Triple 9

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'Triple 9' movie poster

Release: Friday, February 26 ,2016

[Theater]

Written by: Matt Cook

Directed by: John Hillcoat

Triple 9 could be a really great film. I’m not saying that to be facetious or hypothetical, like, “I have all these suggestions to make it better and here’s how you do it,” or “I’m seeing this tonight and I hope it’s going to be great.” I mean I’m genuinely not sure if it was any good or not. It’s such a bland, flavorless take on the crime genre that it’s difficult to remember anything about it, even days later. But the film is well-produced, so that counts for something. Right?

John Hillcoat, who has distinguished himself with gritty, typically criminal-infested features that tend to smother audiences with the hopelessness of the situation, isn’t exactly out of his element here, turning Atlanta into a bubbling cauldron of deception, corruption and a whole lot of violence. The rather convoluted plot revolves around a group of corrupt cops and legit criminals who are blackmailed by the nasty Irina Vlaslov of the Russian mafia (and of course when you mention them you naturally think of Kate Winslet) into taking on “one more job.”

Of course the mission won’t be simple; not even close. Michael Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is in it deep as he has had a child with Irina’s sister (Gal Gadot), and Irina won’t let him see the money or his kid until he and his cronies have recovered crucial government documents regarding the status of Irina’s mafioso hubby.  (Really, there’s nothing cute or overly affectionate about any of these relationships, I just think that ridiculous word seems to fit given we’re talking about ridiculous things like Winslet as a Russian mob boss). Michael employs his thug friend Russell (Norman Reedus) and Russell’s younger brother Gabe (a much more comfortable looking Aaron Paul) to help carry out the job but they’re unsure of how to do it.

‘Triple nine’ is code for “officer down,” a call that results in any and all units in a given area to respond to the scene. Michael and his crew, which includes crooked Atlanta cops Marcus (Anthony Mackie) and Franco (Clifton Collins, Jr.), realize they can use a triple nine call as a distraction to carry out the heist elsewhere. Marcus has just gotten a new partner, Casey Affleck’s genuine good-guy Chris Allen and Marcus nominates him as the officer who should act as the distraction (i.e. he wants to kill him). To confuse readers more (or just to make sure I have included all major names involved here), Allen has an uncle on the force, Jeffrey Allen (Woody Harrelson) who is determined to get to the bottom of a bank heist case perpetrated by Michael and company as part of an earlier favor to the Russians.

Essentially what Triple 9 boils down to is a matter of trust. A grimy, ominous milieu established from the opening shot of the city leaves little to the imagination. This isn’t a place where we’re going to like many of the characters we come up against (the sheer quality of the ensemble cast ensures this isn’t a deal-breaker). Nor are they the people we can count on to do the right thing. In this Atlanta, you can’t trust a soul. All of that is well and good; the simmering tension underlying Ejiofor and Winslet’s interactions — I stop short of saying relationship because there’s simply not enough time in this movie for relationships to truly be established — make for some of the film’s more interesting moments. But no one has much of an identity. Everyone either starts off miserable or ends up that way, or they end up dead.

In the vein of David Ayers’ infinitely more brutal Sabotage, which saw a team of DEA agents being picked off one-by-one after their unit was compromised, Triple 9 is a no-win situation in which the characters we are introduced to drift further and further away from us. It’s next to impossible to care about these trigger-happy thugs. The mood is perpetually dour, and most of the actions our (many) characters take rarely surprise, and because they don’t, several significant double-crosses don’t register with the power they ought to.

Performances are universally good; they’re nothing special but they’re functional. (And for what it’s worth, Winslet makes that accent work!) Instead it’s more problematic with how forgettable substantial chunks of their collective effort become. The film boasts a few impressive shoot-outs, particularly one in an abandoned warehouse — why do the good ones always take place in The Warehouse? — but for whatever reason, the bulk of the film, all of the talky stuff and detective work going on in the background just never quite connects. Conventionality isn’t a crime but I think I’ve finally made up my mind on this: Triple 9 is neither a great film nor a terrible one. It’s just something that’s there.

Recommendation: Violent, dark, confronting but still somehow boring and uninspired, Triple 9 undoubtedly prefers the art of storytelling over character presentation. Despite such a strong cast it’s kind of ironic that those characters get so forgotten by the end. But hey, at least this film has Woody Harrelson in it. If you are a completionist then see it for him, but everything else there’s either MasterCard or much better movies. 

Rated: R

Running Time: 115 mins.

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Photo credits: http://www.impawards.com; http://www.imdb.com

25 thoughts on “Triple 9”

    • Yeah I’m starting to think that John Hillcoat is one of those who has no real discernible ‘edge’ to his vision. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I think the same way about the stuff i’ve seen from Michael Mann and a few others. Triple 9 has its stregnths absolutely but the overall experience for me was utterly forgettable and I hate that

      Liked by 1 person

      • Yeah forgettable movies are… well, forgettable, haha! That sucks to hear cos his last three films were crackers, especially The Road. Watch that one when you can man, its incredible. Based on a Cormac McCarthy book.

        Sad to hear the quality hasn’t carried through. Though in fairness this is a very different movie from what he has done in the past. I’m still keen to see it but my expectations are in check

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    • For sure man. Winslet really surprised me. I liked the dynamic between her and Ejifor over anything else in this picture. John Hillcoat hasn’t really distinguished himself as anything special in my mind yet. Between this and Lawless he can capture gritty atmosphere and stage some pretty mean violence but I don’t know what else to say about his style

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    • Trailer sold me and so did the stellar cast. Somehow it doesn’t all come together as you would expect. Or who knows, maybe you’ll have more of a good time with it if you choose to see it. Not sure how big of an international ride it’s going to enjoy, I don’t think this thing has done very well financially here in the States. . .

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  5. Nice review, Tom! Yeah… I figured this one would be pretty shit as they tried so hard to make it seem “cool” in the trailer. But it earned me lots of points for Oracle of Film’s Acting Fantasy League since I have both Woody Harrelson & Teresa Palmer! So, um, yay for that at least? 🙂

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    • Hahah well that is always good! To be completely honest I thought the trailer was badass and that’s pretty much what got me in to a seat (aside from the amazing cast). I am drawn to these gritty crime thrillers, but apparently it doesn’t always work out for me lol

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  6. ‘Something that’s just there’ is about right! I have to admit I had no problems with Winslet’s performance here, though. I know she’s slightly over the top but it’s exactly what the film needs (same goes for Woody Harrelson) – the other characters are just so unmemorable I was glad for the couple who ate up the screen.

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    • Yeah this was a real missed opportunity I think. I can’t reconcile how good the cast is to how thoroughly bland and boring this thing is. Perhaps it’s one of those where you need to sit down and watch it again to fully appreciate it but I don’t think I’m moved enough to do so haha

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    • Hey there Jeroen, thanks very much for the nomination. 🙂 I checked out your post already, very interesting stuff.

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  8. This movie seems to have not done as well as they were hoping it would. Will check it out sometime if I come across it though. Sounds like a movie that had so much more potential than what they ultimately worked with!

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    • It has a TON of potential oh my goodness. It all just gets lost in a pretty murky story that has more twists than a damn pretzel. 😉 Enjoy it though if and when you watch. I don’t want to put anyone off of it. I just left this one very underwhelmed

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  9. Obviously liked it a little more than you Tom, but I think you raised a good point about this (I think it was you) possibly working better as a miniseries or something. I do think interesting characters exist, but obviously, there’s only so much time to devote to them, which is next to none here.

    I suppose I am more of a fan of the environment and direction and the sound performances (Mackie and Collins are the standouts imo). I think Hillcoat is special, but after seeing most of his other films, almost all struggle with a great script. I think he needs a better writer. Maybe you 🙂

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    • Hahaha oh man, that would be a sure-fire way of getting Hillcoat in even more trouble. 😉 😛

      I liked Lawless enough. This one didn’t click for me relay though. I like the idea of it being turned into a miniseries, I think with the plethora of characters and back-stabbings, both literal and figurative — this could be told better in a longer format. I don’t know. The major issue I really had was there was nothing that distinguished this from the lot of other crime movies. Nothing.

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