Three Kings (1999)

reviewed by
Jeff Bogart


Three Kings
Cast: George Clooney, Mark Walhberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze and Nora Dunn.

* * * * out of four Yes, you counted those stars right, I just came home from seeing this film and I have to say it was amazing. Because the acting was very good? Yes. Because the directing was different and intriguing? Why not. But mostly because it made a powerful political statement and used it well in the film.

It was a different film, it had so much to it. I could sit here for a while and type in how it was hilarious sometimes yet still managed to move me emotionally, but I'd rather move on to the reasons that made it, in my opinion, a great movie.

Alot of it was intense, meaningful images and situations. For those of you who saw it, an example would be when they made Wahlberg drink the oil. Only because of what it said about our involvement in the war (it will make more sense if you've seen it).

Many of the sequences had some nice camerawork, and I've heard it (the camerawork) compared to that you'd see in an MTV music video and such, but if that were true it would mean that the camerawork was all wrong for the films ideas. But it really wasn't. It fit so well

It wasn't awkward, even considering it was a part in a war film (even though it took place after the war had ended). It didn't seem at all out of place. It added to the scene in most cases, sometimes it was just fun to look at (i.e., the sky moving fast in the background).

This film was much more than I'd expected walking in. In many ways it was bold at what it spoke of. About how we told them to rise up against Sadam Hussein and that we'd defend them, when in actuality we did not come through. In this film we don't see massacres, we see single people being slaughtered. We see horrible things becoming of people and being done to them, sometimes to characters we've come to know. Alot of the images will stick in my head for while, and probably will for other viewers of this brilliant film.

Sometimes a film can add in comedy, but this films comedy didn't feel like comic relief, it felt as if it were a part of the film and in many ways essential to the characters and plot itself. To sum this up, Three Kings is a spectacular achievement and this years best film I've seen to date, it includes alot more depth than the trailers give it credit. I highly recommend this film. Expect more than the previews offer. A+

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