Gulf War Film Mixes Laughter With Drama

by Jason R. Hewlett

"Three Kings" is a perfect film definition of the word quirky. It's a mix of gritty war action, powerful human drama, heavy political message, and off-beat humour. It mixes all these elements together under the sure direction of David O. Russell ("Flirting With Disaster") and emerges as one of the best movies of the year.

The plot is pretty basic: The Gulf War is over, and three soldiers want to go home rich. Sergeant Major Archie Gates (George Clooney) retires in two weeks. Sergeant Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg) is a new father. Chief Elgin (Ice Cube) is on a four-month paid vacation from Detroit. They acquire, through a very amusing chain of events, a map leading to a trove of gold that Saddam Hussein has stolen from Kuwait and these soldiers have no problem with stealing it from him. But on their way to collect their booty, they bear witness to the disturbing results of the war effort. President Bush has encouraged Iraqi citizens to fight back against Saddam and pledged to support them, but when they rise up, they get no American support, and they're getting slaughtered. As the soldiers realize the true situation in Iraq, they're confronted with their own humanity, and they're forced to rethink who they are and what they're doing.

The film itself is way more than I bargained for. What looked like just another "Pro-U.S.A. War Heroes Kicking Butt In Iraqi" turned out to be an anti-war movie every bit as effective as "Saving Private Ryan." The battle scenes are gritty and exciting and, for the first time, we really get to see the effects of bullet wounds on soldiers. We see the bullet enter the body and the hole filll up with bile and...I don't want to go into too much detail there but trust me: once you've seen something like that you don't soon forget it.

However the film is about more than just battle scenes. The Iraqi soldiers are shown as humans as well and we get samplings of the effects that the U.S. bombing had on their lives. This balances out the film nicely and in the end it's hard to route for anybody. In this movie everyone can be noble and everyone can be ignorant. The politics of the are definatle not in favor of the United States here.

Much of the humour in the film comes across in a very dark, realistic fashion through the characters and how they deal with the situations they face. One sequence features Wahlberg on the run from a band of Iraqi soldiers and using a bunker full of a stolen call phone as a hiding spot. He uses the phone to call his wife in the States and asks her to call the army and give them his location. It's a funny scenes that also plays as very real and very touching. It sums the movie up perfectly.

The performances are uniformly excellent, the technical expertise are first rate, and the screenplay (co-written by Russell with John Ridley) is easily one of the best and most original in years. "Three Kings" may not be for everyone but if you like something different and high quality you'll enjoy this film. I recommend it highly.

10 out of 10!