I just finished watching The Kingdom on dvd, and I must say that I am very impressed with Peter Berg. You all might remember him as Terry Conklin in The Great White Hype, however now he is behind the camera (for the most part; Peter makes a cameo appearance as an FBI agent in the begining) to bring us one of the best movies to depict the issues that are still plaguing Saudi Arabia. This movie paints a very grim picture of the things that are still going on there, as well as alot of hatred towards American’s. The main 4 characters shine in this movie (Foxx, Garner, Bateman, and Cooper), but in my opinion the screen belonged to Ashraf Barhom who plays Colonel Faris Al Ghazi. He is in charge of the safety of the American’s while they are present in Saudi, and you really start to see that not everyone feels that the American’s are all bad. He makes every attempt to resolve the case, although very resistant at first.

When I first that Peter Berg as the director/producer for this flick, I thought it would really lack substance. Honestly, I had no basis for this besides the fact that the movies he usually shows up in aren’t the greatest choices. However I have a new found appreciation for his work, and am very anxious to see more of his stuff.