REEL REVIEW: The Kingdom (2007) ***

R for intense sequences of graphic brutal violence, and for language.

1 hr. 40 min.

written by: Matthew Michael Carnahan
produced by: Peter Berg, Michael Mann& Scott Stuber
directed by: Peter Berg

Recently, I caught a screening of director Peter Berg's ( "The Rundown" & "Friday Night Lights") latest film with my friend Otto. I had seen a trailer for this movie at the beginning of the year and heard that its release date had been changed. The subject matter certainly captured my interest yet anytime a release date is moved you gotta wonder if it's gonna be a dud. It's not always the case, just usually. But, with two Oscar winner and two Golden Globe winners and being a fan of Berg's approach, I was hopeful that this movie would deliver. It certainly did. As I think back, I see it as more of a look at two different cultures than a terrorism action-thriller although it still does indeed fall into that genre.

The story is based on the Riyadh compound bombings which took place on May 12, 2003, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.The compound was an American housing facility that was attacked by Saudi terrorists in broad daylight while families were playing softball and enjoying a cookout. When it's discovered that a FBI Special Agent (Kyle Chandler) was killed in the bombing, the FBI want to be the first to send a team to investigate the bomb site. Of course any sign of Americans flying over to do just that would only escalate the uneasy situation.

While diplomats slowly debate equations of territorialism, under the radar and unbeknownst to his boss (Richard Jenkins), FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) leads an elite team of four agents to the scene of the bomb site after pulling a few strings. They are greeted by an uneasy American liaison (Jeremy Piven) and are given five days to go in there and find out who pulled off the attack. With forensic specialist Janet Mayes (Jennifer Garner), intelligence analyst Adam Leavitt (Jason Bateman), and bomb expert Grant Sykes (Chris Cooper) at his side, he is confident that they will be able to infiltrate and bring down the terrorist cell within such a short time frame.

Once there, however, the group discover Saudi authorities suspicious and unwelcoming of American interlopers into what they consider a local matter. They also have to deal with a disorienting culture, the scorching heat, and of course, politics. It isn’t long before the foursome begins to doubt the reliability of their supposed informants and allies, which eventually leads them to question their own abilities. It quickly becomes clear to Fleury that their expertise is worthless without the trust of any Saudi counterparts, who want to locate the terrorist in their homeland on their own terms. Therefore local law enforcement becomes more of a hindrance than help.

Fleury’s crew finds a like-minded partner in Saudi Colonel Al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhoum), who helps them navigate royal politics and unlock the secrets of the crime scene as well as the workings of an extremist cell bent on further destruction. Soon, the FBI unit picks up the track, leading them to the inevitable showdown with the opposing force. As they share an ambitious commitment to crack the case, the team is led to the killer's front door in a blistering do-or-die confrontation. Everyone winds up fighting for their lives in a race-against-time kinetic chase as one of their own is kidnapped by the terrorists. It becomes four agents and one colonel trying to bring some semblance of justice in a "kingdom" where none of them are welcome.

Right from the start this movie is intense. It has to be. I appreciated the fact that it wasn't just all action. There was an investigation that had to take place first and foremost but once the terrorist cell sees that Fleury's team are getting closer, they become quite aggressive and thus the story is unrelentingly propelled into action. The actors are believable and well-suited here in their characters. Foxx is no-nonsense but also charismatic and tender when he needs to be. Garner's physicality as an actor is well-known and toward the end she has a pretty serious showdown with a hulk of a guy. It's handled well as it doesn't make her out to be a super spy chick ala Sydney Bristow. Cooper is excellent as always and is slowly becoming the leading man's supporting character actor. Bateman's role is well-needed and he handles a pivotally critical scene at the end very well.

Actor/Director Peter Berg (who also has a small role in the FBI briefing) doesn't make an overtly political film here but rather focuses on characterization, the immediacy of the investigation and the difference & similarities in the clashing cultures. He touches on that clash right away in the graphic display he includes in the opening credit sequence as he shows a timeline of America's relationship with Saudi Arabia and oil. So there's politics but I felt Berg shows it as it has been and is without stereotyping any culture as good or bad guys. There were a few sequences where Danny Elfman's score was given time to bounce back and forth between both the colonel's relationship with his family and the FBI team's acclimation to their environment. This felt similar to Berg's approach to "Friday Night Lights" where contemplative instrumental music was used to tell a story over scenes with no dialogue. It worked well but I guess I find myself surprised that Elfman didn't go with music that would've been a little more suited to the environment in order to drive home the theme of culture differences.

Carnahan did a great job with the script. It coulda been for one culture or the other and it also coulda had some cheesy dialogue here and there but it had none of that. Occasional humor is incorporated appropriately enough and the script gives some necessary development to Barhoum's role (who does excellent as well). Sure, some of the plot was a lil predictable but I found myself ignoring that as I was too busy sliding to the edge of my seat due to the emotionally intense action scenes. I kinda liked how this movie came in at under two hours cuz it really only deals with the investigation of the bombing. Still, Berg gives you enough during that time to become invested in both the story and these characters. This film could have ended on a political statement but instead, I feel it ends on a cultural statement about human nature. I look forward to hearing more about the film upon it's release.

The Skinny:

• The film was originally slated to be released on April 20, 2007, but was rescheduled after its positive reception by Universal executives as well as test audiences, for a better chance at award consideration.
• The film's new release date is September 28, 2007.
• It is also produced by Academy-Award nominated director Michael Mann.
• Berg read a book by Louis Freeh (with Howard Means) for research. Published in 2005, about Freeh's career in the F.B.I., entitled My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror. It's highly critical of both President Clinton and former counter-terrorism advisor Richard A. Clarke. Freeh made an appearance on The Daily Show to promote the book.
• It was written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, brother of director Joe Carnahan ("Narc" and "Smokin' Aces")
• Filming commenced July 10, 2006, on the west side of the old Maricopa County Courthouse in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Additional scenes were being filmed concurrently in Mesa, Arizona. In some of the trailer frames, saguaro cacti are visible in the background.
• Following filming on August 12, 2006, a crew member died when the utility vehicle (Gator 4x2) he was driving was hit by a sport utility vehicle carrying the director on Arizona State Route 202, in Mesa.
• On-location filming took place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates for one week in mid-September.
• Filming also took place at the Willard InterContinental Washington hotel in Washington, D.C. and the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.
  

Interview with Director/Actor Peter Berg

REEL REVIEWS: Capote (2005) ****

R (for violent images and brief strong language)
1 hr. 54 min.
written by: Dan Futterman (screenplay) & Gerald Clarke (book)
produced by: Caroline Baron, Michael Ohoven, & William Vince
directed by: Bennet Miller


A coupla Fridays ago, Adrian and I went and saw this movie after work.

My intention was to play catch-up with the list of all the movies that I've been wanting to see and this film happened to be one of them. Primarily those films that have received acclaimed reviews and award noms. It's hard to convince others to go see a movie that has been little seen but widely praised and is about a person not too many know about. I did my best to sell Adrian on it and after he saw the trailer online, he was up for it.
The movie is a biopic based on what Capote and those around him went through as he did research for his book, "In Cold Blood." In the movie, Capote coins the foreign (at the time) term "non-fiction novel". The book and his approach would go on to change the way people looked at and wrote about true crime and non-fiction stories.


"Capote" was on my list mainly for the talk of Philip Seymour Hoffman giving such a superb performance as American writer, Truman Capote. It was announced yesterday by the National Society of Film Critics that "Capote" had won the best picture award of 2005 and Best Actor for Hoffman. he also won Best Actor at the Critics Choice awards last night for this role. In recent weeks it has been awarded nominations for Best Actor from the Screen Actors Guild and Best Director for Bennett Miller from the Directors Guild of America.

The movie is that good to warrant all those noms and awards but it's not for those with short attention span or for those who are used to whiz-bang special effects out of there movie experiences. It's about real people and the effect one individuals self-absorption and obsession has on others.

By 1959, Capote (pronounced Ka-poe-tee) was writing for The New Yorker and was already quite famous for writing the novel that inspired the film, "Breakfast at Tiffany's." He was a well known figure among the wealthy Manhattan social circles. He was an eccentric character, openly gay, as much known for his high-pitched voice, outrageous manner of dress, and wild fabrications about acquaintances and events, as he was his literary talent. It was because of these characteristics that he was considered an outsider pretty much wherever he went.

Around this time he was looking for his next "great work" to write. He found it on November 15th, as he was reading he noticed an article about four members of a Kansas farm family who were shotgunned to death. This intrigued Capote enough to contact his editor William Shawn (Bob Balaban) and convince him that he should be sent out to Holcomb, Kansas to do an article on this story. He feels it presents an opportunity, he believes, to test his long-held theory that, in the hands of the right writer, non-fiction can be as compelling as fiction.

Capote also sees this tragedy as a clash of cultures coming together. There is the killer (or killers) and then there is the Clutter family, a middle-class, well-respected, small town family. It was reported that the entire family was murdered in the middle of the night after a break in. Why did this happen? Why was this family picked? What impact has this had on the townspeople? These are the questions that Capote initially takes with him as he travels to Holcomb.

Accompanying him is his friend from his childhood, writer Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) who kinda keeps Capote "in check. Because the personage of Capote is such a contrast, Lee acts as a sort of, translator. She understand him. She gets him where no one else would. Kansas folk may not know what to do with such a charismatic and eccentric character but they and she knows it. She is there for Capote and everyone around him in an effort for the well-known writer to be not necessarily respected but at least understood. She also serves as his conscience as he becomes obsessed in his pursuit of the story in an effort to help him keep any type of morality or sensitivity intact. Truly we see the story working on Capote as well as him working on the story.

First stop for Capote and Lee upon arriving is the local law enforcement where they meet Alvin Dewey (Chris Cooper) the agent from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in charge of the case. As others around him are kinda put off by his peculiar behavior, Capote wins the acceptance of Dewey, yet not by much. In hopes of letting him know that he's just doing a story on the community, Capote tells Dewey, "I don't care one way or the other if you catch who did this," which doesn't sit too well with Dewey. It's his case and his community and he is determined to find out what happened to this family.

The way in which Capote goes about researching the event is often quite manipulative and at times creepy. He tried to relate to a girlfriend of one of the Clutter daughters, when he says, "Ever since I was a child, folks have thought they had me pegged, because of the way I am, the way I talk." Lee is there with him, she can see it but he does indeed succeed in gaining the confidence of the girl. He even somehow manages to view the four dead bodies in the funeral home. We see him look underneath the cloth wrapped around the mutilated heads of the family members. Later, he tells his lover, writer Jack Dunphy (Bruce Greenwood) over the phone that he found his private peek fascinating.

Then two drifters, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Richard Hickock (Mark Pelligrino), are apprehended and soon sentenced to death. Finding himself increasingly drawn to the story by the sentence, Truman begins personally interviewing the murderers, particularly Perry Smith, at their maximum security prison. Avoiding discussion of the murders themselves, Capote learns more about their lives outside of crime, finding a humanity never put into print before and causing him to extend his article into a full-length novel. It would be the first True Crime novel ever written.

His extensive interviews with Smith lead to a strange relationship open to many terms of controversial interpretation. He feels compelled to assist the men and lead the world's opinion away from demonizing headlines. Capote even goes to lengths to find them a decent lawyer for their Supreme Court appeal although that act seems to be more an effort to prolong their lives for his novel. Yet, it kinda backfires for him in a way. When we see him give a reading of the book in New York, the audience was unprepared to deal with such a humanizing look at such vicious attacks. It certainly reinforces for some Capote's reputation for the peculiar.

Cinematographer Adam Kimmel opens the film on a gray prairie where only the Clutter's lone house stands. It sets the color palette of dark tones and earthy colors that portray a quiet, cold feel for the film even in the New York scenes. At times, it was almost like watching an Edward Hopper painting come to life.

The film is yet another biopic that succeeds in peeling the layers of a famous character to reveal (in Capote's case) the insecurities and selfishness that propels him to greatness. There is no typical hard living, drug addictions, or affairs here that are common in most "based-on-a-true-story" films. Instead we see a talented master manipulator face himself and his muse in a way unseen till now.

I mentioned above that the movie isn't for everybody. that's probably why not too many have heard about it. Some may walk out and think it too depressing or slow. Well, that may be the case but it is also one of the most well-acted, character-driven, and enthralling stories on the screen in 2005. Unfortunately, this will never be a movie that will be number one at the box office (which is kinda fitting considering the main character was such an outsider) but it will be a movie that will linger with you long after it envelopes you.