Film is one big blast; THE KINGDOM DVDs

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Jan 25, 2008

WHEN suicide bombers target the Gulf Oasis West-, ern Housing Compound in Riyadh, resulting in the slaughter of dozens of men, women and , children, bureaucrat ic red tape prevents the immediate deploy ment of a team of crack FBI oper atives.

Going behind the back of supercilious Attorney General Gideon Young (Huston), Special Agent Ronald Flu-ery (Foxx, pictured) brokers a secret deal with a Saudi prince to fly in his team: Forensics L examiner Janet Mayes (Garner), intelligence analyst Adam Leavitt (Bateman) and k explosives expert Grant Sykes (Cooper).

The FBI agents join forces with Colonel Al Ghazi (Barhom) and second-in-command Sergeant Haytham (Suliman) to unmask the bombers, unaware that they are the extremist cell's next target.

The Kingdom is much more interested in pyrotechnics than a credible and well-considered debate on cultural differences and blame.

Director Peter Berg orchestrates the horrific bombing at the beginning of the film and the subsequent action sequences with aplomb, building to an adrenaline-pumping hunt for the terrorists in a besieged apartment block.

Needless to say, diplomacy is given extremely short shrift throughout; guns and grenades have a much greater impact here than words.

The film is loud and bombastic, sustaining dramatic momentum after the nerve-racking opening sequence.

DVD Extras: Character By Character: The Apartment Shootout featurette, Constructing The Freeway featurette, Creating The Kingdom featurette, deleted scenes.

(Cert 15,105 mins, Universal Pictures (UK), Action/Thriller, also available to buy DVD E19.99/HD DVD pounds 24.99) Starring: Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Chris Cooper