A group of FBI agents travel to Saudi Arabia to investigate a terrorist attack there. They quickly find that they cannot do their jobs the same way they would in the US as they are being hindered at every turn from doing any actual investigating . The interference in their efforts escalates to violence and The Kingdom changes pace hitting its audience with quick and intense action sequences in the last part of the movie.
The Kingdom was good but not great. I went into it not knowing what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised by how well made it was. I also appreciated the many sides of the terrorism issue that were presented in what I found to be a balanced way.
This movie just didn't amaze me though. I'm putting it on my 'Watch It' list and giving it a value of $7.
2) Eastern Promises - $7
Easter Promises is the story of a midwife in London named Anna who is attempting to find the family of a young pregnant woman who died while giving birth at her hospital. Anna finds a diary written in Russian among the possessions of the young girl and soon discovers a link to a Russian mob family operating in London. The driver for this family is Nikolai, a mysterious Russian man working his way up the ranks of this powerful crime family. Nikolai becomes inexplicably kind to Anna and a great story unfolds around these two.
I had high expectations as I sat down to watch Eastern Promises and truthfully I really enjoyed it. Viggo Mortensen is incredible as Nikolai. Much like The Kingdom though I just didn't feel that I had seen a great movie when it was over. A good one no doubt, but not great.
Easter Promises is certainly on my 'Watch It' list though and I give it a value of $7 as well.
6 comments:
Didn't catch The Kingdom in theaters...heard it alternately dubbed "Syriana for Dummies" (which cracks me up) or "CSI: Afghanistan." I'm sure I'll see it sometime, if for no other reason than that they filmed part of it here in Phoenix.
I probably enjoyed Eastern Promises more than you, though it didn't crack my best of 07 list or anything (but it was close). Mortensen is pretty damn awesome in it, though. He deserves an Oscar nomination, at the very least.
Love Eastern Promises....
Kingdom...eh whatever. It wasnt a waist but could have done without.
fletch, funny titles for the Kingdom, though it's not set in Afghanistan.
sheamus, I think I liked Eastern Promises a bit better too. I was close to rating them $6 and $8 respectively knowing that Eastern Promises was the better movie but my experience of them seemed so similar so I gave them both a $7.
agree about the kingdom
"good but not great" -- that's the working title of my autobiography
I'm looking forward to Eastern Promises, but I'm not sure I'll bother with The Kingdom. We'll see.
i wrote off Kingdom because of my disdain for Jamie Foxx. But I Eastern Promises was great...
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