at first glance , three kings looks to be just another war movie , the 90s version of all those favourite war movies with names i cannot remember . 
the 90s version , it definitely is , just another war movie ? 
not in your dreams ! 
imagine pulp fiction approach to saving private ryan , thats three kings for you . 
believe it or not , it bears the cool of the former and the stark humane meaning of the latter . 
the story brings us to the twilight of the gulf war , with the allied troops victorious . 
majpr archie gates ( clooney ) leads an enterprising bunch of grunts to a rather unorthodox post-war looting spree ; the millions in gold bars secretly stowed away by saddam in a desolate village in the desert . 
as the rest of the troops are celebrating their victory and getting ready to be shipped home , this `wild bunch goes awol on an armed hum-vee ( the vehicle of choice of the us army ) . 
they soon find out that they have much resistance , as they get tangled with the local rebellion against saddams forces . 
frequently switching their modes between looters and robin hoods merry men , they become consciously attacked by their own morals . 
as the film begins to roll , it seemed to have a rather `light mood to it . 
`special effects such as when gates describes to his men how a bullet can kill simply paves the way for a light-hearted funny action movie . 
three kings is much smarter than that . 
as the conflict becomes more and more complex , the audience will be trapped in a limbo , trying to stay focussed on that light-mood/serious-mood that the film seem to portray . 
i personally found this analogous to the same feelings of the main characters involved in the film ; trapped between their initial plan paved by greed and their own sense of humanity . 
this simply made the entire experience of watching three kings truly brilliant . 
action sequences are not shot as your old-fashioned war films nor anything like steven spielbergs in-your-face war violence . 
they are carefully built to generate tension with just the right tight close-ups and pauses , right before the action starts . 
not john woo for sure but more of sergio leones spaghetti western style ( tons of them starring clint eastwood ) . 
great performances by clooney and wahlberg but the brilliance have to lie in the conception of this film ; the screenwriter and the director . 
three kings ranks among the best films of the year , well , for me at least . 
highly recommended .