Three Kings (1999)

2.5 out of 4

Starring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze, Jamie Kennedy, Nora Dunn, Mykelti Williamson

Director: David O Russell

Time: 115 mins

One of the rare films to feature the 1991 Gulf War as its background (Courage Under Fire is another), Three Kings is part adventure, part action film, and part commentary on the American and Iraqi experience in the Middle East battlefields. It is another edgy film by director Russell, who previously helmed the "comedies" Flirting with Disaster and Spanking the Monkey. While Flirting with Disaster was quite funny, it was uncomfortable humour that made you squirm even as you giggled and gasped at the audacity of the scenes. In a way, Three Kings is similarly directed, with plenty of scenes that are at once humorous but also unsettling. Throw in the action, and the damnation of not only Iraqi, but American army, practices, and we have a movie that tries to be all things at once, but not really succeeding.

The story begins soon after the surrender by Saddam Hussein following Operation Desert Storm. Soldiers Archie Gates (Clooney), Troy Barlow (Wahlberg), Chief Elgin (Ice Cube), and Conrad Vig (Jonze, the director of Being John Malkovich) discover a map that may show the whereabouts of vast stores of gold that Saddam and his men stole from Kuwait. Sensing the potential windfall, the four of them decide to keep their findings quiet and go in search of the treasure. Their trek across the the desert leads them to a village where the inhabitants are living in fear of their own soldiers. An uneasy ceasefire exists, where American soldiers are allowed freedom of movement, but Iraqi civilians are rounded up by their own army on suspicion of being part of a rebellion. A fateful decision by Gates to help the rebels leads to pain and anguish for him and his colleagues.

What starts out as a fairly hip but conventional film turns into an examination of American military procedures and the plight of Iraqis, both soldiers and civilians. There are no good guys and no bad guys; indeed, while our foursome are notionally the heroes, the hypocrisy of the American presence in the Middle East is clearly spelt out. We have US President Bush calling on Iraqis to rise up against Saddam, but then pulls out his almighty army. Who's helping whom?

The acting in Three Kings is uniformly very good. Clooney, who has found it hard to translate his ER popularity into box office returns, is charismatic as the man in charge, though I found his character and performance to be similar to his roles in The Peacemaker and, to a lesser extent, Out of Sight. Wahlberg, who was good in Boogie Nights, funny in The Big Hit, but bland in The Corruptor, shows surprising depth as the dad who wants something more for his wife and newly-born child. Rapper Ice Cube is solid as the tough Chief, and multi-talented Jonze adds humour and variety as the less-than-intelligent Conrad. The supporting cast, including Kennedy (from Scream and Scream 2), Dunn (as a pesky reporter) and Williamson (Forrest Gump's Bubba) as the unsuspecting army colonel, are efficient in their roles.

Russell has given the film a very grainy look, probably to reflect the dust, grit and sand of the desert landscape. Indeed, nothing other than earthy colours seem to fill the screen. He is also not afraid to shock, a constant in his films thus far, but he does it in a way that also makes us laugh, even if not in a feel-good way. A good example is early in the movie when a cow steps on a mine. I'll say no more.

Three Kings has the makings of a good movie, with a very good cast, and one that casts a critical eye on a part of recent history that's rarely been covered. That it doesn't quite succeed is a source of frustration. It's the same frustration and dissatisfaction I felt when I finished watching Flirting with Disaster. Three Kings is not as bizarre as that film, but it could have been much better.

(c) Joe Wong