Three Kings

"Three Kings" is an American film directed by David O. Russell. It stars good ol' George Clooney, Ice Cube, Mark Wahlberg and Spike Jonze. It is set in Iraq during the first Gulf War. The movie picks up after Saddam Hussein has signed the ceasefire agreement and America are on their way out. George and his crew come across a map leading to Saddams' gold in someones bottom, and they set out to get the gold. Along the way they find some people who really need their help and Clooneys' character Major Gates makes a choice to help them. They shoot a number of Iraqi Rebuplican guards, ending the ceasefire. We then see their struggle to get the civilians across the border, whilst keeping the gold, rescue Troy Barlow (Wahlberg) and get out alive.

I enjoyed this film, despite the fact I dislike America and their invasions deeply, I found it entertaining. As my lecturer Fred Goldsworthy said, it's nice that the film leads up to the action, rather than the action sequences being the backbone of the movie. It was a refreshing change. I had never seen the movie until tuesday, I hired it out and watched it that night.

The only critiscm I have is I didn't like the areas where they had made the frame-rate slow and jittery, and that I feel some of the violence like the exploding cow was taken a little too far and became unnecessary.

I really liked how they had altered the colours on the film, it gave the film a really nice look. I also think that the cinematography was good, and captured what it would have been like, especially in areas like the scene towards the end of the film after the helicopter had been destroyed and there were two Republican Guards left who snipe Troy and Conrad, and also the scene where the Republican Guard gas the fleeing soldiers and they lose all visibility.

I felt all of the actors in the film performed very well, especially Clooney and Wahlberg.

A good film.