What's Hot: Add New Fall Shows to Your Watchlist; Vampire Diaries; Miley Cyrus Swatted Again; Fall TV Day-By-Day Grid

Three Kings

1999, Movie, R, 115 mins

Three Kings: Review

An astonishing movie that keeps you off-balance from the first scene. It starts out a wisecracking, cynical action lark about four Gulf War GIs who see a way to steal a fortune. It ends up a sadly resigned indictment of market-driven American foreign policy, wrapped in a sneakily moving story of personal sacrifice and small, compromised victories snatched from cruel anarchy. That actually counts for a happy ending without feeling like a commercial cop out, and the whole thing is often mordantly funny to boot — what a balancing act! Sgt. Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg) and enlisted men Chief (Ice Cube) and Vig (Spike Jonze) come into possession of a map that shows the location of a bunker full of gold. With the help of thoroughly disaffected special-forces operative Major Archie Gates (George Clooney), they decide to make it their going-away present. "Saddam stole it from the sheiks. I have no problem stealing it from him," says Gates by way of clearing up the heist's ethical dimension, pointing out that amid the post-cease-fire pandemonium, no-one will notice or care what they're doing. Naturally, it doesn't go as easily as they anticipate. Surprisingly, they get sucked into helping a group of anti-Hussein Iraqi refugees who know their only hope of post-war survival lies in fleeing the country before the American military pulls out. The GIs are fairly decent guys, in a lazy kind of way, capable of pretending that wrong is right until somehow utter bloody chaos marches them, one baby step at a time, into doing the right thing at the moment when it stands to cost them the most. This is an amazing leap for writer-director David O. Russell, who graduates from sharply observed, small-scale stories about screwed-up families to a thought-provoking dispatch from a profoundly screwed-up world. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh

Are You Watching?

Three Kings

Loading ...

Shop

Buy Three Kings [Blu-ray] from Amazon.com
From Warner Home Video (Blu-ray)
Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy New: $7.99 (as of 05/19/13 9:47 AM EST - more info)

Buy Celebrating Christmas Together: Nativity and Three Kings Plays With Stories and Songs (Festivals (Hawthorn Press)) from Amazon.com
From Hawthorn Pr (Hawthorn House) (Paperback)
Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy New: $15.56 (as of 05/19/13 9:47 AM EST - more info)

more Three Kings products

Our Partners

'Arrested Development' Cast Picks Their Favorite Moments PublishDate = 5/19/2013 9:48:52 PM
It's Happening PublishDate = 5/19/2013 6:08:49 AM
'We Are Men' In 4 Words PublishDate = 5/18/2013 12:20:50 PM
Meet 'Mom' PublishDate = 5/18/2013 9:13:49 AM
Behind The Shocking 'Grey's Anatomy' Finale PublishDate = 5/17/2013 3:05:27 PM
Amazing Footage Of Oklahoma Tornadoes Demolishing Homes, ‘Tearing Up Everything In Its Path’ PublishDate = 5/20/2013 12:18:01 AM
On ‘Scandals’, President Obama Should Borrow From An Unfamiliar Playbook: Bush And Cheney PublishDate = 5/19/2013 9:37:14 PM
Box Office: 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Misses $100M Domestic Mark on Opening Weekend PublishDate = 5/19/2013 12:01:38 PM

Three Kings

1999, Movie, R, 115 mins

Three Kings: Review

Shop

Our Partners

Related Websites

Most Popular TV Shows

Most Popular Celebrities

Most Popular Movies

Top Videos