THREE KINGS A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 1999 David N. Butterworth
*** (out of ****)
It's March 1991, George Bush is in the White House, the Gulf War has just ended, and nobody--least of all the weathered U.S. forces who roam the arid, alien landscapes of Iraq--has a clue as to why it even started.
Prior to the ceasefire, Saddam Hussein has appropriated and stockpiled anything of value, creating mountains of limousines, Cuisinarts, and mobile phones. Into this scene come four downtrodden GIs (played by George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and Spike Jonze; I guess "Four Kings" didn't quite have the same biblical bent) who are about to see their first real taste of action.
Thus begins David O. Russell's "Three Kings," a post-Persian War war satire framed around a hunt for stolen Kuwaiti gold that would have John Wayne shifting uncomfortably in his army fatigues. Unlike the Duke's 'rah-'rah action films, there's an innate pessimism that pervades "Three Kings"; Russell's screenplay (from an original story by John Ridley) is most effective in chronicling the randomness of war and the absurd situations it creates, much in the spirit of Mike Nichols' splendid "Catch-22" from 1970.
Take the surreal scene in which NBS reporter Adriana Cruz (a surprisingly effective Nora Dunn) laments over the ecological aftereffects of man's absolute folly at a watering hole littered with helpless, oil-soaked pelicans. Although deftly played for laughs, it's a difficult scene to stomach.
That's true of a lot of the film. In his thirst for satire, Russell will occasionally go overboard in his graphic depiction of the brutality of war--witness Wahlberg's torture at the hands of a Republican Guardsman. But for the most part, Russell's sleeve-worn political viewpoint and disturbed visual style--a frenzied motif of grainy, hand-held camerawork that's almost monochromatic in its starkness--cuts to the core.
"Three Kings" further showcases the director's ability to work something uniquely rich and extraordinary from material that has been visited many times before. In a number of ways this film shows a logical maturation over his previous two directorial efforts, "Spanking the Monkey" and "Flirting with Disaster." He's certainly working with a much bigger budget this time around, but continues to wring strong performances from his leading players.
Ultimately it's the director's confidence behind the camera that makes "Three Kings" a powerful piece of filmmaking--as dry, bleak, and brutal as the barren Iraqi desert.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@dca.net
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