Stars: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Nora Dunn, Jamie Kennedy, Mykelti Williamson, Cliff Curtis, Said Taghmaoui, Holt McCallany, Judy Greer, Liz Stauber, Spike Jonze

Director: David O. Russell

Summary: Following the Gulf War, a group of American soldiers in Iraq find a map which they hope will lead them to a large amount of gold near to their desert base...

David O. Russell makes his entry into the major studio big leagues with this electric war dramedy. The charged script, based on a fictional story by John Ridley, is a sly reworking of KELLY'S HEROES that concerns four Gulf War soldiers who discover a map that potentially leads to an enormous stash of gold bullion. Russell gives his actors a chance to shine with roles that step outside of the usual cinematic cliches and enable them to create humanistic, believable characters, resulting in one of 1999's most exciting, original and underrated motion pictures.

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A confident hybrid of M*A*S*H, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Dr. Strangelove, Three Kingsis one of the most seriously funny war movies ever made. Improving the premise of Kelly's Heroeswith scathing intelligence, it explores the odd connection between war and consumerism in the age of Humvees and cellular phones. Writer-director David O. Russell's third film (after Spanking the Monkeyand Flirting with Disaster) is a no-holds-barred portrait of personal conscience in the volatile arena of politics, played out by one of the most gifted filmmakers to emerge in the 1990s.

George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze (director of Being John Malkovich) play a quartet of US soldiers who, disillusioned by Operation Desert Storm, decide to steal $23 million in gold hijacked from Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's army. Getting the bullion out of an Iraqi stronghold is easy; keeping it is a potentially lethal proposition. By the end of their mercenary mission, the Americans can no longer ignore war-time atrocities, and conscience demands their aid to Kuwaiti rebels abandoned by President George Bush's fickle war-time policy. This is serious stuff indeed, but Russell infuses Three Kingswith a keen sense of the absurd, and the entire film is an exercise in breathtaking visual ingenuity. Despite a conventional ending that's mildly disappointing for such a brashly original film, Three Kingsconveys the brutal madness of war while making you laugh out loud at the insanity. --Jeff Shannon

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Commentary By David Russell, Deleted Scenes, Audio Commentary By Charles Roven And Ed Mc Donnell, Under The Bunker Behind The Scenes Documentary, Tour Of Iraqi Village Set, Interview With DP Thomas Sigel
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, English, Romanian
Year:	1999
Release Date:	April 18, 2005
Runtime:	114 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 017862
Label:	Essential War Collection
Keywords:	General, Wide, Screen, Three, Kings, Drama, Confirmed
Genre:	Drama