MOVIE REVIEW

Three Kings  (1999)

Starring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube
Director: David O'Russell
Rating: R

Studio: Warner Bros.

Spoilers: Minor

By Dennis Landmann

In the recent months Warner Bros. released 2 good action movies, The Matrix and Deep Blue Sea. They both had good trailers. As it is with Three Kings. For me, the trailer was worth seeing over ten times and that’s what I did. So, that Friday I ran to the theater and purchased a ticket. Went in, sat down, and watched the curtains open up.

Troy Barlow is a new father. Conrad wants to be Troy Barlow. Chief Elgin is on a four month paid vacation from Detroit. Major Archie Gates is about to retire from the army. The story follows four soldiers that go on a secret mission, nobody but them knowing about it. And so they follow the map which was found in a guys buttocks. The route leads them to an Iraqi village. Saddam’s army is stationed there along with the inhabitants of that village. There is a bunker in that village that supposedly contains millions of Gold Bullion which Saddam stole from Kuwait. And rest assured, they are not the little cubes you put in hot water to make soup. Then they arrive at the village, they not only have to put up looking for the gold, they also become involved, which wasn’t the plan at all. "Please. Don’t leave," pleads a woman. I will not further talk about what they do in that village because it will just read unimportant on this. It will have much more impact when seeing it on screen.

The movie doesn’t drag. The beginning gives an insight about the tense situation the soldiers are in. After the opening it seems to drag on for about 10-15 minutes but then shortly after the pace picks up and it’s running on high heels. The time in this movie didn’t play a factor in my enjoyment. I’m used to seeing long movies. Two-hour movies are just what I want. And Three Kings gave it to me - emotional but also action-packed drama by director David O. Russell (Flirting with Disaster).

Performances were extra jiffy. First off is Mark Wahlberg who I think can act very well and he already proved that in "Boogie Nights". Of course there are the weaker roles he played, like a cop in The Corruptor or a hitman in The Big Hit. Although in this one he’s extremely into character. And the other 2 team members are George Clooney (The Peacemaker, Out of Sight) and Spike Jonze (director of Being John Malkovich). Ice Cube (Boyz ‘N the Hood) did all he could, sometimes going over the limit but he was a good team player.

There is some flaw, although I don’t like to admit to it. The picture quality looked like a TV documentary of some sort. Probably it was intended to look the way it did at times but it got kind of annoying throughout. Maybe different lenses. I just think a movie should look the same, the picture that is, the way its shown. But maybe it had an effect on how the movie would be viewed. Try to make it look as real as possible. And O’ Russell succeeded in that, got to give him that. His first big-budget movie. His first movie that I’ve seen. I can’t tell if his previous movies were good since I didn’t see them, but Three Kings is good enough to make me like his work.

The teaming up of Clooney and Wahlberg is great and it worked out well it seems because they got another project they’re working on, together, in Wolfgang Peterson’s The Perfect Storm. I can only say that I’m desperately looking forward to it. Three Kings is up top in heaven and it deserves good recognition.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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