Review – Triple 9

Triple 9 is as dirty as dirty cop films get.  This gritty, edge of your seat thriller features some great action scenes and as talented of a cast as there will be in 2016.  However, the lack of character depth really hurts the emotional punch the movie was trying to go for, resulting in an overall empty movie-going experience.

Triple 9 (the police code for “officer down”) follows a group of criminals (Chewitel Ejiofor, Aaron Paul, and Norman Reedus) and a couple of corrupt cops (Anthony Mackie and Clifton Collins Jr.) who plan on killing a cop in order to pull off a job for a Russian mob boss (Kate Winslet), all while having the cops hot on their tale.

Director John Hillcoat does not hold back the brutality of what these cops go through.  Bullets fly like nothing and death is a constant reality.  Hillcoat does a great job of building tension throughout each scene, giving us a sense of realism as the cops try to clean up the dirty streets of Atlanta and can get shot or attacked at any moment.

As I said before, this cast is ridiculous, and I didn’t even mention Casey Affleck, who plays the partner of one of the corrupt cops, and Woody Harrelson as the veteran detective.  Everybody gives top notch performances, particularly Winslet, who has a blast playing the intimidating mob boss.  And I just want to take a second to call 2016 the year of Casey Affleck.  It is only February and he has already given three great performances in three very different films, The Finest Hours, Triple 9, and Manchester by the Sea, the last film being released later this year and one you should all see and one I am predicting Affleck will get an Oscar nomination for.

The cast might be full of all-stars, but they’re written like bench players.  There is no depth to these characters as to why the do what they do or why they are who they are.  It almost seems like writer Matt Cook took every cliche character from every cop film and threw them in this movie instead of actually developing anyone.  We get the newbie (Affleck), the alcoholic veteran (Harrelson), the ruthless corrupt cop (Collins Jr.), the corrupt cop with a soul (Mackie), the criminal who’s in way over his head (Ejiofor), and the wild card criminal (Paul).  Mix all these characters in one movie and it’s going to be induce tension and intrigue.  But what’s needed is depth.  Why are these characters the way that they are?  Why are Mackie and Collins Jr. corrupt and how did they get to that point?  Why is Harrelson as destructive as he is?  The lack of development left me feeling empty and as characters continue to die, I didn’t really care about them.

John Hillcoat is a very talented director, however, he’s always inches away from making a truly great film.  The Road (2009) wasn’t dark enough, and Lawless (2012) fell apart towards the end.  Triple 9 is another one of those films.  The cast is great and the action is fierce, but the cliche and hallow characters made this taut thriller unfortunately underwhelming.

MY RATING – 2.5/4

Did you see Triple 9?  If so, what did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix.  And don’t forget to like us on Facebook at Kevflix.

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