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Line 35: }} '''''Three Kings''''' is a 1999 American [[black comedy]] [[war film]] written and directed by [[David O. Russell]] from a story by [[John Ridley]]. It stars [[George Clooney]], [[Mark Wahlberg]], [[Ice Cube]], and [[Spike Jonze]] as four American soldiers on a [[heist film|gold heist]] that takes place during the [[1991 uprisings in Iraq]] against [[Saddam Hussein]] following the end of the [[ The film was released on October 1, 1999, in the United States. It received critical acclaim ==Plot== Line 59: * [[Ice Cube]] as Staff Sergeant Chief Elgin <br> An airline [[baggage handler]] from [[Detroit]] who believes he is protected by a ring of "Jesus-fire", also wears the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations patch. * [[Spike Jonze]] as Private First Class Conrad Vig <br> A jobless, semi-literate soldier from a group home in [[Dallas]] who idolizes Troy; also wears the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations patch. * [[Christopher Lohr]] as French Special Forces Captain Teebaux. * [[Nora Dunn]] as Adriana Cruz <br> A tough cable news correspondent who is determined to get a good story. * [[Jamie Kennedy]] as Specialist Walter Wogeman <br> A bumbling soldier whom Archie uses to distract Adriana. Line 77 ⟶ 78: ===Casting=== Russell penned the script with several actors in mind. Although Spike Jonze had never acted in a film before, Russell wrote the part of Conrad Vig specifically for him, and the two practised Conrad's [[Southern American English|Southern accent]] over the phone while Jonze directed his first feature film, ''[[Being John Malkovich]]''. Although Russell had to convince a wary Warner Bros. to cast an inexperienced actor in such a large role, he eventually won out. Russell said Jonze's lack of previous acting work was beneficial to the film, citing the "chaos that a nonactor brings to the set...he really shakes things up."<ref name="Wolk2">{{cite news | date = October 1, 1999 | last = Wolk | first = Josh | title = 'Three' Score | magazine = Entertainment Weekly | url = Co-star George Clooney also expressed initial reservations about the choice of Jonze. "It's always worrisome when somebody says, 'I got a friend,' and you've never heard of them. But within five minutes of meeting Spike, you just go, 'Oh, he's perfect for the part.'"<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Smith|first1=Ethan|title=Spike Jonze Unmasked|url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/movies/features/1267/|access-date=19 June 2017|magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=25 October 1999}}</ref> Line 86 ⟶ 87: ===Film techniques=== Much to the chagrin of Warner Bros., Russell decided to use a number of experimental cinematic techniques in the film. Handheld cameras and [[Steadicam]] shots were used to give the film a journalistic feel. Russell shot a majority of the film on [[Ektachrome]] transparency stock that was cross-processed in colour negative chemicals, to reproduce "the odd colour of the newspaper images [of the Gulf War]." Though the process produced a unique quality and look to the film, it was exceedingly unreliable to develop, and many film labs would not provide insurance for the transparency stock if it did not develop properly. Russell feared that the scenes would need to be reshot until finally a lab was found that would develop the transparency stock in the negative chemicals.<ref name="digitalcontentproducer.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/news/news-articles/filmmakers-visual-story-points/373931|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109193903/http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/news/news-articles/filmmakers-visual-story-points/373931|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 9, 2017|title=Filmmakers on Visual Story Points|date=7 June 2014|access-date=23 September 2017 All of the explosions in the movie were filmed in one shot, as opposed to a typical film where each would have been covered by multiple cameras. Russell explained, "to me that's more real. The car's blowing up on this guy, and we just park the camera. Of course the producer says, 'we gotta run three cameras!' But if I cut three ways, then it just looks like an action picture."<ref name="Anderson" /> Russell also had the sound post-production team tone down the sounds of gunfire, saying he didn't want to "Bruce Willis-ize" the film."<ref name="Anderson" /> One frequently noted shot in the film is an image of a bullet piercing a number of internal organs, releasing [[bile]] into the abdominal cavity, used when Gates is describing [[sepsis]] as the effect of a gunshot wound. This internal camera is again used when SFC Barlow is shot in the torso and his chest begins to fill with air, [[Pneumothorax|crushing his lung]]. Both of these scenes were inspired by Russell asking an emergency room doctor friend "What's the weirdest wound you've ever seen?"<ref name="Anderson" /> It also erupted a minor controversy, when Russell began to joke around that the gunshots were fired into a real corpse; a statement everyone vehemently denied later.<ref>{{cite news| url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/459676.stm | work=BBC News | title=Clooney corpse report denied | date=September 28, 1999 | access-date=May 25, 2010}}</ref> Line 106 ⟶ 107: ''Three Kings'' received critical acclaim. On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds a 94% rating, based on 128 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "''Three Kings'' successfully blends elements of action, drama, and comedy into a thoughtful, exciting movie on the Gulf War."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/three_kings/ |title=Three Kings |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=23 September 2017 }}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a score of 82 out of 100, based on 34 reviews.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/threekings |title=Three Kings |work=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=23 September 2017 }}</ref> Audiences surveyed by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F.<ref>{{cite web |title= Three Kings (1999) B |work= [[CinemaScore]] |url-status= dead |url= https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date= 2018-12-20 }}</ref> [[File:42-WHPO-P76594-18A.jpg|thumb|246x246px|Actor Spike Jonze greets Bill Clinton at screening in the White House.]] [[Peter Bradshaw]] says, "A strange flavour, but this is an enjoyable and intelligent action film."<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/mar/03/4#:~:text=Three%20Kings%20has%20the%20lineaments,enjoyable%20and%20intelligent%20action%20film. |title=Three Kings - Film |newspaper=[[the Guardian]] |access-date=23 September 2017 }}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film four out of four, The director's commentary of the film reveals that then-incumbent President [[Bill Clinton]] liked the film so much that he had it screened for his staff, friends and advisors at the [[White House]].{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} In ''[[Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy]]'' Matthew Alford called ''Three Kings'' "an unusual ideological product on Hollywood terms, which begins to break down the official history of the Gulf War [...but nevertheless...] suggests that the problems of Iraq can be solved, and only solved, by the application of US force". He observes that Russell "sheepishly indicated ''Three Kings''' ideological consistency with the 2003 Iraq War" when Russell met George W. Bush in 1999(?) and said he was making a film that would question his father's legacy in Iraq. Alford quotes Bush as responding to Russell: "Then I guess I'm going to have to finish the job, aren't I?"<ref name="Alford">{{cite book |last1=Alford |first1=Matthew |author1-link=Matthew Alford |title=Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy |year=2010 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=978-1783714445 |pages= [[A. O. Scott]] described 1999 as a magic year for movies, "up there with 1939 and 1962 and 1974", highlighting ''Three Kings'' and ''[[Magnolia (film)|Magnolia]]''.<ref>{{cite news| title=Our Film Critic on Why He's Done With the Movies| work=The New York Times| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/23/podcasts/the-daily/ao-scott-film-critic-american-cinema-movies.html?showTranscript=1}}</ref> He chose the movie one of his "Critics' Picks".<ref>{{cite video| title=Critics' Picks - 'Three Kings'| author=A. O. Scott| work=The New York Times| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvly942T40Ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvly942T40Ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvly942T40E}}</ref> ===Box office=== Line 126 ⟶ 129: ==External links== * {{IMDb title|0120188|Three Kings}} * {{ * {{mojo title|threekings|Three Kings}} * {{rotten-tomatoes|three_kings|Three Kings}} Line 179 ⟶ 182: [[Category:1990s English-language films]] [[Category:1990s American films]] [[Category:English-language action comedy-drama films]] [[Category:English-language black comedy films]] [[Category:English-language action adventure films]] | |||