Inspired by color photos of the war that appeared in newspapers at the time, Russell and his cinematographer, Newton Thomas Siegel, devised a saturated, blown-out look for the Iraqi desert (actually Arizona) in the film. Its heroes are reluctant ones, soldiers who start out consumed by their own self-interest until forced by untenable circumstances to take a moral stand. Like Catch-22, Three Kings satirically probes the insanities of war like Apocalypse Now, it revels in surreal set pieces and sharp visual juxtapositions like M*A*S*H, it mixes black humor with moral complexity. But Russell had no such patriotic flag to wave. Russell ( Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle), Three Kings followed on the heels of Steven Spielberg’s heroic 1998 WWII epic Saving Private Ryan, which canonized the sacrifices made by the Greatest Generation. And then there was Three Kings(Certified Fresh at 94%), part action comedy, part heist movie, and 20 years later, still holding up as one of the best - and most subversive - war films ever made.ĭirected with adrenalized panache by David O. There were a handful of forgettable war-related films released in 1999: The General’s Daughter, All The King’s Men, the Robin Williams-starrer Jakob The Liar.
