George Clooney Movie:

				Salesrank:
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
A confident hybrid of M*A*S*H, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Dr. Strangelove, Three Kings is one of the most seriously funny war movies ever made. Improving the premise of Kelly's Heroes with scathing intelligence, it explores the odd connection between war and consumerism in the age of Humvees and cellular phones. Writer-director David O. Russell's third film (after Spanking the Monkey and Flirting with Disaster), it's a no-holds-barred portrait of personal conscience in the volatile arena of politics, played out by one of the most gifted filmmakers to emerge in the 1990s.

George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and Spike Jonze (director of Being John Malkovich) play a quartet of U.S. soldiers who, disillusioned by Operation Desert Storm, decide to steal $23 million in gold hijacked from Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's army. Getting the bullion out of an Iraqi stronghold is easy; keeping it is a potentially lethal proposition. By the end of their mercenary mission, the Americans can no longer ignore wartime atrocities (and neither can we--the film is boldly unflinching), and conscience demands their aid to Kuwaiti rebels abandoned by President George Bush's fickle wartime policy. This is serious stuff indeed, but Russell infuses Three Kings with a keen sense of the absurd, and the entire film is an exercise in breathtaking visual ingenuity. Despite a conventional ending that's mildly disappointing for such a brashly original film, Three Kings conveys the brutal madness of war while making you laugh out loud at the insanity. --Jeff Shannon

Three Kings [Region 2] Reviews:
It's a heist with heart!
2009-08-24 - Three Kings
Fast moving movie set in the events of the 1991 Gulf War. American soldiers pursue an immense gold treasure and end up giving it away to help the innocent impoverished people. It's a heist with heart and reveals a little of the world American soldiers encountered in Iraq. I liked it.

I recommend my novel Devil's Verse

Devil's Verse: Natasha Azshatan Unlocks Ancient Mysteries, Reveals Secrets, And Wrestles With Demons As She Fights To Stay Alive

Moralism colliding with Comedy
2009-07-27 - Set at the end of the first Gulf War, what started out as a great caper film got bogged down with cheap moralizing and maudlin touches. Three (our four, depending on how you count) soldiers find a map to treasure that the Iraqis have looted from Kuwait. Determined to grab their share of the loot, they take off on a cross-desert excursion. But soon they are face with Conscience-Awakening Situations -- in the shape of Iraqi townsfolk beset by the Saddam's rapacious Republican Guard. They must decide between keep the swag, or being good guys.

The film had great potential as a military black comedy. But like the more maudlin episode of MASH, it preferred to ascend the bunghole of its own self- righteousness. A disappointment.

Amazing
2009-05-23 - I really don't understand the people who don't get this movie. God forbid a war movie isn't about shooting and killing but about saving the people of the nation you've invaded. This film is true to life: it's dramatic, sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic, and in the end is about people. Life seldom fits into a single category so why should film?

This is a film about four soldiers who choose to save the lives of refugees over money and military orders. It shows the desert storm conflict from all sides: the military, the enemy, and the innocents caught in the crossfire. For another great film about desert storm I recommend Jarhead by Sam Mendes.

Wow!!!
2009-05-15 - I am not one who enjoys war movies to say the very least. I run in the opposite direction. This movie was on TV and I got sucked in and couldn't walk away, even during the commercials. It was incredible, believable, and very moving & inspiring. I absolutely recommend this movie to anyone (except young children of course). See it and you won't be the same after. It is awesome.

What kind of movie is it? I don't know.
2008-12-08 - It's not a war movie . Neither it's an action nor a comedy. There are a few funny scenes.