A film review by Jeffery Sanders Copyright © 1999 Jeffery Sanders

It used to be that the mere presence of the Warner Bros. Logo at the beginning of a movie signified that you were about to sit through two hours of crap. But this year they’ve turned that all (well mostly) around. While still producing the occasional dud like Wild Wild West or Chill Factor, this year they have given us Analyze This, The Matrix, Deep Blue Sea, Eyes Wide Shut (I didn’t really like it but at least it was quality), The Iron Giant, Mickey Blue Eyes, and they even co-produced South Park. Now they’ve given the critics something else to scream about in the form of Three Kings, a rambunctious new gender-melding war film. Part comedy, part action, part drama, Three Kings is 100% original.

I believe that with this film, David O Russell has officially made my list of favorite directors. His 1996 comedy Flirting With Disaster made me giggle like very few films ever have. But with Three Kings he shows us that not only can he direct comedy, he can also give us exciting action, powerful drama and sharp political satire.

Three Kings is set during the Gulf War and is set the day the war ended. Three soldiers (Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and Spike Jonze) find a map stuck up the anus (sorry) of a captured Iraqi soldier. A superior of theirs (George Clooney) joins their gang and helps them discover that the map leads to a bunker filled with millions of dollars of Kuwaiti Bouillon. And if you’ve seen the ads you know he doesn’t mean those little cubes you put in hot water to make soup.

And so, with the war over, this quartet goes out to get their hands on some gold. But what they find are people in need of assistance. Now I don’t want to spoil any more of the plot than that because it is quite involving and the less you know the more you will be surprised by how strong the intellectual aspects of Three Kings are. The more you know about the Gulf War the more you can appreciate the more political side of the movie, of which is very interesting since there are some very serious Political points brought up by Three Kings. I was very young when this war was going on and Three Kings really opened my eyes as to what was really happening while all me and my friends were doing was celebrating because "Saddam got his ass kicked".

The movie has several standout scenes, including some very funny moments and some very exciting action scenes. Spike Jonze gave the best performance of the picture as Conrad, the dimwitted hick soldier. His character was none to bright but very lovable. All other performances are very good, including Mark Wahlberg in his second excellent performance (his first was Boogie Nights) after a series of bland roles. Clooney is his usual charming self and Ice Cube, while being the least interesting of the four, does as well as he can. Jamie Kennedy is very funny in a nice subplot involving him and a reporter he has to keep occupied.

Three Kings does however have a few flaws. It’s a bit too long in certain sections, it could have been trimmed by 10-15 minutes or so. Also, the grainy look of the film is cool at first but begins to get annoying later on in the picture. But these aren’t huge errors and probably won’t prevent anyone from enjoying the movie.

Three Kings is not only funny, inventive, exciting and powerful but it makes you think. And it’s very nice to see this kind of offbeat filmmaking coming out of a studio like Warner Bros. Make sure you see Three Kings. It deserves to be on everyone’s must see list.

8/10

	Running Time: 115 Min | Rated R | US Release: October 1st | More >>

Related Links:

• Official Site
• Upcomingmovies.com: Three Kings
• Star Seeker Movies: "Three Kings" (1999)