One of the leading causes behind the trend toward complex, interesting movies is the success of '90s independent films, and one of the first to break through into the big leagues was director David O. Russell's Spanking The Monkey . With his latest effort, Three Kings , Russell joins the group of directors who have managed to create intelligent, well-crafted films while working with studio backing. A trio of salient characteristics identify films in this new wave of non-crappy cinema. Second, those scripts stress strongly motivated action and multi-faceted characters. While stereotypes are helpful in defining characters during the relatively short 110-minute time span of the average film, it's far too easy for a writer or director to identify heroes and villains if those characters act only within the bounds of their stereotypes.
Real people are never simply good or evil.
Third, the films combine a cynicism toward commonly held ideas or tacitly supported institutions with a belief in the possibility of individual human redemption, even when the institutions and ideas surrounding these humans are unredeemable. George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze play the soldiers who set out to pick up the loot, but in standard movie fashion, get more than they bargained for. What they didn't bargain for was Iraqi citizens expecting the Americans to help them overthrow Hussein. They also didn't bargain for getting shot at, or being captured, or getting involved in a mini-revolution. In cool, frighteningly detached tones, he says that he joined the army for the extra money, but now he can't get out.