I liked it. I like the topic of the Middle East, and Saudi in particular... so I admit the movie was a bit contrived, but still Berg did a good job of showing the sides vs. the standard American view. Plus, I think I needed to see a film where maybe it's not so black and white.... think a more action-packed Syriana, if you've seen that.

And Jennifer Garner (hubbah!) is in the best friggin' realistic fight scene ever at the film's climax.

4 stars outta 5 for me, though one could pick it apart... anybody else see it?

* Ahem *

Nobody saw it? But it's got Jennifer Garner, and stuff explodes... it's COOL!

(((SPOILERS)))

I saw this, Troy and I did enjoy it, although I thought it was rather unrealistic.
They pointed out several times that women are treated differently in the Middle East, even to where Jennifer had to wear a burka of sorts to cover her prominent boobs and she had to be separate from the men in their quarters.
But why then would they send a women as part of the team when the goal was to convince the Saudis to let them lead the investigation? Didn't make sense, although Jennifer Garner is a favorite actor of mine.
Handing the child the lollipop in that volatile situation was just too cute for me.
I'm absolutely all for women pulling their weight but this was only a small group of experts with a few days to accomplish a difficult enough task without overcoming the country's religious/sexist beliefs.
Jason Bateman was excellent, I thought, as were the rest of the team.
I also liked the lead Saudi police officer (Faris).
Jeremy Piven's character was a little overacted I thought.
It was sad in a way that although the crime was solved, it was a relatively tiny advance against terrorism. It was a personal victory, though for the co-workers of the killed agent and the fellow Americans in the compound.
Not a feel good movie, considering how close Jason Batement came to being beheaded on videotape.

I think she was on the team because they wanted Jennifer Garner's name on the credits, and because it emphasized (however contrived) the cultural differences. But agreed completely.


Agreed.


Agreed.


AGREED.


Yep. To me, this was the most realistic part of it all... you can win a fight, you can beat a country if you want... but everybody loses. I thought in the context of the script that the actors (Piven excluded) did a great job... can definitely be picked apart, but it kept my attention and reminded me that no matter how imprecise, Saudi Arabia is a different world altogether.

It is on its way from Netflix...agree with the Jennifer Garner and exploding stuff generally = Cool. :-)

Sorry it took me so long, Troy. Finally saw this Friday night and I liked it. Nothing I can see craving to own or watch over again, but I liked it.
Jeremy Piven's role in this had me thinking, "Hey Ari... why'd you dump Vince for a Saudi Prince!?!
I had the same questions re: Jennifer Garner. Of all places to send a woman in such a gnarly situation. But... without her, they wouldn't have found the terrorist bomb guy and accomplished what they went there to do. I can't see that lollipop scene happening with a dude, and if they did do it with a dude they Cheesy-O-Meter would have gone off and taken the movie down. For me at least. So, that's my so well thought out and stunninly eloquent (yet short) reason why they needed the Garnster in that movie.
And that fight scene was awesome... I was all like, "Don't f*ck with Sidney Bristow, yo!!"

I love the range of Berg's Directing choices too. I got a crush on him with Aspen Extreme, loved him behind the camera on Very Bad Things and then to have him go from that to Friday Night Lights to The Kingdom it's like, what's next man? Yeah, yeah, The Rundown was pretty 'tarded, but C. Walken, bad ass fighting and Stiffler trying to kick the The Rock's ass all = well executed entertainment.

Yeah, that was seriously bad ass!



I haven't seen ANY of those... :: note to self ::