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Jamie Foxx stars as FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury in director Peter Berg's new political powder keg "The Kingdom."

He "stars" in the most hyperbolic sense of the word. What a powerful, dominant presence Foxx has become. Fleury is possessed of blazing intelligence and reacts to situations - dinner with a Sikh prince or a fire-fight in Saudi streets - with sudden, decisive action.

Two performances in films released this month are going to merit serious Oscar consideration come year's end: Foxx in "The Kingdom" and Russell Crowe in "3:10 to Yuma." There are actors, and there are movie stars (Tom Cruise).

Foxx and Crowe are perched at the highest point where both notions intersect. We're lucky there are scripts and directors worthy of their talents.

The entire cast contributes to a movie that both informs and exhilarates. "The Kingdom" is a present-tense story of investigating terrorism. It's an action movie for Newsweek subscribers.

When a suicide bombing and follow-up detonation kill hundreds in the streets of Saudi Arabia, Foxx and his team do a slow limbo beneath streams of red tape before they're allowed onto Saudi soil. Once there, the political obstacles become even more maddening.

At first they can't even visit the crime scene. They can't work at night. Jennifer Garner's character, a female agent in a country of devout Muslims, is told she's not to leave the empty gymnasium where the team is being housed.

But Berg keeps the film sharp and smart. It was Berg who turned the beloved high school football tome "Friday Night Lights" into a modern classic of the sports genre. "The Kingdom" is a bold next step.

One scene warrants note. Halfway through the film, Jason Bateman (the team's wiseacre) reads from a book about Muslims. It tells how many virgins await in the afterlife, and his fellow feds yuk it up. Then the focus shifts to the Muslim characters at home. They pray quietly. One cares for his sick, elderly father. Another laughs on the couch with his children. It's a beautiful scene, with that flighty, strummed-guitar score that'll bring a nostalgic smile to the face of "Friday Night Lights" fans.

Berg loses his grip, though, during the movie's last 40 minutes, a blistering shootout. It's a spectacle, to be sure, but despite precise sound editing and Michael Mann-style cinematography it falls into the trap of lesser action flicks.

The Americans are fortunate to be facing such near-sighted antagonists. Foxx and company shoot down waves of bad guys with ease. Allies are saved in the nick of time, and Garner has a heroic moment that stinks strongly of clich‚.

There's also a profound coincidence that wraps the film - an all-time "you've got to be kidding me" moment.

Worth noting are the film's prologue and conclusion. The opening credits provide a shocking timeline. Starting in the 1920s, it breaks down a history of relations between the United States and Middle East - from first tapping oil to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

And the film's final shot, before the screen goes black for the credits, is more chilling than anything you'll see in a horror film. We may have opened Pandora's box with the Muslim world.

Foxx and Berg have done something marvelous in taking a terrifying, relevant notion and molding it into fine entertainment.