Three Kings

Rating:
Summary: Truth of the Gulf War wrapped in a somewhat comic plot
Review: David. O. Russell, the director of Three Kings, is arguably the most courageous person in all of Hollywood. He created a film that tells the truth about the Gulf War with gut wrenching imagery, symbolism and, yes, even humor.

After three weeks in wide release I finally got around to viewing this picture. I had been hesitant to go because I thought it might be just another gung ho, rah rah war movie that glorified US foreign policy. Was I ever wrong.

Three Kings, starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube, tells the story of a small group of soldiers at the end of the Gulf War during the "cease fire" who head out on their own, unbeknownst to their superior officers, to find millions of dollars worth of gold that Saddam Hussein stole from Kuwait. At first all goes as planned, they find the gold and are ready to head back to base with the stolen loot. But then the reality in their midst sets in.

The cease fire agreed to by US President George Bush has created a horrible situation for the Iraqis who want to oust Saddam from power. US soldiers are no longer "legally" allowed to fire upon Iraqi soldiers even though many are being ordered by Saddam Hussein to terrorize and murder any and all resistance groups, including women, children and the elderly. The men are faced with the dilemma: Take the gold with them or do what's morally right and help the people who the US government has abandoned to Saddam's military.

Part of this film's astonishing quality is that it combines humor with its biting political commentary. Simply put, David O. Russell knows how to use a soundtrack, frequently in jarring contrast with the action that's taking place on the screen. In one scene the small group of US soldiers careens into Karbala with the Beach Boys song "I Get Around" blaring on the tape deck and a Bart Simpson doll as an ornament on the hood, all while Iraqi troops are killing the local civilians who are rebelling against Saddam. In another scene the soldiers are listening to Chicago's soft hit "If You Leave Me Now" as they head into battle with Republican Guard troops. I don't think I'll ever be able to hear that song again without thinking of this movie.

I don't want to give any more details because you simply must see this movie for yourself. But I must warn viewers: This film does have graphic violence and at least two scenes that depict what a bullet does to a person's internal organs. However, that's reality -- it's war as it really is. I cannot stress that point enough. While the overall plot is fictitious, the background story surrounding Three Kings is all accurate. For example, the area surrounding Karbala, the town depicted in the film where the gold is hidden, is the very place where Saddam's army slaughtered an estimated 10,000+ Iraqis who did as George Bush asked and "rose up against Saddam." And the reality is, the US government left those people to hang in the wind to suffer under Saddam's military.

Karbala is not the only truthful element of this film. David O. Russell also shows how big media colluded with the US government in only reporting a filtered view of what was taking place. And he also shows how the US government supported Saddam's military prior to the Gulf War when it was at war with Iran. The scene where an Iraqi soldier explains to the US soldier he's torturing that he learned his "expertise" from the US military is a damning commentary on US foreign policy.

Russell commented in one interview, "I'm presenting fact. George Bush has said himself that he has regrets about the way the war was ended."

I have not been this emotional about a film since Casualties of War, the true story of how a Vietnamese village girl was abducted, raped and murdered by US soldiers and how one man struggled to bring the perpetrators to justice. When I viewed both of these films I had to fight to keep from weeping. What both these films share is that, while they might have certain cinematic "flaws," both depicted real events that occurred while the US was at war. Remember that when viewing Three Kings.

What you see on the screen -- the shooting of an unarmed mother pleading for her husband's life, the slaughter of civilians, the US government censorship of the media -- is pretty much what really happened. While Americans were parading through the streets because we "won" the war, the Iraqi people who did stand up to Saddam -- under the encouragement of President George Bush who indicated that the US government would support an uprising -- were all slaughtered. Those same people did indeed wonder, "Where is the US military? Why aren't they helping us?"

If you can stomach the imagery, you should see this film. I urge everyone who is unaware of what has happened to the Iraqi people to see it.

Michael Moore, of Roger & Me, TV Nation and Awful Truth fame, stated that Three Kings is "the best movie of the year." I'm willing to go a step further. It's also one of the bravest movies ever created and ranks up there All Quiet on the Western Front, Born on the 4th of July, Paths of Glory and other such films which tell us what we already know but refuse to acknowledge.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Film-Strangely Neglected at Oscar Time
Review: Three Kings is one of my favorite action/adventure films of the past twenty years. As a project originally conceived by John Huston, it shares many of the attributes of some of his great films, including "The Man Who Would Be King", with Sean Connery, and "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"(one of my all-time favorite movies), starring Humphrey Bogart. Huston's films often examine the psychological dynamic of men pursuing ill-gotten wealth in exotic, far away places. David Russell does a fantastic job of updating the story and making it relevant and immediate, with the Gulf War setting. He gets great performances out of George Clooney (his best to date!), Mark Wahlberg, and Ice-Cube. The film is laced with humor and irony, and exposes the complexities and illogic intrinsic not only to the Gulf War, but to all modern wars. Another great film on the same subject is this year's "No Man's Land", from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The one thing that puzzles me is how a movie that is so good, and was so lauded by the critics could be absolutely forgotten at Oscar time, particularly since many less worthy films were nominated. It may be that it came out so early in the year. Who knows? At any rate, Three Kings is an excellent, well-crafted, thinking person's action film. Most of the garbage being churned out by Hollywood in this genre pales by comparison. I highly recommend this film.

Rating:
Summary: to heck with the politics
Review: I'll admit the first time I saw this movie in the cinema; I didn't like it that much. Then again, I wasn't sure what to expect. I wasn't sure whether it would be a comedy, a drama, or an action film etc. So when the movie was finished and I was walking out of the cinema, I wasn't too sure what to make of it.
I didn't watch the movie for another few years until my friend got it on DVD and having nothing else to do, I decided to watch it again, hoping I would have a different point of view after watching it for a second time. And boy, am I glad I did!
Three Kings is a great movie with; I believe, a deeper meaning. The basic plot is about 4 soldiers in the Gulf War who discover a map on a prisoner after the war is over. It turns out that the map shows the location of $23 million worth of Kuwaiti bullion stolen by the Iraqis. So these 4 soldiers set about getting themselves a nice little bonus. However, upon retrieving the gold, Sgt. Archie Gates (Clooney) and his men are faced with a dilemma: take the gold and allow innocent Iraqi people to be slaughtered by the Iraqi soldiers OR take the gold, try & save the Iraqi people. Obviously the second option comes along with a lot more risk. Gates' moral conscience takes over and he decides upon the latter, citing that "necessity had just changed" and so on goes the movie.
I think David Russell did a fantastic job directing the movie, and getting his message across, which I believe was that President George Bush (Sr.) left the Iraqi people to die.
When America won the Gulf war, President Bush told the people to rise against Saddam and that they would have the full support of the United States of America. Whereas in reality, Bush didn't give a rats a@! and innocent civilians were getting slaughtered while Bush felt he had done his part and 'won the war'.
Overall, I believe Three Kings would be an excellent addition to anyone's DVD collection. Clooney, Ice Cube & Mark Wahlberg are all superb in their roles and it makes for a highly entertaining film.

Rating:
Summary: THREE KINGS has a surprisingly renewed relevance post-9/11.
Review: THREE KINGS, story about a gold heist in March 1991 after the cease-fire agreement had been signed by Saddam after the Gulf War has a surprisingly renewed relevance in this post-9/11 world.

In Three Kings, a group of five US soldiers and a photojournalist crew get wind of some stolen Kuwaiti gold bulion in a bunker near the village of Kabala, through a map found in the rectum of an Iraqi POW. The devise a plan to go find this gold. Their paln is somewhat confusing. Should they keep it, should they give it back to Kuwait, or should they give it to the Iraqi rebels? While on their mission, tensions rise as the Iraqi Republican Guard start harassing the Iraqi rebels at the bunker. They first get the help of the few Iraqi soldiers that are there to load the gold onto a truck. However, some hardcore Republican Guardsmen arrive in a T-72 battle tank and thing change. They then realize that they must help the rebels escape. While driving out of the village, they are mortared by tear gas rounds and they accidentally hit some land mines. They are then picked up by rebels that not only get them into shelter, but also picking up the bags of gold. However one soldier gets captured by the Iraqis and taken to a old fortress.

It is during this time that the dialogue starts hitting home to what is happening today as talk is being made of finally deposing Saddam for good. This part of the movie makes note of how the Iraqi rebels were encouraged to rise up against Saddam, but didn't get any support from President Bush. (Kinda eirie you know.) It comes down to that our "Three Kings" are there to steal gold while they let the rebels fend for themselves. Once our Three Kings begin to see the potential threat against the rebels, is when they decide to help them cross the border into Iran. They also decide that they will share the gold with the rebels. It is after this sequence when you realize that this President Bush needs to finally depose Saddam. Especially since the extras were special. See the 2nd paragraph below.

THREE KINGS was filmed with various stocks of film that give the film a surreal look when there's a state of confusion, but then with standard cinema film when things start to calm down. So when viewing the movie, don't worry about your DVD player because the film looks different throughout the movie.

An interesting note about the Iraqi rebels portrayed in the movie are *actually* Iraqi refugees. In fact when designing the village sets, a set of brothers, who had in reality defaced hundreds of Saddam propaganda posters, were asked to deface the set props with grafitti of the same kind. They gladly ablidged.

As for the sound, I thought this DVD had the best surround sound envelopment I have ever heard. The actions scenes came alive with bullets flying behind you and explosions with deep bass. The helicopter strafing scene was especially intense sound-wise. So I feel the 4 score that Amazon gave is WAY off the mark. I believe it deserves a 5+.

The extras on the DVD are an awesome mix of things. You get a walk-through of the village and bunker sets by the designer which is extremely interesting. You get a home-video documentary of the director from script to movie premier which is awesome, including casting screenings with George Clooney, Mark Walberg, and IceCube. You also get a 20 minute "Making of" documentary. I was extremely impressed with the Extras on this DVD for such a reasonable price.

Rating:
Summary: One of my Top Ten of 1999
Review: To this reviewer, Three Kings was the single most neglected movie in this year's Oscar race. The old idea that Academy members have short memories doesn't always work for me. The Matrix, which was released five months prior to Three Kings, got four nominations and four awards. It's true that these were in the less exciting technical areas. Still, I still am upset that Three Kings got zilch. Oh, the humanity!

The Gulf War has just ended. Are we victorious? Yes and no. Kuwait is saved. That country will soon be back in the multibillion dollar oil business, and the sheiks and their cronies will get most of their gold and other goodies back. As a military and an economic force, Iraq will be paralyzed for at least a decade. The bad news, as we all know, is that we didn't get the bad guy. Saddam will continue to rule for at least a decade.

What we at home, as well as most of the guys and gals in the Armed Forces there, didn't know yet was that our call for the Iraqi people to rise up in rebellion against Saddam was answered in many parts of his county. And then we left. Just packed up and went home. Left the rebels to fend for themselves against a government that was very, very angry. I guess NATO generals decided that chaos was a natural byproduct of war.

This is the setting for Three Kings. It could have been a grim movie, but it is not overtly political any more than M.A.S.H was. It doesn't point fingers, and it makes no speeches. It's stance is that the soldiers were just as stunned and confused by the speed and abrupt end to the conflict as the people watching at home were. This was the first modern high-tech war. Conducted primarily through air assaults, it left the majority of the ground troops will little to do. So, this isn't like a Vietnam War flick in which troops are given unbelievable orders from seemingly insane commanders in an unwinnable situation. The Gulf War wasn't about Armageddon. It was about Alice in Wonderland.

Major Archie Gates [George Clooney] has been so disgusted by the way the war has been conducted that he's decided to resign. It's back to civilian life in two weeks time. He is most interested when he hears of a map taken from a prisoner. [I can't tell you from where on the prisoner said map was obtained.] The map gives the location of a bunker which contains $23,000,000 in gold bars stolen from Kuwait. Now that could make a nice retirement nest egg, Archie thinks. Soon, he is sets off with a select group on a most unusual heist. One of his comrades is Troy Barlow [Mark Wahlberg]. His wife just had there first baby back in America, and all he cares about is getting home in one piece. There is Chief Elgin [Ice Cube], an Army reservist from Detroit, who is basically on a four month vacation from his job as an airport baggage handler. Finally, we have Conrad Vigs [Spike Jonze, in an absolutely brilliant performance], a bright but virtually uneducated kid from the sticks. At first they are pursed by no one except vigilant CNN-type reporter, Adriana Cruz [Nora Dunn]. All she's after is a good story.

Remember that much of Iraq's army was still intact. They still guarded Saddam's stuff, like gold bars and luxuary cars hidden undergrounda. Archie and his co-conspritors don't face a risk-free mission. When they get to the bunker, they discover its in a town whose residents are some of the rebels mentiond earlier. The group decides that it's not their problem. Then something awful happens, and the situation turns ugly - and interesting. Do you get the gold or help the people? Do you do both? Neither? Aside from the problems attached to steeling gold, what do you do if helping these people is in direct violation of NATO orders?

I love George Clooney. He's right up there with Bruce Willis in the Most Underrated Actors Hall of Fame. Despite their having come from rock and roll, both Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube are well know in the movie business as guys who take their acting very seriously. Nora Dunn, veteran of five years with Saturday Night Live, is a delight. I've already commented on Spike Jonze, but I must mention he did this while in preproduction on Being John Malkovich, which he directed. Writer/director David O. Russell brings the very best of his independent film background with him. He has all sorts of tricks he uses effectively with film, sound and camera angles. You've never seen a shootout like the one he creates here, for example. His use of color and of unusual film stock is extraordinary. Everyone involved has madeThree Kings a royal masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: A War Comedy/Drama with heart
Review: What starts out as a marcho film about 4 soldiors who find a map in
a guys [rear] turns into a smart, sweat and moving film about helping
helping people by doing the right thing. It's pure genious how more
is done for the people after the war than during it, what an excellent
storyline. George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube give great performances
but who I was very impressed with was Spike Jonze, this guy showed that
he can not only act but direct as well with 'Being John Malkovich;,
2 huge break outs for him in one year. Unlike Quentin Tarantino he is
not only a fine director but a fine actor as well.

Rating:
Summary: The best!!!!!
Review: I saw this movie several monthes ago, alittle after 9/11....I agree with many other reviewers,That does make the movie better....You get to well,understand how the Terrorist mind works,and what its like to live in poverty over there......But, Anyway,Here's what the Movies about:
Four Army men live on a base during Operation Dessert Storm...Due to,well,a rather Gross situation,they find a map in one of the prisoners,Its a Map to get to a stockpile of Kuwait gold that Saddam has stolen and Hidden....When greed gets the better of them,they decide:Why should they show the map to anyone?Why not just look for the gold themselves,and keep it for themselves?And that's exactly what they do.....

This is an Exellent movie,I normally do not enjoy war movies,but this in an exeption...It's a wonderful movie,and I strongly recomened it to any-one.....

Rating:
Summary: Great movie, but a headache to watch...
Review: OK, so I thought the story was great and the acting was pretty good, but I started getting a headache with the strobe lighting in the first 5 minutes. I just think they went a little too artsy with the camera angles, color and light. All the movement just gave me a headache and almost distracted me from the plot itself. I have to admit though, that it did keep my interest throughout the movie, despite that. But, if they had just played it straight I would have given it a 5.

Rating:
Summary: After 09/11, this movie takes on more meaning
Review: All war movies have a message, including Three Kings. So in the post 09/11 environment, I didn't know if I would enjoy this movie or not.

I did. Clooney, Walberg, and Ice Cube decide to go after some gold stolen from Kuwait by Iraq. The Iraqi citizens welcome the US soldiers who think they have come to help them fight Saddam. The movie makes the point early on that the Bush administration didn't go far enough in the Gulf War. Since I agree with that, I was able to enjoy this movie as the Three Kings join with Iraqi rebels to save one of their own and then get the rebels to a refugee camp in Iran.

The movie is humorous at times and has quality action scenes and excellent direction. But for me the movie emphasized that all people love freedom. The Iraqi people just wanted to be free, and the wanted the USA's help. We didn't help them in 1991, but it's not to late in 2002. After Afhganastan, we should free Iraq next.

Rating:
Summary: Three Kings
Review: Great movie. Very underated. The actors, though somewhat second rate match their roles perfectly. They fit in as everyday guys who could easily get stuck in such a scheme. Check this one out.