Three Kings (David O.Russell) - Starting off like a typical gung-ho Hollywood war movie i.e. America won the Gulf War all by itself, this warps into something commendably ambivalent. George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube go into Iraq in search of Kuwaiti gold, and find a simple mission becomes a lot more complicated than they bargained for, as politics and compassion combine to interfere. Initially, it's startlingly visual, with internal views of bullet damage, and the amusing "cow meets cluster-bomb" sequence. These tide you past the opening spell of frantic jingoism, when it's tough to keep track of what's happening in a melee of characters and events. Settling down to the meat of the story, there are sharply effective moments, such as Wahlberg getting tortured -- you almost end up feeling more for the torturer than his victim. The changes in attitude across the characters are generally well-handled, although you feel they're present largely as vehicles for plot development rather than through any inherent need for them. Still, it's action with not only a brain, but a heart. B-