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Sergeant Major Archie Gates: George Clooney Sergeant Troy Barlow: Mark Wahlberg Chief Elgin: Ice Cube Private Conrad Vig: Spike Jonze Adriana Cruz: Nora Dunn Written and directed by David O. Russell, based on a story by John Ridley. Running time: 115 minutes. Rated R (for graphic war violence, language and some sexuality). |
Three Kings begins where most war films leave off, at the end of a war. Three Kings takes place right after the Gulf War, otherwise known as "Operation Desert Storm."
Three Kings is a poignant anti-war film that cleverly masks itself as an action-adventure movie. Three Kings while fast-paced and full of kinetic energy, is not deterred from asking probing questions. Did we handle the conflict correctly? Whose interests were we protecting, ours or the people in the Middle East? Were the lives that we changed for the better? When the film ends and we leave the theatre, we not only think about the film, but also start to think about these questions.
Despite various news reports of an orderly and efficient operation, the opening scene of Three Kings show a group of American soldiers behaving opposite of what we expect from a well-trained bunch. One of the soldiers asks if they are still shooting, when they come across an Iraqi soldier who is obviously surrendering. We expect that he is joking around, but he is quite serious. Unfortunately, someone failed to inform him that there is a cease-fire between the two sides. When the Iraqi is disposed of, another soldier takes a picture of the body to capture his first sight of action in the conflict. He is elated at the sight, after all, what is the point of a war if you don't get the chance to kill people. It is these kinds of original scenes that make this film such a joy to watch.
The next scene shows soldiers celebrating the end of the conflict, as they sing and dance at the base. Although, some of the American soldiers have never seen any action in the war nor an Iraqi. A reporter, Adriana Cruz (Nora Dunn) covers the victory celebration, but when the cameras are turned off, we find out that she is hungry for a better story. One is just coming right up.
The aftermath of the war has the American soldiers rounding up the Iraqi military. In the sea of people, three soldiers find an Iraqi who has a piece of paper lodged in his rear. Of course, the soldiers have to remove any foreign objects from the enemy, so one of the soldiers orders a private to remove it with a rubber glove. The guy requests two gloves, but his request is denied. When he asks why, his superior replies "That's how the chain of command works."
What they find appears to be a map that shows the location of the gold bullion ("Bullion? Is that a little cube you put in hot water?") that was looted from Kuwait. They all decide to steal some for themselves before anyone finds out. The movie now becomes a modern day treasure hunt of the oldest currency known to man, gold.
The group of men on this hunt are not your regular bunch of role models or heroes. Clooney plays a rouge Special Forces veteran named Sergeant Major Archie Gates. He follows one basic rule: He only does something if it benefits him. Mark plays Sergeant Troy Barlow, a simple man who seems a little overwhelmed most of the time of the action around him. However, he is a good man and resembles the common man. Spike Jonze plays Private Conrad Vigis who is just plain stupid, but loyal. Ice Cube is Chief Elgin a religious man, but ironically has no qualms stealing gold.
Meanwhile, Adriana Cruz who is suppose to follow Archie is sent away on some bogus story by him. The plan of course, is that the diversion gives him enough time to get the bullion and return before she suspects anything. Unfortunately, that won't happen.
The retrieval of the bullion is successful until they hit a snag near the end. During their getaway, they land in the middle of what looks like a Civil War. A group of people have formed a resistance heeding George Bush's words to overthrow Hussein, as they fight against Hussein's troops. ("Bush told the people to rise up against Saddam. They thought they'd have our support. They didn't. Now they're being slaughtered.")
Iraq and the United States have now formed a truce. Neither side is allowed to show any aggression towards the other. Instead, the Iraqi soldiers are now shooting their own people. The American soldiers watch as the Hussein's men start to slaughter the people of the town. They are bound by the truce not to interfere, but there is a limit to what a person can witness before they act.
Three Kings is an anti-war film like All Quiet On The Waterfront. In most war films, we only feel sympathy for the heroes, but in Three Kings, there is sympathy for the enemy too. We see their side in how the war has hurt them. We see how it has affected their lives. In one scene, an Iraqi tells Troy what the war has done to his family. He then asks Troy how he would feel if the same happened to him and what he would do about it?
There is an underlining theme that people who we thought as enemies lead the same life as we do. We share the same culture and materials. We are all the same people. These people do not seem to be as different as we like to think. One of the refugees informs them, "I'm a B-school graduate from Bowling Green. Your planes blew up all my cafes."
Three Kings is David O. Russell's third picture, after Spanking the Monkey (1994) and the comedy Flirting With Disaster (1996). He has a written a film that has scenes and situations that we never seen before. A prisoner is trapped in a room filled with cell-phones, which he uses to call for help. An injured man, who has been shot in the lung, uses a valve to relieve the air-pressure that his lungs build.
The look of the film is incredible. Instead of the picture being bright and colorful, Russell's cameraman, Newton Thomas Sigel, uses a grainy and bleached style that makes the movie look like it was left out in a sandstorm.
Three Kings is the kind of film where it not only shows a person getting hit by a bullet, but the bullet going through the human body. It takes age-old themes and stories and approaches them with a fresh perspective and style. It is simply a well-made film that juggles comedy, drama and action with the slightest of ease. I left the theatre just dazzled by its confidence and boldness to tackle a viewpoint that isn't realized very often. Three Kings is one of the many surprises we had this year. Grade: A
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