Three Kings

Three Kings



The credit crunch. Woo-ooo, it's coming to get you. Personally, I think it's bloody fantastic. It affords me the ability to act like a scavenger; A vulture circling the dying shops, swooping down to pick the bones from the carcasses of Woolworths and Zaavi. Anyway, that's how I came by this copy of 'Three Kings' for three quid. Bargain.

After the Americans had freed Kuwait in the first Gulf war, they agreed to a ceasefire with Iraq, refusing to continue onto a full scale invasion of Iraq itself. (Check the sequel, Gulf War 2). The American soldiers spent their days lazing and partying until, by chance, a group of them stumbled upon a map to all the gold Saddam had stolen from Kuwait and hidden in his underground bunkers.

A group of four soldiers led by Archie Gates(George Clooney) embark on a secret mission to liberate the gold for themselves for no other reason than to get stinking rich.
The group includes Troy Barlow (Ex- Music star Marky Mark), Chief Elgin (Ex-Music star Ice Cube) and Conrad Vig (visionary director Spike Jonze).

When they follow the map to a small sand town in the middle of the desert, they witness the brutality of the Iraqi republican guard. Upon seeing the four soldiers, the townspeople think that the Americans have come to save them. This emboldens them to rise up against the guards in a short lived revolution which is severely beaten down by the armed guards.

Gates can't stomach it when a woman pleading for her life is mercilessly shot in the head. He makes a choice which results in a fire fight and the subsequent kidnapping of Troy.
With the help of the townspeople, they mount a rescue attempt at a fortified compound where Troy is being tortured by an American trained Interrogator.

This movie throws every conceivable immorality of war message at the screen, so fast and hard it's difficult to keep up. The children running through tear gas narrowly avoiding the surrounding land mines. The restaurateur caught in the middle, persecuted by Saddam's soldiers after American bombs destroyed his lively hood. We even see Troy being mouth fed Oil as an allegory for American greed. It's got all the bases covered and on that level it works perfectly.

The drama keeps the audience gripped to the story and howling with outrage at the atrocities the Iraqi people have to endure. What doesn't work though, is the comic asides shoe-horned in to lighten the proceedings. Slapstick humour that would fit in a Farrelly Brothers movie doesn't exactly fit with innocent women having their brains blown out.

The acting is good with one notable let down – Mark Wahlberg plays centre stage for the emotional backbone of the film. It's he who learns most of all that greed isn't as important as humanity, but, unfortunately, he doesn't have the ability to carry that weight.
With Spike Jonze and George Clooney there to show him up, his acting skills (or lack of them) are all to glaring.

The ending was a bit too Hollywood as well. It's very unlikely that the sequence of events that make up the film's climax would happen anywhere outside Disneyland. Everyone gets all huggy and learns that there's much more important things in this world than money.
A sobering message leading into this massive Global recession then, eh?

Verdict 7/10
The good times outnumber the bad. Just.