I feel like I’ve been waiting for this movie without ever realizing it. Part of the way we understand the changing world around us is through film, and Hollywood always has one genre of film that can reach the most people with the least fuss. This can be something ranging from Spider-Man, The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and Forrest Gump. They’re the ideal candidate to send a message to people.

The Kingdom, the film’s name and one of the aliases of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, centers on a FBI team and Saudi Arabian police officers sent into Riyadh to investigate a terrorist attack on American and Saudi Arabian citizens.

Familiar faces among the team are Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman and Paradise Now‘s Ali Suliman. One of the reasons the film never sinks into pure action or drama is through comradery these characters share. Though the film is bookended by tragedy, what gets the audience to the end of the movie is the humor and friendship the cast shares.

Stylistically speaking, the movie keeps these characters from becoming action/detective types and gives each of them numerous opportunities to show off their quirks and habits. Foxx has the leadership and diplomacy, Cooper is the grump, Garner is sweet and tough as nails, Bateman is a wiseass and the officers played by Suliman and Ashraf Barhoum are sympathetic and reflective and give Saudi Arabia the soul it needs in the face of so much war.

If you want action, this is your movie. Sure, Die Hard 4 wins out for sheer over-the-topness, but The Kingdom makes you jump out of your skin. It’s hard for action, and especially explosions, to become unique or engaging, to do something new with them, but every time you think the fight is over, don’t.

Thankfully, The Kingdom doesn’t have anything to prove. There is no religious or political axe to grind here, because there’s nothing new to be said, and there may never be. Don’t get me wrong. Those elements make for a great backdrop here, but the final moments of the film remind you nobody is really right, and nobody really wins.

This film is accessible to everyone, and the messages and overtones only really try to hit you over the head at the end. For anyone who can take the high degree of violence this films dishes out, this is a must-see movie that doesn’t waste your time debating policies and belief structures and goes back to the best of Hollywood’s roots — telling a story.