Comments on: The Kingdom opening titles

By: Rosey

Rosey — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:29:05 +0000

While there are many voices in the opening titles sequence, the distinctive voice is that of Will Lyman (not Leonard Nimoy as one person hilariously deduces). The clips using his narrations are taken from PBS's awardwinning Frontline series. Will has also done some other things and for those who avoid serious TV news but scoop up everything Hollywood has to offer, you would probably recognize him as the voiceover in "Little Children."

If only those involved in the Kingdom had actually watched those Frontline episodes, a better movie might have resulted. But you can't fault a studio for helping to at least raise a little consciousness about life in Saudi Arabia which is the real source of our 9/11 troubles and not its recently invaded neighbor to the north.

By: sam

sam — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:21:59 +0000

Wow. I must say that I just finished reading “The Looming Tower” about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and Al-Qaeda and I must say that 4 minute opening sequence pretty much sums up a big portion of that book. That sequence used excellent visuals/splicing (if that is the correct technical term) to condense successfully a complicated history. It’s too bad to hear the rest of the film is not as good, but I’m sure I’ll still watch it on Netflix.

By: BD

BD — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:58:53 +0000

The Kingdom is a fantastic film. I’d say it’s almost on par with the Bourne series.

By: Phillip

Phillip — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:38:08 +0000

@John:

Hehe didn't think you'd actually do it!

And, though I am from America, I definitely agree with "a heroic." This is because my rule for a versus an is thus: when before a word beginning in a vowel, use "an" otherwise use "a."

By: Dalibu

Dalibu — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:43:06 +0000

I am eternally happy that you went with “a heroic” in the end – “an heroic” is a very americanised spelling and always gets on my nerves (being an Aussie-English speller!)

By: John August

John August — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 00:49:26 +0000

Phillip (#7):

Good call! I just swapped that out.

It's also a tough call whether "a heroic" or "an heroic" sounds better. (They both sound ridiculous if you repeat them a few times.)

By: Devon

Devon — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:43:45 +0000

Gotta love that Elfman music. Just bought the CD off Amazon.

By: Phillip

Phillip — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:19:06 +0000

According to John August,

[â€?Creditsâ€? generally refers to the scrolling list at the end of the movie which lists all of the people who worked on the movie. â€œMain Titlesâ€? (or â€œOpening Titlesâ€?) are the people and/or production companies who have their names prominently displayed at the start of the movie, along with the title of the film.]

de la http://johnaugust.com/index.php?s=opening+credits&submit=Search

:) Just thought I’d share.

PS) I’m a fan of the site! Thanks for your interesting & in depth articles!

By: S. A. Petrich

S. A. Petrich — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:40:20 +0000

Wow. Those are some really good credits.

By: Kevan

Kevan — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:56:46 +0000

The Kingdom’s trailer is absolutely amazing, it manges to condense a century of history between the East and West in 3 mins 49 approx and is essential in understanding the story that is to follow. I’ve not seen the film but the trailer has whetted my appetite. This looks like this is going to be a hit!

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:30:30 +0000

** I admit, I looked up the Pietro Scalia thing.