Three Kings(1999)- User Reviews

I'm not a big fan of George Clooney, however, after seeing Mark Wahlberg in "The Departed" I am a huge fan of his. Clooney was pretty believable in his role as Major Archie Gates, and overall the movie was pretty good.

The blend of humor, realistic scenes of the Iraqi desert and some harsh war-like scenes made the film convincing. While I had a hard time with soldiers wanting to steal gold bullion for themselves, (I've never served in the military and don't know what mindset these men might be in) it seems to me most soldiers are honest and wouldn't conceive of such a thing. On the other hand, it was gold stolen by Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, so we don't feel too bad about the plot.

Clooney, Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze are a sort of whimsical group. Their witty characters brighten what otherwise might have been a too-serious war film that would have failed in its effort to combine a post-war Iraq with weary soldiers who have just discovered a way out of their ordinary lives.

There's some brutal gunshot scenes and typical war scenes that make you cringe, but again, all fitting in the nature of war, even after it officially ends.