The opening of the film begins with the view of an arid landscape with the voice of someone shouting in the background. The camera then moves to a side-view of a soldier who shouts “Are we shooting people or what?” and the camera swings to a civilian who was waving a flag in an attempt to surrender. In some parts of the film the use of slang was used e.g. ‘rag head’, ‘towel head’ which refers mainly to the Iraqi’s wearing turbans.
There was also a shot of a cross-way argument where the audience can follow two different scenes at the same time. Several codes and conventions were used in the film such as NBC which represents the American News Network, and the US and Iraqi flag in various backgrounds in the film.
In the film there were several jump shots for example after showing the opening scene where the Iraqi got shot, the camera jumps to the base camp where the soldiers were celebrating their victory of the war. Freeze frames were used to introduce the main characters which gave the audience the effect of realism because the characters were speaking to the camera. The sequence where the news reporter was doing cuts and un-cuts shows how the news is being manipulated for the audience to decide on taking sides and to have an idea of what’s going on.
Three Kings could both critique and engage in the official narrative and understanding the gulf war. Three Kings film delivers to its audience a set of fragmented narratives that flowed together in opposition and introduction of each other, there by creating a dynamic meta-narrative that was not bound to one position or another. The film is an interruption of the various assumptions about the gulf war and the role of action/war films. While the
film is about four soldiers stealing gold, there is a message of morality over reputation that is at the ending of the film they ended put being heroes.
The camera shots and movements are done superbly e.g. the noise of a helicopter and the voices of two soldiers speaking could be heard in the background and then the camera then rolls onto the helicopter taking off in slow motion, sending sand and capsizing a chair. The cultural verisimilitude of the film attracts audience to the film because the film gives some connection and feel to the real. The flashbacks are also done remarkably for example, in the scenario where Gates speaks to the soldiers about their day jobs and the phone rings giving the flashback of each soldiers(Troy, Conrad and Elgin) comes into place. There were also flash backs of Troy Barlow’s family and what could have happen to them, as well as Capt. Said’s son being crushed by a block due to the bombing.
Cates and his partners in crime shoot across the desert, oil-well fires raging background, in a humvee (A trademark used for a durable wide-bodied military vehicle with four-wheel drive) with the beach boys blasting on the stereo while Elgin and Vig plays skeet of the back of the vehicle with their rifles and nerf footballs fitted without explosives.
When the four Americans cruise into the town full of Iraqi soldiers, the reception from the town people showed one of extreme joy and relief. The way in which the movie flows from one genre to another was quite interesting; comedy was merged with drama, then with action which made it feel so natural to the audience.
The rap music the American celebrated with in the beginning of the film is echoed later in the Iraqi rap music blaring from a boom box in the small town Gates’ refugees arrive in later.
During the beginning of the raid, the cuts from Troy, Archie and chief in the bunker rummaging around to Conrad guarding the entrance nervously and back are extremely quick. Each individual shot the camera took was filled to the brim with people and stolen goods that crowd the scene in your mind and add to the intensity of the situation. When the Americans were fleeing from the town and the Iraqis are firing gas grenades after them, this bombarded the audience with image after image, while the musical score raised and puts the audience on the edge of their seats.
Figures in elephantine gas masks moved through a cloudy gas-shrouded minefield gave the association of alien invasion.
The dynamic of saturation live coverage of operation Desert Storm show the gulf war as a post-modern war.
There was a sequence where Gates asks Troy “What is the most important thing in life?” and in response, Troy asked “What are you talking about?” and the conversation goes on with Conrad and Chief Elgin joining. This sequence played a critical role in allowing the film, its characters and the viewing audience to depart from the common action/war genre. At this point the film allows for the possibility of the audience to remove expectations of America, American patriotism, winning the gulf war or defending freedom to be the “most important thing in life.” The answer Gates delivers to the audience allows for the most important thing to be the individual.
Before the heist begins, Archie Gates tells his American soldiers cohorts that they will conduct their robbery without firing any shots. When he was queried, he detailed both verbally and visually the result of a bullet entering the body. This dialogue sets the pace in which scenes of violence will be treated.
Throughout the course of the film, each scene involving violence, is approached with a variety of techniques. In some scenes, the film slows down to show each shot fired and when the bullet hits; in other scenes, specific use of graphic close-up shots are used to illustrate the effect of the bullet. When violence was a probability in the scene, the camera begins to use close-up shots of all of the guns that would be involved if violence erupts. The film was edited in a way that the sound of a gun shot sounded natural. Techniques such as these begin to afford the audience time to process violence that is being portrayed.