The Kingdom?

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  • The Kingdom?

    Two thumbs up!

    Only thing that kind of took me out of it was the water leftover in the hole. That thing would've been dry in a few hours I bet.

    Middle of desert+130 degrees?

    I rather talk about some other aspect, though.

    Penny for your thoughts.
    @PatriotFrames

  • #2
    Re: The Kingdom?

    Oh and the urgency of the attempted beheading. Usually they like to flaunt the prisoners in a couple videos before actually executing them.
    @PatriotFrames

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    • #3
      Re: The Kingdom?

      Originally posted by Development Hell View Post
      Oh and the urgency of the attempted beheading. Usually they like to flaunt the prisoners in a couple videos before actually executing them.
      I don't know how to feel about that moment. I mean, when the team is watching the Internet video of the attack, the Chris Cooper character pointed out how they like to show off their work. So maybe that explains why they couldn't behead the Jason Bateman character until they got the camera set-up. Pride as their downfall?

      Other than that, I thought it was a great film. Purely action.

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      • #4
        Re: The Kingdom?

        Great piece in the latest Script Magazine about this.

        I'm going to see it tomorrow.
        sigpic

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        • #5
          Re: The Kingdom?

          I get the impression that the entire crater had once been full after the fire truck's tanks had been torn by the explosion. By the time the FBI got there, in less than 24 hours, less than a third remained.

          The urgency for the beheading was that they knew they were being chased which meant in order to do it they had to act fast or risk the backup forces arriving.

          The reason they wanted to video tape it is because propaganda is a weapon. Simply beheading is not as effective as showing the gruesome details and replaying them over and over for all the world to see.

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          • #6
            Re: The Kingdom?

            I liked it. Yes, some of the plotting was a little bit clunky, and hard to believe and yes, they overplayed into melodrama more than once in their attempt to humanize all the characters. And, I don't doubt that there will be folks out there who will feel that the revelation in the end about shared destiny and the cycle of revenge was heavy handed, or cheap.

            But, if you think about it, it was a very tough thing to take on in a complete way. Trying to fit the cultural tension, the investigation, the action, and the plotting all in one movie, very difficult.

            And, I'll admit, I wasn't there for a thinking person's film, I was there to watch a black guy and a white woman from the USA setting it off on a bunch of frigging fundamentalist nut job murderers. Yep. I admit it.

            It was a great vicarious revenge fantasy.

            Until they pulled the rug out in the end. And, I appreciated that they did that, I appreciated the choice, because it was a bit risky in terms of BO appeal, IMO.

            Interestingly enough, a previous version of the script had them all getting taken out by a suicide bomber as they're boarding the plane to go home. And, they thought maybe that was just a bit too grim...so they changed it. As writers, I think it's interesting to look at how little work went into that script change and how it fundamentally ends up changing the tone and feeling that the audience is left with.

            I have to say though, there were two trailers before it that dealt with the Middle East and the war on terror, "Rendition" and "Lions for Lambs". The second in particular has huge star power--Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Robert Redford and probably some others. "Rendition" stars Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhall.

            I think both these pictures are just doomed. I think they'll both flop. In fact, I think any picture with a budget over 20m that deals with any of this stuff in a serious fashion is going to take a bath. Just my cheery prediction.

            Oh, yeah, and the trailer for "Lions for Lambs" was absolutely awful, almost incomprehensible and cliche when it wasn't.

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