Week 2 - Three Kings

Hi,

In this weeks tutorial we watched Three Kings (1999) starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube. In the lecture this week we focused on the themes and plots in films, and so I'll do this for Three Kings as well.

There are five essential elements of plot:
- Believable/sympathetic character
- Urgent and difficult problem
- Attempts to overcome aforementioned problem
- The last chance/final stand
- The resolution

In this film Mark Wahlberg plays the sympathetic character Troy Barlow, with a wife and baby waiting for him at home. George Clooney's character is Archie Gates, and he is older and disillusioned with the war (I think there's one of those characters in every war movie). Luckily Gates is special forces, if anyone has a question he knows the answer!

At first it seems the urgent problem is the treasure hunt and stealing the gold, however this leads into the protagonists trying to save some prisoners from Iraqi soldiers. Barlow is then kidnapped, and Gates and the other protagonists decide to rescue him as well as aid the rebel prisoners in reaching the border.

 It doesn't seem like there are multiple attempts to overcome one problem, it's just every time they solve a problem, a few more pop up.

During the last stand the protagonists storm the bunker where Barlow is held, rescue him and save the prisoners (however Conrad Vig played by Spike Jonze is killed). Barlow is shot and injured but Gates uses his knowledge to save him.

I didn't see the end of the movie, but Wikipedia tells me that Gates and Ice Cube's character Chief Elgin are now advisors on war films, and Troy is the owner of a carpet store. The gold was returned to its rightful owners however there was some missing.


According to Syd Field's 'Screen Play Structure', the first act should be the set up and last about thirty minutes. Very quickly into the movie most of the 'W' questions were answered. At first it seems as if the 'What' is answsered quickly too, however as the film progresses the goals and problems change and so does the 'What'. It's hard for me to quess which were the pinches and mid-points of the film, however the Iraqi woman being shot is one thing that stood out for me, as is when Barlow is kidnapped, and again when he is rescued. The resolution of the film was pretty straight forward, but unfortunately I didn't see the end so I can only guess!

The end.