With the glut of documentaries about America’s involvement in the Middle East, it was perhaps inevitable that Hollywood would grab onto the political zeitgeist as fodder for mainstream middlebrow entertainment. And it’s possible that The Kingdom, In the Valley of Elah, Rendition and Lions for Lambs will turn out to be sophisticated, intelligent takes on geopolitics in the 21st century—but it’s far more likely that they’ll just use hot-button issues as excuses to let overly compensated actors give heartfelt speeches about how screwed up the world has become, in hopes of getting the chance to give another heartfelt speech at a certain awards show next year.