War: What's it good for? Maybe a few good laughs

Three Kings' take on the Gulf War shows a cinematic shift in sensibility, just as that conflict reflects new rules of military engagement. The result is a rollicking satire in the style of M*A*S*H.

By STEVE PERSALL Times Film Critic

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 1, 1999

America doesn't fight wars like it used to, so why should anyone expect American filmmakers to make the same old war movies?

Three Kings Director: David O. Russell Cast: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze, Nora Dunn Screenplay: David O. Russell Rating: R; violence, profanity, sexual situations Running time: 115 min. Grade: A-

Three Kings is only the second film dealing with Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf. The first one, Courage Under Fire, was essentially Vietnam movie maneuvers in sand-colored fatigues. Meg Ryan saw more battle action than the average Gulf War soldier, since dropping bombs and propaganda leaflets won't allow a good look at the whites of an enemy's eyes.

Right away, Three Kings writer-director David O. Russell announces the difference, with a platoon encountering an armed Iraqi and double-checking whether they're allowed to shoot him. The ink on a cease-fire agreement is still wet. When an okay is given and the gunman is killed, soldiers gather around, marveling at the corpse. Whether he was friend or foe is never known. "I didn't think I'd get to see anyone get shot in this war," one soldier says, suggesting a photo be taken for posterity.

The kill sets off a frat-boy celebration with soldiers dancing in the desert, drinking beer and exaggerating the incident to something like legend. The triggerman, Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg), is a hero, leading his comrades in the unofficial anthem God Bless the U.S.A. Rarely has so little meant so much to so many. But it's a little touch of John Wayne for these soldiers.

Russell's buoyant introduction serves notice that Three Kings won't follow standard operating procedure. It's a puckish sort of anti-war movie that suggests ground troops were never in danger, anyway. The Gulf War for one soldier is described as a four-month paid vacation from Detroit. It's deemed a media war by an officer, and the welcome presence of a snoopy TV reporter (Nora Dunn) is proof. Dodging her attention takes more guile than dodging bullets.

She's covering the clean-up while Saddam Hussein's soldiers are surrendering. They're stripped of their uniforms and one guy has a piece of paper hidden where the blistering sun won't shine. Troy, a grim Chief Elgin (Ice Cube) and a Troy wanna-be named Vig (Spike Jonze) deduce that it's a treasure map leading to bunkers where Hussein stashed wealth confiscated from Kuwait.

The news filters upward to Capt. Archie Gates (George Clooney), who pulls rank to lead a search party. Kuwait has been liberated, so why not liberate billions of dollars of its gold bullion? If you're counting, that makes four kings, but Russell wanted the biblical connection, I guess. Three Kings combines macho Kelly's Heroes fantasy and jabs at George Bush's foreign policy, with both qualities shadowed by Russell's inventive approach to action filmmaking.

Newton Thomas Sigel's camera pans and zooms through the mayhem like a smart bomb, speeding to the exact location to get the job done. One bravura sequence deconstructs a shootout, with the lens zipping from various gun barrels to their targets, then putting on the brakes to show metal ripping through flesh. Russell even takes the audience inside an abdomen to graphically depict toxic shock in a bullet wound. This perpetual motion and a sun-bleached tint of film overexposure makes Three Kings look completely unique.

The story behind the breathtaking pictures is almost as fresh. The outline resembles any other caper flick, but Russell doesn't slap white hats on his heroes. Behind enemy lines, Archie and his gang are treated like ghosts by Iraqi troops who don't want trouble, and like saviors by citizens.

The locals listen to Bush's call for them to revolt against Hussein and don't realize that U.S. troops aren't backing them up. Archie is torn between making a quick getaway and staying to live up to Bush's empty promises.

Some details are memorable, such as an escape attempt using a long-distance call by cell phone. An information operator asks for a listing and all Troy can think of is: "Operation Desert Storm. It's that big war in the desert." Or a fleet of luxury vehicles replacing tanks as battlefield equipment. Russell can't maintain that irreverent momentum for the entire running time, but Three Kings is still the brashest war comedy since M*A*S*H.

When things aren't very funny anymore in the final reel, Three Kings reverts to typical sweaty-palm suspense and explosions. Greed and political barbs are shoved aside for a rousing finale with postscripts tacked on for happy ending's sake. It satisfies, but not to the level of what preceded it. Russell doesn't win the war for devastating satire; he just calls a truce.

The performers tend to sag a bit along with Russell's screenplay. Clooney is pure charisma in a role that doesn't call for much more than that. Wahlberg has the most rounded character to play: His home life is the only one explored, and he has the acting luxury of being captured and tortured. Cube scowls a lot and drops some trenchant wisecracks, and Jonze is an everyhick played for comic relief in a movie that doesn't need it. Dunn's hardnosed performance is fine and nearly forgotten after Act One.

Three Kings is a great action movie and a near-great cinematic social protest. In a way, it exemplifies U.S. warfare policy since World War II, beginning with a terrific idea and having all the tools to implement it, but not quite finishing the job.