prince of Persia, The Road, and more!
26
  • Five Favourite Films with Ang Lee
21
  • Critics Consensus: 2012 Isn't Quite Earth-Shaking
7
  • RT's Holiday Movie Preview -- Find Out What's Hot This Season!
0
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
15
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
  • Emma Stone talks Zombieland - RT Interview
40
  • Michael Moore: The RT Interview
139
  • Andrea Arnold talks Fish Tank - RT Interview
4
  • Neill Blomkamp talks District 9 - RT Interview
51
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • The Kingdom at Rotten Tomatoes
  • The Kingdom at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.