Ahab watches old movies

Not that old, I suppose – Mrs. Ahab and I really hate going to the theatre, and we will really only go if there is a movie out we both are significantly interested in, such as The Dark Knight.  Because of that, when I see a preview for a movie that looks good, I make a mental note to order it On Demand or Tivo it when it’s playing in HD on HBO or Starz.

Last night, we finally got around to watching our DVR’d copy of The Kingdom, starring Jamie Fox and Jennifer Garner (who is hot in a girl next door sort of way).  I remember when this movie came out that people were saying that it was anti-war and anti-American or something, to which I can only conclude that they weren’t watching the same movie that I did.  The basic gist of the plot is that some terrorists attack a western housing compound in Saudi Arabia, and the FBI does some political tap-dance and gets to send a team over to “The Kingdom” (hence the name) to assist with the investigation.

I actually thought the film was pretty solid – it did a decent job of portraying the difference between your average Muslim who just wants to live his/her life out and the crazy jihadists who want to kill everyone, without sliding into apologizing for terrorism or anything like that.

Now for the part that you people care about – there was a pretty cracking gunfight for the last 10-20 minutes of the film.  Jennifer Garner spends most of it with an HK MP5K, Jamie Fox goes from an HK G3 to a 12 gauge shotgun, and then tosses that for a pistol grip AK.  The badguys are pretty much universally armed with AKs, although you do see a Tokarev, and the goodguy Saudis are usually packing M4’s and Beretta M9s.

If you get a chance to see it for anywhere from $0.00 – $5.00, The Kingdom would be totally worth it, if for no reason other than the political intrigue (which I dig) and the big gunfight at the end.

5 Comments

  1. I think at issue was the final line(s) of the movie, where the old Saudi terrorist’s grandson is asked by his siter “What did grandpa say to you?” The reply is “Don’t worry, someday we’ll kill them all.”

    Then, a moment later, when someone asks what Jamie Fox said to Jennifer Gardner (total hottie in any way, IMHO) to make her feel better earlier in the fillm, he says “I told her we’d kill them all.”

    Now, my quotes aren’t verbatim, but the idea was that we’re no different than the terrorists, because we both want to kill each other. When the film was shown to test audiences, the director got all mad when people were cheering when the old terrorist gets whacked, which they weren’t supposed to, because it was like, a social message they were missing, or something. Man.

    I agree with you – the fact that two lines in the movie are rediculous doesn’t detract from the general pace and feel of the film. I liked it, and would recommend it to others as well for a good action flick.

  2. See, I didn’t take it like that – because when Jamie Fox’s character said “we’ll kill them all” it was in a moment of heat and anger, and no different from what I would have said in the exact same circumstance.

    I don’t dismiss the possibility that the director could have been implying that we’re the same as the terrorists for wanting to “kill ’em all”, but the difference is that he (the director) would be making that implication based on the false pretense that there is no moral difference between killing someone in self-defense as the FBI agents did, and cold blooded murder.

  3. My take on the “we kill them all” response was, the terrorists demand you agree with them or they will kill you. The good guy response was, that’s what we do when “they” try to kill any of us. Damn straight!

    There was similar PSH when in the (first ?) Indian Jones movie Indie just sighs and then shoots some giant turbaned bad guy who is about to fillet him with a huge sword. The vapors crowd was aghast at the audiences cheering that scene. Geez.

    I liked the movie and thanks for the reminder, I want to watch it again.

  4. I agree that this indeed is a good film. On top of all the gun handling, and cultural / political scene setting there are some really good “how not to act in a counter terrorism role”.

    I remember sitting next to my wife watching the film mumbling “not paranoid enough”. There’s some good stuff there, and yes Jennifer Garner is easy on the eyes.

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