Movie Review: The Kingdom

So... Mrs GF gets on a plane and heads to China this morning... and as I type this, she is probably at least three hours out of Beijing, yet. Soccergirl and I go to the mall and hang out a bit. we went to the bookstore, and then had tacos for lunch. While we were there, we went over to the AMC theaters that are at the mall so I could check out the movie times. You see, I was about to have an evening to myself.

Soccergirl was going to a Halloween event with one of the neighbor children, that was going to take her away from 5 P.M. until 9 P.M.... I was going to have four whole hours to myself. How cool is that?

So, after a dinner of pizza healthy food, Soccergirl donned her pirate princess costume and away she went with the neighbors! After starting around at the empty house for a little while, I went to the the mall and coughed up $9.50 for my ticket.

The theater wasn't packed, as this movie has been out for nearly a month, but there were a respectable number of people there.

The premise was simple: An American compound in Saudi Arabia had been bombed with over a hundred lives lost, and American FBI investigation team has to strong-arm it's way into the country in order to investigate. Despite the obstruction of Saudi officialdom, the team, along with their Saudi minders, start finding clues which are leading to the big terrorist mastermind.

It must be said that up until the last half hour of the film that the movie was ok, but only ok.... with that out of the way, let me say that the last thirty minutes was worth the wait if you are a "shoot everybody and blow-shit-up" kind of guy like me. There is something for everyone here... a good variety of weapons, from handguns to shotguns, various rifles, grenades and even a few RPG's! The explosions were good, the sounds of the weapons were about right. Whoever the weapons-master was for this film, did it right this time around.

The characters were a wee bit thin, but to tell you the truth, who cares about that stuff in a shoot 'em up movie? The leads were: a strong woman character, played by Jennifer Garner (who shoots a BUNCH of people, then kills a guy with a knife in one of the last scenes. There is also the comedic agent, played by Jason Bateman, Chris Cooper plays the quirky, but rock-solid FBI explosives technician/investigator... and team leader Ronald Fleury is played by Jamie Fox, who, during the movie gets to mention his hometown of Terrel, Texas (which I only mention because my grandfather lived in Terrel, Texas for a large part of his life, dying there, ten years ago).

I liked this movie. I did... enough so that when it comes out on DVD, I'll buy it.

The movie let out at about 8:25, so I beat-feet back home, pouring a glass of wine and settling down with a snack, to write this, when Soccergirl came home.

After sg told me all about the party, which included a moon bounce, it was time to change and get ready for bed.

I read her a story, and promised that we could call her sister tomorrow.

As I write this, she is beginning to snore.

What a nice evening.