“The Kingdom” is a very slick production. It looks great, has some nice performances and features two tense action sequences. And yet the whole thing reminds me of “Rambo: First Blood Part II.”

This is not to say the second “Rambo” movie has a likable cast or looks great. But it does share at least one quality with “The Kingdom”: a desire to engage in social commentary.

I like movies that have something important to say, particularly about serious issues like terrorism. “Syriana” is a recent example that comes to mind. But it’s difficult to get excited about a movie that seeks to glorify violence while simultaneously trying to distance itself from it. It’s an approach that’s either too subtle or too misguided for my taste. But it can be quite funny sometimes.

In the closing scenes of “Rambo,” for example, Stallone’s titular character stresses the United States’ moral responsibility to rescue POWs in Southeast Asia. A fine thing to say, but perhaps a little inappropriate coming from a guy who just killed 61 people with a machine gun and rocket launcher. Sadly, the juxtaposition of scenes in the final moments of “The Kingdom” is no less absurd.

“The Kingdom” doesn’t start out absurd, though. Taking cues from real-life events in 2003, the movie begins with a horrifying depiction of a terrorist bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In response to the attack, the FBI sends an elite team of special agents to investigate. The troupe includes Oscar winners Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper, as well as TV stars Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman.

They are aided by a Saudi police captain (a very appealing Ashraf Barhom) who, among other things, demonstrates to the audience that not all Saudis are bad. As a matter of fact, they can be rather compassionate and, well, a lot like us, really.

Foxx, Cooper and Garner have played these sort of roles so many times before that they’re automatically convincing. This is not true of Bateman, who seems curiously misplaced, like he’s accidentally stumbled onto the wrong set while filming “Arrested Development.”

“The Kingdom” rarely benefits from Bateman’s comic relief, particularly since it already has enough levity in the form of Jeremy Piven. Playing a variation of Ari from “Entourage” and his drugged mob snitch from “Smokin’ Aces,” Piven steals every scene he’s in as an American diplomat determined to prevent any further international incidents.

Much of the film’s plot involves the Saudi military’s attempts to block Foxx’s team from tracking down the terrorists responsible for the attack. Those of you familiar with the movie “Black Rain” will recognize the formula immediately — it’s another case of a backward culture stopping better-equipped Americans from doing their job.

In “Black Rain,” we have an irrational Japanese police force. In “The Kingdom,” we have an irrational Saudi military. The whole thing might be construed as racist if it weren’t for that one Saudi police captain.

Gosh, the screenwriters are clever! Having said that, it’s hard to criticize “The Kingdom” on a purely visceral level.

Director Peter Berg has demonstrated an ability to manipulate his audience in “Very Bad Things” and “Friday Night Lights,” and this movie’s exciting, protracted climax is a testament to this.

The scene begins with a startling highway bombing and concludes with a tense, claustrophobic apartment shootout. It’s the film’s high point, and nearby audience members jumped in their seats during the scene in which a Saudi terrorist is knifed in the groin, leg and, finally, the head.

Had “The Kingdom” confined itself to its action scenes and talented leads, it would have been an excellent action-thriller.

However, its desire to comment on both US relations with the Middle East and the cyclical nature of violence seems inappropriate in a movie that relishes its action scenes so much.

Informed discussion about terrorism and cultural differences is certainly worthwhile; I’m just not convinced a Hollywood action movie is the correct forum.