RECOMMENDED Sneak previews are a treat for anyone who has to spend much time at advance previews in a screening room. Rather than screenings where tickets have been given away by a radio station, sneaks are filled with a self-selecting bunch that wants to see the movie at hand. Such was the case with “The Kingdom,” which its distributor has been showing around the country to critics and other groups for several months to figure how the heck to market it. Peter Berg’s straight-ahead thriller is political in the margins: U.S. agents (Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman) are sent to investigate the bombing of an American oil company’s facility in Saudi Arabia. Berg, whose work has more than lived up to the promise of the curdled “Very Bad Things” (1998)—TV’s “Wonderland” and “Friday Night Lights” (2004) are both pretty special—keeps the entertainment level high without completely turning the story into “CSI: Jidda.” Yet Berg never loses sight of the story’s central concern: is terrorism a civil crime? Or something that must be met with military action? The Saturday sneaks audience I saw “The Kingdom” with seemed as wowed as I was. Jeremy Piven’s the unctuous diplomat who just wants it all to be over. The script is by Michael Matthew Carnahan (“Lions for Lambs,” “White Jazz”). 110m. Anamorphic 2.40 widescreen. (Ray Pride)
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