'The Kingdom'

Like children and neo-conservatives, a good war action thriller wants the face of evil to be unambiguous and clearly defined. If we're not seeing a lot of these films set in Iraq at the moment, it may be because it's a little problematic sorting out the good guys from the bad. The war in Iraq is also too much of a hot potato to stir a strong consensus at the box office: A dramatized Iraq thriller with something for everyone would either be spineless, tasteless or all of the above.

BY JAN STUART

September 28, 2007