King Saud (2024) Film Review
It’s hard to deal with a film like King Saud nowadays. The experience of watching it didn’t make me feel good, and at first, I attributed this to the story being told and the moral corruption of its central characters. I wasn’t supposed to care for them. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a pleasant experience, even from the perspective of someone who loves movies and is a softie for independent films.
King Saud follows a couple of detectives trying to solve a murder mystery in modern Los Angeles. Lynch is new in her position, and Wolfe has a bit more experience. They both clash when trying to come up with suspects, clues, etc. Together, they descend into a rabbit hole of conspiracy where the Middle East mafia plays a part.
At least, that’s what I was able to get from the film that never found a way to recover itself from its laughable depiction of tropes. Too much homophobia and misogyny didn’t allow me to connect with its main characters and their causes. King Saud tries to heal itself from its self-attack, but it’s horribly written by a writer/director who has failed to do something good this time.
I love indie films, and I love it when indie films confidently stay within the boundaries of B-movie standards. But King Saud is unable to be a “so bad it’s good” film because it has no essence. It’s a collection of scenes where a couple of detectives try to find themselves while solving a murder. Apparently, there’s chemistry between them, but I felt none of it.
Mark Toma, the filmmaker behind the project and the star of the film, doesn’t have an easy job to do. Making a film about compelling police officers nowadays is very hard, even if a seemingly vulnerable lady is at the center of the story. The problem with King Saud is that he never tries to portray interesting characters with interesting stories. Instead, we get a mix of stereotypes that smell like lousy acting and a terrible script.
I believe good filmmakers should always leave a space for learning. Perfect films are rare, and there’s always a chance to improve. I’m no scholar or anything similar, but if I’m doing this and you’re reading what I’m writing, I probably have seen way too many films to know that Mark Toma needs to learn from his mistakes. King Saud is a terrible mistake of a movie.
