Three Kings
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: October 1, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Baltimore SunAnn Hornaday
This audacious hybrid of cinematic styles is pure entertainment. Read full review
100
New York PostJonathan Foreman
An extraordinary experience: an original and brilliant combination of comedy, action and sophisticated political comment -- the best American movie of the year thus far. Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A daring, teeth-grinding experience that doesn't let the viewer rest easy. Read full review
100
Portland OregonianDiana Abu-Jaber
An all-hell-breaks-loose, panicky fever of a story, all of it drenched in grainy, color-saturated cinematography. Read full review
100
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Blackly funny, unafraid to shift emotional gears from farce to horror, peppered with spectacular action. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Some kind of weird masterpiece...one of the best movies of the year. Read full review
100
Film.comSean Means
A biting satire of military myopia and political double-dealing -- possibly the best wartime comedy since Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H." Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Off-and-on cynical and sentimental, Russell's darkly comic tale shows how much can be done with familiar material when you're burning to do things differently and have the gifts to pull that off. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Enormously entertaining. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
One of the most exciting Hollywood action films in years, and the best Vietnam movie since "Apocalypse Now." Read full review
90
TNT RoughCutChristopher Brandon
It's full of energy and drops an emotional bomb with its unexpected tale of reluctant heroes.
90
Rolling StonePeter Travers
When it comes to rousing action, whip-smart laughs and moral uplift that doesn't pump sunshine up your ass, Three Kings rules.
90
TimeRichard Schickel
A brilliant exercise in popular but palpable surrealism. Read full review
90
Film.comRobert Horton
It's like a madly inventive hybrid of "Dr. Strangelove" and "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
The visuals are wild, the sound track has the audacity to underscore the subtext instead of just echoing the obvious, the comedy is irreverent and occasionally slapstick, and the metaphorical details are consistently strong. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
A war movie with a conscience, an action movie with a funny bone, a caper movie with a shifting agenda. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeJay Carr
You walk out amazed and refreshed by the way it kicks the assumptions out from under the genre. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Impossible to resist. Read full review
88
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
A work of strangely bold, distinctly American pop art - proud to be ashamed, ashamed to be proud, unafraid to ignore its commercial bearings. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Exhilarating, alternately funny and horrific film. Read full review
86
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
Russell has combined pathos, terror, and black comedy with a dollop of Hollywood feel-good patriotism to make one of the best studio efforts this year. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
As entertaining as it is a viable, political message destined to make viewers rethink their stance on war. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
An astonishing movie that keeps you off-balance from the first scene. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
So overstuffed with random fireworks that despite its politics, it's easy to imagine the film getting a four-star rave from Bush or Saddam. Read full review
75
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
Visual pyrotechnics and dark humor aside, Three Kings rules because it dares to dig for such truths, whether banal or significant. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A genre movie with an agenda that's too packed. Inevitably, some of the many balls it's juggling get dropped -- (but it's) one of the most entertaining and original actioners in several years. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
So wild an approach demands straightforward performances that don't draw attention to themselves, and that's what the actors supply. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
Better than the usual Hollywood rot, but dialectical it ain't. Read full review
70
Film.comJohn Hartl
Closer to "M*A*S*H" than "Dr. Strangelove," which in itself wouldn't be a bad thing. But for all its engaging qualities, Three Kings doesn't seem to know what kind of beast it is. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
An impudently comic, stylistically aggressive and, finally, very thoughtful manner. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
A nifty little war movie that defies convenient categorization. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Increasingly muddled, cumulatively monotonous, would-be heartwarming, Three Kings becomes its own entertainment allegory -- searching, Hollywood style, for the point at which blatant self-interest can turn humanitarian, while still remaining profitable. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Russell's stylish and imaginative filmmaking wages its own war against lunkheaded and sometimes offensive material. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
It isn't nearly as successful a showcase for this filmmaker's extraordinary talents. Read full review
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