David O. Russell, who wrote and directed, announces
his debut as one of the main people. Like the best films of Martin Scorsese,
Oliver Stone, Robert Altman, and Quentin Tarantino, this one sings with the excitement
of pure filmmaking and represents ides in its action and characters. Ebert
noted, “Most movies doze in a haze of calculation and formula; "Three
Kings" is awake and hyper.”
The movie takes place at the end of the Gulf War of
1991 (“Operation Desert Storm,” the Pentagon publicists called it). The first
words give the idea: “Are we shooting?” The treaty is so new that soldiers are
not sure, and a guy waving a white flag gets his head shot off in a
misunderstanding, which is sad. Three U.S. soldiers find an Iraqi with a piece
of paper stuck in his rear end. An officer gives a rubber glove and tells a
private to pull it out. The guy wants two gloves, but he’ll manage with one, he’s
told: “That’s how the chain of command works.” The map shows the location of
gold bullion stolen from Kuwait by Saddam Hussein’s soldiers and buried in
secret shelters. (“Bullion? Is that a little cube you put in hot water?”) The
three soldiers are Sgt. Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg), Chief Elgin (Ice Cube) and
Pvt. Conrad Vig (Spike Jonze). They get the attention of Sgt. Maj. Archie
Gates, played by George Clooney, a Special Forces veteran who decides immediately
to lead them on an unauthorized mission to steal the treasure. This involves escorting
the cable news reporter he’s been assigned to escort. Ebert noted, “She's
Adriana Cruz, played by Nora Dunn as a Christiane Amanpour clone so driven by
journalistic zeal that she is heedless of her own safety or anything else but a
story.” Obviously, the gold would be a story.
Ebert said, “The movie unreels with breakneck energy;
it's one of those experiences like "Natural Born Killers," where
death and violence are a drumbeat in the background of every plot point.”
Russell’s screenplay shows the difference between a great action movie and the
others: The action goes out of the story, instead of the story being the
action. Ebert admitted, “The Clooney character commandeers a Humvee and leads
his men on a loony ride through the desert, where their target practice with
footballs somehow reminded me of the water-skiing sequence in "Apocalypse
Now." A political undercurrent bubbles all through the film.” A treaty has
been declared, and Hussein’s men have stopped shooting at Americans and fallen
back to the secondary assignment of calming unhappy Iraqis who were expecting
him to be defeated. (“Bush told the people to rise up against Saddam. They
thought they’d have our support. They didn’t. now they’re being slaughtered.”)
Strange, the irony in Iraqis killing Iraqis while Americans stealing old
benefit from the confusion.
Most Hollywood movies stereotype their Arab
characters. “Three Kings,” released in 1999, is shocking in the way it shows
how the world is shrinking and cultures are combining and sharing thoughts.
Clooney and his men see a woman shot dead by Hussein’s men, and later meet her
husband and children. Ebert asks, “Is this man a tearful, anonymous desert
simpleton, grateful to his brave saviors? Not at all.” “I’m a B-school graduate
from Bowling Green,” he tells them. “Your planes blew up all my cafes.” It’s a small
world, made smaller by war. The TV journalist stands patiently int eh middle of
the fight, accepted by both sides because they think it’s natural they should
be on television. When Sgt. Barlow is captured and locked in a room, he finds
it filled with the thievery of war, including a lot of cell phones. When he
tries to call his wife in America to give her the coordinates of his position,
he hast to deal with stupid telephone operators.
Ebert said, “"Three Kings" has plot
structure as traditional as anything in "Gunga Din" or an Indiana
Jones picture, and links it to a fierce political viewpoint, intelligent
characters and sudden bursts of comedy. It renews cliches. We've seen the
wounded buddy who has to be dragged along through the action. But we haven't
seen one with a lung wound, and a valve hammered into his chest to relieve the
built-up air pressure. We've seen desert warfare before, but usually it looks
scenic. Russell's cameraman, Newton Thomas Sigel, uses a grainy, bleached style
that makes the movie look like it was left out in a sandstorm.”
Like many natural action stars, Clooney can do what
needs to be done with complete belief. We believe him as a leader. Wahlberg and
Ice Cube look like they’re stuck in the action. Wahlberg as a natural target, Ice
Cube as a former baggage handler who believes he stands in the good grace of
Jesus. Ebert noted, “Spike Jonze, himself a director ("Being John
Malkovich"), is the obligatory hillbilly, needed for the ethnic mix we
always get in war movies. It's interesting how Nora Dunn's cable journalist
isn't turned into a cheap parody of Amanpour, but focuses on the obsessiveness
that possesses any good war correspondent.”
Ebert continued, “This is David O. Russell's third
picture, after "Spanking the Monkey" (1994; liked by many, unseen by
me) and the inventive, unhinged comedy "Flirting With Disaster"
(1996).” Like that one, “Three Kings” switches lots of different characters
against one another and isn’t afraid to interrupt the laughs with moments of
true observation and emotion. This is his first movie with a studio budget, and
it shows not only enthusiasm, but also the control to target that enthusiasm
where he wants it to go. Ebert ended his review by saying, “"Three
Kings" is one of the best movies of the year, even if I kept wondering why
it wasn't named "Four Kings."”
This is another war movie that I think everyone will like
when they check it out. Everyone should see it because it’s that good of a war
movie. Especially during at time when this war was going on, so this was a nice
representation of what was going on at that time, for those who remember it. Check
it out and see for yourself.
Look out next week to see the first movie I saw
Wahlberg in for the finale of “Mark Wahlberg Month.”
No comments:
Post a Comment