Three Kings
David O. Russell's Gulf War actioner is a curious creation. While often smart, fast, funny, and with ample visual ingenuity, the film is also overblown, silly, condescending, and without much nuance. Dealing with potentially interesting ideas about victims of modern war and the effects of violence on the body, the film is seemingly written in big red crayon, never really letting the audience make up it's own mind about what is on display.
While George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and Ice Cube deliver solid acting work here, Russell has more interest in basic, afterschool special type, messages. War is bad. Man can change. USA rules! These are concepts that are nothing new, almost every present war film treads the same water. I wanted Russell to conjure the caustic wit that made his previous feature, 1996's FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, so memorable and so hilarious. Instead Russell fills his frame with pre-school morals and Jerry Bruckheimer fireballs that can only be avoided by jumping in slow motion into a soft mat just below frame. THREE KINGS isn't nearly as intelligent as it believes it is.
And I would give a small digit if Spike Jonze never acts again.
The first half of the film really flies on all pistons. It makes an impression that the second half cannot match. The setting of the Gulf War is fresh, and the vast desert vistas were breathtaking. I also enjoyed the much talked about "bullet through the body" sequence. Sadly, THREE KINGS doesn't add up to much. A highly potent film that forgot to attach the poignancy. Russell should head back to comedic neuroses, a.s.a.p. --------------- 5/10
David O. Russell's Gulf War actioner is a curious creation. While often smart, fast, funny, and with ample visual ingenuity, the film is also overblown, silly, condescending, and without much nuance. Dealing with potentially interesting ideas about victims of modern war and the effects of violence on the body, the film is seemingly written in big red crayon, never really letting the audience make up it's own mind about what is on display.
While George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and Ice Cube deliver solid acting work here, Russell has more interest in basic, afterschool special type, messages. War is bad. Man can change. USA rules! These are concepts that are nothing new, almost every present war film treads the same water. I wanted Russell to conjure the caustic wit that made his previous feature, 1996's FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, so memorable and so hilarious. Instead Russell fills his frame with pre-school morals and Jerry Bruckheimer fireballs that can only be avoided by jumping in slow motion into a soft mat just below frame. THREE KINGS isn't nearly as intelligent as it believes it is.
And I would give a small digit if Spike Jonze never acts again.
The first half of the film really flies on all pistons. It makes an impression that the second half cannot match. The setting of the Gulf War is fresh, and the vast desert vistas were breathtaking. I also enjoyed the much talked about "bullet through the body" sequence. Sadly, THREE KINGS doesn't add up to much. A highly potent film that forgot to attach the poignancy. Russell should head back to comedic neuroses, a.s.a.p. --------------- 5/10