This is the first film I've seen by director David O. Russell.
Three Kings
Attempting to fit drama, comedy, action, history, ensemble, and politics in a movie can sometimes succeed, but like any movie, if the comedy, action, or characters are not particularly appealing to me then it doesn't matter how much you try to fit in there. This movie was interesting enough to me for one watch. And the history lesson about some of the less publicized facets of the larger events surrounding Operation Desert Storm in this country was worthwhile. But one watch through was enough. Actually three was way too much, but I have a compulsion about watching DVD extras. If I rent a DVD, it's because I want to expose myself to this movie for a particular reason. Even if I don't like it, I want to figure out what the deal is with it. Thus I forced myself to watch both of the commentary tracks here as well. After this film, and hearing David O. Russell's commentary, I do not find too much particularly appealing about him or his work to make me seek out more of his stuff. He comes off as just a bit arrogant, even about his humor. I was confused about how he explained that he didn't put too much effort into making the actual heist that original or interesting because the movie isn't really about the heist. It's just the structure of the movie. Well, if that's the case he should have figured out a different way to do his movie and take it out all together. Because if it's the structure it's still important, otherwise you lose the audience before you even get to what the film is "really about".
There are a lot of facets of this movie that have good things and bad things about them. I haven't even gone into some of the different cinematography styles they used. But overall it's all just too uneven for me to call it a great film. Maybe I should have checked out one of Russell's earlier dark comedies instead for my first movie of his, but at this point I don't have too much further interest.
Rating: 7/10