SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
THIS MOTION PICTURE IS OFFICIALLY AN AFFILIATE OF THE FILMMAKING PARAGONS.
Three Kings is a rather unique war comedy from David O. Russell that tells the story of three soldiers pursuing a hidden treasure at Iraq after the war is over. It's crass, it's brash and it's amazingly hilarious!
Anytime a movie is made about money or treasure, it's really easy for the most of us to get behind the goal, thus automatically rendering the watch interesting! Essentially, the plot revolves around these three soldier protagonists going after Saddam's stolen bullion for themselves, but only to gradually lose it bit by bit until they have nothing of it left because of their own action to save the local civilians who are in dire need of help. It's this tug of war between being selfish and selfless drives these characters' arc. And naturally, because of their choice of performing this noble act, they face numerous conflicts! Troy (Mark Wahlberg) being held captive and tortured by 'father' moments / conversational exchange with his captor plus him struggling to breathe with his hands disabled to operate the chest valve are episodes truly full of tension! Rebel helpers appearing to assist the main characters seemed to come out of nowhere though.
By juxtaposing characters' seriousness with the picture's comedic tone, writer-director David O. Russell successfully brought out a burst of superb comedy! Dialogues and the way the characters mouth it are hysterical! Saudi prisoners interrogation, name-calling discussion, action practice on cow and oil-covered pelicans will send you in splits! Spike Jonze as Conrad Vig is unrecognizable, and his performance was the best!
Editing is one-of-a-kind. The way David O. Russell filmed human organs is not disgusting; in fact, it demands your attention. Action sequences are good too, and speaking of it, there's a scene where he captures gun shooting by navigating the frames in extreme slow motion with the focus solely on the bullet penetrations and its resulting sound effects - what a genius piece of idea!
Archie Gates: "The way it works is, you do the thing you're scared shitless of, and you get the courage AFTER you do it, not before you do it."
Conrad Vig: "That's a dumbass way to work. It should be the other way around."
Archie Gates: "I know. That's the way it works."