1/22/2014
Over the past two years Director David O. Russell has struck
Oscar gold with "Silver Lining Playbook" and "American
Hustle". Attaching rising megastars
Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper to both hasn't hurt either. Back in the late 90s Russell's first
commercial hit was the Gulf War action/satire/adventure "Three Kings"
starring a platoon of rising stars including George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice
Cube. Obviously they were all known but
Clooney was coming of TV's "E.R." and Wahlberg and Ice Cube we're
mainly known for their music careers.
The story is stationed in Kuwait at the end of the Gulf War
in '91. Saddam and his forces have been
sent packing. With no major fighting the
American troops are painted to look like a bunch of bored teenagers looking for any action they
can get into. Many wondering why were
there in the first place. Here's a not
so subtle hint, they have a lot of oil, and the first President Bush was
protecting his investments. American
forces are preparing to get the hell out of the desert when Barlow (Wahlberg),
Vig (Spike Jonze) and Elgin
(Cube) find a map to one of Saddam's stolen gold bunkers hidden in a surrendering
Iraqi man's ass.
Clooney plays Archie Gate a special forces guy who when not
screwing the media, literally, is just waiting out the war so he can retire
from active duty. Gates come across the
guys and the map and decides they can make a quick and quiet in and out strike
to snatch the gold. But of course things
happen and they underestimate the danger of their secret operation.
Their plan to just grab the gold and run hits a snag when
they witness Saddam's Republican Guard soldiersbrutalizing and killing
civilians. They can't help but get
involved in their struggle, but being only a small unit they quickly get in
over their heads. They eventually find
the gold, but gold is really heavy and can be quite cumbersome to transport. Things get serious were Barlow is taken
hostage and Vig is hurt. They get help
from the locals but its going to cost them.
The action is amazing as well as the visual style from overly bright and
bleached out colors of the desert to the sound design. There is also a dark satirical thread
throughout as well as more overt humor.
It's a fun film all around.
"Three Kings was the pinnacle of the first part of
David O. Russell's career as his next film was the unbelievably awful
existential film "I Heart Huckabees".
It took six years for his next film and a return to form with "The
Fighter". Russell is an extremely
talented director and will always be interested in his upcoming films.
