Three Kings


Okay, the first thing I want to know is why the fuck this movie is called Three Kings. This film is actually about four soldiers in the Gulf War who go off to try to steal some gold from Saddam (but it's actually the Kuwaitie's gold, so they're stealing from the people they just came there to protect, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I'll get into that later) after the war is over. Yes, there's George Clooney and Mark(y Mark) Wahlberg and Ice Cube, but there's also Spike Jonze, though you wouldn't know it to see the posters or watch the trailers or by the TITLE OF THE FUCKING FILM. Alas, title notwithstanding, Three Kings is actually quite a good film. Although it's no American Beauty, and in fact, I doubt I'll ever see Three Kings again, it was an interesting story told with style and creativity with some quality actors. There is no real inspiration or magic about Three Kings. This isn't a film that's going to move you or change your life or affect you in any real, lasting way. Instead, it's an interesting look at a subject we haven't seen a lot of on the big screen - the Gulf War. David O. Russell, the man who wrote and directed the over-rated Spanking the Monkey and the hilarious-until-the-ludicrous-third-act Flirting With Disaster, brings a lot of fancy camera work to Three Kings and it's admittedly fun to watch. The problem with this film is that you never really get close to any of the characters; you don't really care about them and you don't really care what the results are of their situation. The fact that you care more about the plight of the refugee prisoners they eventually help than any of the leads is rather telling. Mark Wahlberg's torture situation is the closest we come to caring about any of the four kings. There are also some dry, boring parts towards the beginning-middle, but I think this is also a side-effect of the distance we feel from the protagonists. I feel like I'm being very down on a film that I actually thought was very good, but I guess in a way, it was sort of disappointing because, unlike American Beauty, this was a film that didn't live up to its hype. In the end, you're just left feeling slightly queazy about American politics (which you probably already entered the theater feeling) and hoping Mark Wahlberg has a good agent that can get his very talented ass some good scripts.