Three Kings (1999) |
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Three Kings (1999) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Action |
Dolby Digital Trailer-Rain Listing-Cast & Crew Easter Egg-Password on C&C screen Audio Commentary-David O. Russell (Dir) Audio Commentary-Charles Roven (Prod) & Ed McDonnell (Prod) Production Notes Featurette-Under The Bunker Featurette-Tour Of The Iraqi Village Set Featurette-Director David O. Russell's Video Journal Deleted Scenes-with and without commentary Interviews-Crew-Director of Photography Featurette-Intimate Look Inside The Acting Process w/Ice Cube Gallery-Photo Theatrical Trailer DVD-ROM Extras |
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| Year Of Production | 1999 | ||
| Running Time | 110:05 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (73:03) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | David O. Russell |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
George Clooney Mark Wahlberg Ice Cube Spike Jonze Nora Dunn Jamie Kennedy Mykelti Williamson Cliff Curtis Said Taghmaoui |
| Case | Village Roadshow New Style | ||
| RPI | $34.95 | Music | Carter Burwell |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
When visiting the Warner Bros. studios, low-budget director David O. Russell saw promise in a story concept about a gold heist during the Gulf War. He spent a year and a half creating a script around his vision, and the end result is probably quite different from what the studio heads had expected. Ostensibly an action picture, the film is consistently quirky, interesting and creatively presented, yet underneath the gloss the structure is quite traditional.
George Clooney plays Archie Gates, a Special Forces officer disgusted with the war and eager to retire. When he hears that three officers (Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze) have discovered a map revealing the location of stolen Kuwaiti gold, he dumps the news reporter he's supposed to be escorting and plans a heist to steal it for themselves. What begins as an amoral caper film quickly turns into a deeper, more sombre piece in the second act, when the soldiers realize the war that they thought was over is still very much in progress, except that now Saddam's soldiers are attacking civilians.
Despite the uniformly strong performances, the standout feature here is Russell's writing. There's a good amount of his trademark black humour and he does a fine job of driving the film's ideas home to the slower members of the audience without beating the rest over the head. However, he admits that he intended to experiment with the look of the film and make it unlike any other war film, and occasionally he oversteps the mark and makes the audience too aware that they're watching a film, rather than being involved in it.
The Australian theatrical release was cut to avoid an R rating. The scene that caused the censors problems is on the disc and maybe I need help, but it didn't cause me any problems at all. I am very surprised that the OFLC consider that this film requires our strongest rating (and tried to ban Romance). I really wonder whether they've lost touch with the public they're trying to 'protect'.
This notice is the result of a mass of complaints directed to Roadshow Home Entertainment and Warner from aesthetically-challenged 'film buffs' who didn't realize that the green tint during some sections of The Matrix was INTENTIONAL. Yes folks, the time has come when many viewers don't bother to watch films in cinemas anymore, believing their crummy home system compares with the experience that only a top-notch theatre can provide. Match that attitude with panic and confusion about images that look different to what they're used to (even when artistically justified), and bang! The Matrix fiasco. Anybody who'd seen the film theatrically would know that the disc is a fantastic representation of the directors intentions.
Likewise, Three Kings is a film which utilizes different visual styles, in this case to symbolize emotional states in the lead characters. As Director David O. Russell states during his commentary, the film rarely uses conventional stock or processing techniques. The early parts of the film (before the soldiers reach the Iraqi village) are processed with a technique known as 'bleach bypass' which stops silver being removed from the negative. This deepens blacks and boosts contrast, similar to how many consumers set their TV sets while watching Blue Heelers. When the soldiers reach the village, a different film stock is used. The stock is called Ektachrome and is used for still photography. It pushes colours up to a unnatural, surreal level and adds another unique look to this section.
Because of these processes, the image does not look like your standard Hollywood picture, but that was the intention while making the film. Grain is often drawn out of the image, shadow detail is crushed, resolution varies and the opening sequences of the film are virtually monochromatic. The director and DOP also use other techniques like dropped frames and time lapse photography to convey emotions, and the film occasionally suffers from this when style overpowers story. The video transfer reflects these artistic choices perfectly, and as such, this is an excellent job.
Artefacts were few and far between. I noticed no significant MPEG artefacts during the film, although there are mild compression artefacts visible during the extras. There was no sign of aliasing or telecine wobble, and virtually no film artefacts.
This disc is an RSDL disc, but I can't locate the layer change. I guess that means it's well placed. (Ed. The layer change is at 73:03, during Chapter 21.)
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This is a slightly troubling soundtrack, but it appears that the problem is inherent to the film and not the R4 transfer. What problem, you ask? Well, the film was shot in 78 days in difficult conditions and under pressure from the studio, and it appears that there wasn't time to capture some dialogue properly. There's a lot of edgy, distorted dialogue on this disc, mainly from George Clooney. It was so prevalent, I had to check my system with other discs to be sure I hadn't somehow blown my tweeters. The same problem seems to exist on the US disc, so I have to assume it's a problem with the master.
I didn't notice any problems with audio sync, but I never do, as I don't have an early-generation Pioneer (smirk!). There were no problems with clicks, pop or dropouts, unlike earlier Village mastering efforts on the Hollywood Plus card.
The musical score is terrific. The IMDB lists two sources for the score; the excellent Carter Burwell, and Thomas Newton (part of the score from Flesh and Bone was used here). I can't be sure which was which, as I've never seen Flesh and Bone, but the tribal/jazz percussion during the action sequences were exciting and very fitting. The score never descended into pseudo Middle Eastern twaddle, which a lesser composer could have done.
The surrounds were well used, with plenty of opportunities seized to have bullets whizz across the soundstage.
The subwoofer channel is present and correct, making every explosion nice and meaty. It's not as energetic as an A-grade Hollywood doofus film, but should be satisfying at reference level.
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NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video quality is very good, being an accurate representation of a non-traditional source.
The audio quality is good, with dialogue distortion letting down an otherwise strong soundtrack.
The extras are fantastic, making this one of the best R4 special editions so far.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer 103S DVD-ROM with Hollywood Plus decoder card, using S-Video output |
| Display | Mitsubishi DiVA (78cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. |
| Amplification | Yamaha DSP-A1 |
| Speakers | Front L/R: Richter Excalibur SE, Centre: Richter Unicorn Mk 2, Surrounds: Richter Hydras |