Three Kings on DVD (1999)

Three Kings

lucifer from LONDON , 14/10/2003

George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube form a fantastic trio of soldiers brought together in the aftermath of the first Gulf War.

The most interesting aspect of this film is the way it is shot - in order to demonstrate the dry heat in the desert, the film is shot in bright light and viewers are warned not to adjust their television sets. It works remarkably well - as do the stunts and special effects.

Whilst Wahlberg is typically cool and popular, it is actually Ice Cube who isn't typecast as a gun-toting war enthusiast but as someone who is actually very peaceful and who plays by the rules.

The soundtrack takes you back to the early 90's which is also great!

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Another average war-time film.

Philmster from Middlesex , 16/11/2003

But, I love the way this is shot, such bright colouration, really good stuff.

The film itself, solid acting and solid script. I'm fan of Clooney's work, so I enjoyed his performance in this along with 'Ice Cube' who is easily one of the better singers-come-actors around nowadays.

Well, overall, an involving story that never really lifts off into a great story.

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Never judge a film by it's cover.....

Scott Tierney from Bedfordshire , 01/01/2006

When I put this disc into my player, I was expecting a big outlandish gun-hoe movie with loads of explosions, one liner's that make you vomit pieces of your brain, and a ‘put down your guns and spread the love’ sentimental sunset ending. But after the first 10 mins, sadly, my thoughts hadn’t changed. There were loads of guns, god bless America shots and so on, which I was expecting. But then, the film really started to get going and change from the dumb action flick I was dreading to a very sensitive, deep and at times genuinely funny piece of work.

Firstly, the film looks great. From the overexposed deserts to the dark and gloomy underground caves, Davis O. Russell really hammers home the landscape the film is set in, and some of the other tricks and techniques he uses add some spice to the piece. The sound’s pretty good as well, the booms are especially loud.

All the main stars are on top form, Clooney’s surprisingly good in a part that his clean cut image is cast against, Wahlberg is very likable and engaging and Ice Cube leaves his type casting of gangster rapper, to put in a really good performance. But the stand out for me by a long way is Spike Jonze. He’s likable, but at the same time massively funny and comical without spoiling the mood of the film, and he gets most of the best lines which be delivers to a tee. All the characters gel thanks to a great script, and though the story is at times basic and at the end unsurprising, you get swept along by their struggle for, as they are all extremely likable.

As a whole, this is a surprisingly great film, its sharp, intelligent, powerful, harrowing and sadly in today’s climate, topical, but it still manages to be very entertaining as well, and genuinely laugh out load funny. Rent this film now, you won’t regret it!

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A decent film

joe13 from london , 15/01/2005

A decent enough film with some good sparky dialogue. However, despite its pretensions it's still far too Hollywood. The three stars all survive and there's never any doubt they'll do the right thing. I was shouting at their friend to run away from them as you just knew there was a bullet with his name on.

The ending is a complete cop out - pure Hollywood- and it commits the unforgivable sin of being a war film with a feel goodending. In fact the more I think about it the more I don't like it.

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