September 2007

Dueling Reviews – The Kingdom

Director Peter Berg is responsible for Friday Night Lights and The Rundown.  He’s also responsible for 1998’s cruelty to film, Very Bad Things.  His latest takes his star cast to the deserts of Saudi Arabia to investigate a crime and bring terrorists to justice.  How does it stack up?  Take a look-see in the Full Diagnosis as Aaron and I square off to debate the merits of The Kingdom

The Kingdom
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After a well-planned series of attacks and a brutal bombing of an American facility in Riyadh leaves countless dead Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) blackmails his way into the country to give his team a chance to investigate the crime and find some measure of justice.

Fluery’s team consists of the old Southern guy (Chris Cooper), the comedy relief (Jason Bateman), and the tough, but sensitive, chick (Jennifer Garner) whose inclusion on the mission creates all kinds of cultural problems.  (Two things the movie doesn’t have a problem with – simplicity and cliche).

On arriving they are assigned a liasion (Ashraf Barhom) who treats them more as tourists than investigators and has his own trouble handling the delicate situation between the local police and military.  The FBI team fights for the right to do what they were sent to do, earn the respect of the locals (in that crazy buddy-cop Hollywood movie way) and soon become the next targets for the terrorists.

Alan’s take:

Let’s start of with what works.  The film does a decent job of showcasing the chaos of terrorist bombings, action scenes, and their aftermath.  We are pushed into these events with the characters, not knowing exactly what is going on or where the next attack might come from.

The acting, though not high quality, is decent and we get what we expect from Foxx, Cooper and Garner, and Bateman shows up to play the tension-relieving Steve Zahn-like comic relief.

What doesn’t work?  In an attempt to tell a complex story with geo-political ramifications and centuries of hatred and distrust the film relies too heavily on simple answers and easy choices.  There are no ramifications for the characters’ actions, even when such would be demanded by both law and common sense.  Nor do we ever feel the outcome of the team is in any doubt or their lives are at risk, even when they are put in mortal danger.

I also have to note the insanely bad taste to include an animated plane hitting the Twin Towers in the opening sequence which is meant to explain the history and the current situation between the United States and Saudi Arabia.  Although the film recovers from this early blunder I can’t imagine who thought it was a good idea.

Aaron’s take:

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Hollywood, it’s that the place is exceptionally ill-equipped to comment on big issues. Subtlety and nuance are simply too words that the major studios have never bothered to look up, let alone implement. Peter Berg certainly could use a primer if The Kingdom is any indication.

6 years into our Global War on Terror and it’s just now that Hollywood has decided to take on the concept of terrorism in any meaningful way (excepting the amazing Syriana, of course), but if this police procedural masked as political commentary is the kind of thing we can expect from a newly world-conscious Hollywood, I’d say it’s long past time for a remedial course in global politics.

Leaving aside the laughably insufficient primer on American-Saudi relations that runs over the credits, this film manages to brush up against a really informed and interesting film at least a dozen times over the course of its running time. Sadly, Berg never once seizes the opportunity and instead audiences can expect a big budget Law & Order that just happens to take place in Saudi Arabia. Albeit a L&O that places a lot less emphasis on accurately portraying how Federal Agents might actually act.

Alan’s final word – As misguided as the film is at times, and as insane as the constant shaky-handy-cam made me get, I must admit that the film was slightly better than I expected (though since I expected a spectacular train wreck that’s no saying much).  I wouldn’t go quite far enough to recommend the film, but I think there are people who will enjoy it for what it is – a mixed bag with its moments, both good and bad.

Aaron’s final word – Miscast, misconstrued, and woefully mistaken on the kind of dialogue we should be having about the roots of terrorism (not to mention what we should do about it), the Kingdom is pretty much Syriana for people who find Battlestar Galactica too confusing.

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Trade

  • Title: Trade
  • IMDb: link

Trade

The film begins with the kidnapping of Adriana (Paulina Gaitan), a 13 year-old girl from Mexico, and Veronica (Alicja Bacheleda-Curus), a young woman from the Baltic States.  They are taken by force to an unknown location and then put in the pipeline to be sold with others as sex slaves.  We watch their journey from Mexico, into the United States, and to New Jersey where they will be sold.

The other part of the story concerns American cop Ray (Kevin Kline) and Adriana’s brother Jorge (Cesar Ramos) who team-up to try and rescue his sister.

The film is full of disturbing scenes including the brutal rape of Veronica and highly suggestive scenes involving Adriana and girls and boys her age performing sex acts on the side of the road for money.  There are also scenes in which the girls are forced to change and pose provocatively for the camera, forcibly drugged, and beaten.  I honestly don’t know how this film avoided an NC-17 rating, which it justly deserves; it’s certainly not a film for the squeamish.

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When Man Walked on the Moon

  • Title: In the Shadow of the Moon
  • IMDb: link

“There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, ‘til all men walk on higher ground in that lifetime.”
—Maxwell Adams

In the Shadow of the Moon

In 1961 President John F. Kennedy presented a goal and challenge for the United States to land men on the face of the moon before the end of the decade.  This speech led to the creation of the Apollo program and their missions to the moon.

This new documentary from director David Sington and producer Ron Howard takes us back to the early days through the words and experiences of the surviving Apollo astronauts including Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Michael Collins, Jim Lovell, and Neil Armstrong (though in Armstrong’s case, only through archival footage).

With human ingenuity and hard work these men traveled through space and many of them stepped foot on the moon.  It was a time of magic and pushing the limits of all that was possible.

The film focuses mainly on the Apollo 11 mission, but also incorporates events from other space missions, including the near disaster of Apollo 13, into a well-managed format discussing training, lift-off, moon landing, return and life afterwards, with all the astronauts.

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