Sociologist Herbert Gans, author and professor at Columbia University, is renowned for his theories about the segmentation of culture -- that is, the division of our everyday lives into different groups based on social status, power relations and various values and ideologies. Get all that? If not, you may be part of what Gans would call the "Lower-Middle Culture" -- a domineering form of culture today in which style comes before substance; star-power overrides performance; and the judgment of critics is thrown out the window.
Don't feel lonely if you happen to be one of those stuck in this specific cultural limbo -- after all, The Kingdom is right there beside you. From the opening credits to the final scenes, The Kingdom is the type of movie that puts you in a gripping chokehold -- a heart-pounding, overwhelming and utterly inescapable one. It's the quintessential "Lower-Middle Culture" action flick.
Not to say it isn't an attempt at an intelligently made movie. In a nutshell, The Kingdom succeeds in playing to the average American's lingering post-Sept. 11 fears by forming the plot around a "real-life" terrorist event. In an American compound in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, an innocent game of expatriate baseball takes a horrific turn for the worst when a drive-by terrorist shooting and a subsequent bombing leave behind slaughtered victims and a chaotic mess.
That's where special agent Ronald Fleury of the FBI (Jamie Foxx) steps in, launching a stealth mission to Riyadh despite lack of consent from his superiors. Fleury immediately assembles an elite, typical slew of assistants: the weapons expert (Chris Cooper), tough chick (Jennifer Garner) and computer guy (Jason Bateman). The movie already has shades of a dumb-downed Syriana combined with a supporting cast that pales in comparison with, say, Mission: Impossible III. Yet it forges on in the name of relevancy and popcorn-movie fare.
And it continues down that stumbling path. Sure, The Kingdom is exploding -- no pun intended -- with excitement. It takes every opportunity to hike up the heart rate. Yet an array of shallow subplots revolving around the American investigation serve as distractions rather than enhancements, and several questions (such as why none of the members of the FBI task force are trained in Arabic) leave more curious viewers wondering aloud.
All in all, The Kingdom is a terse, uneven attempt at a movie about conflict in the Middle East that fails to take advantage of its diverse, superlative ensemble cast. Incidentally, one of the biggest highlights of the film comes in the title sequence, a three-minute barrage of images and narration that details the complex relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. It's an innovative, entertaining history lesson and backdrop for the plot. I think Gans would agree, however, that the next 107 minutes just don't live up to the hype.
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