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An all-star cast fail to make Triple 9 a classic, or even a decent watch |
Director John Hillcoat
Cast: Casey Affleck (Chris Allen), Anthony Mackie (Marcus
Belmont), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Michael Atwood), Clifton Collins Jnr (Franco
Rodriguez), Woody Harrelson (Jeffrey Allen), Aaron Paul (Gabe Welch), Kate
Winslet (Irina Vlaslov), Gal Gadot (Elena Vlaslov), Norman Reedus (Russell
Welch), Michael K Williams (Sweet Pea), Teresa Palmer (Michelle Allen)
Triple 9 that never
gets anywhere near fulfilling its potential. You look at the cast and you think
“Wow! That has got to be one of the films of the year! Right?” Wrong. Triple 9 is another journey into the
macho bullshit of the criminal underworld, where the “good” thieves have
honour, the bad thieves are unscrupulous, the cops are all sorts of shades of
grey, and the real baddies are foreign gangsters exploiting American criminals.
All told with a backdrop of shouting, shooting and doping. You feel, and I
suspect the filmmakers feel as well, that the film must be about something –
but it really isn’t, it’s a super violent, dark Riffi with none of that classic’s touch.
Michael Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a crack crook, leader
of a gang that executes difficult jobs on demand for their Russian paymaster,
mob boss’ wife Irina (a showboating Kate Winslet). Atwood’s crew includes dirty
cops Marcus Belmont (Anthony Mackie) and Franco Rodriguez (Clifton Collins
Jnr). Tasked to steal federal investigation data on Irina’s husband, Michael
and his crew decide their only chance is to distract the police with a Triple 9
call out – the shooting of a cop. Their target? Belmont’s new partner, hotshot
honest cop Chris Allen (Casey Affleck).
Triple 9 isn’t
particularly inventive or unique. The problem is it also isn’t very
interesting. This is largely because you don’t engage with any of the
characters. Atwood is a blank, played by a disengaged Chiwetel Ejiofor. He has
a standard sub-plot of a son he isn’t allowed to see. But it’s not enough to
get us caring about him. Chris Allen isn’t particularly likeable (Casey Affleck
is not the most relatable of actors) so it’s hard to get worked up over whether
he’s going to be killed or not. The most interesting character is Anthony
Mackie’s Belmont – but he has been saddled with an “I feel growing guilt”
sub-plot that you’ve seen dozens of times before.
Perhaps aware that a lot of the writing was paper-thin, the
film recruits a number of familiar actors to “do their thing” so that we can
shortcut to what sort of person the character is meant to be, by seeing crude drawings
of their more famous, nuanced roles. Aaron Paul’s performance will be familiar
to anyone who has seen Breaking Bad;
Norman Reedus essentially reprises his role from The Walking Dead. Woody Harrelson does his grizzled half-genius,
half-dope fiend, difficult man schtick he’s done many times. Only Kate Winslet
is cast against her type – and her scenery-chewing enjoyment of the role makes
her feel like an actress doing a guest turn, rather than a real person.
Hillcoat’s direction doesn’t bring any of the film’s threads
together. It never feels like a film that is about something. Where is the
depth, where is the interest? It’s not even a particularly exciting film to
watch, with the heist moments not particularly exciting or interesting, and its
shot with a wicked darkness that never gets the pulse going. After some initial
build-up, the plot never really goes anywhere unexpected, and the final pay-off
is stretching for a narrative weight it just doesn’t have.
Hillcoat and crew obviously feel they are making a higher
genre film – but this is really just a pulp thriller, with actors acting tough
but never convincing. None of the major events make a massive amount of sense:
characters run into each other in a way that stretches credulity, the Russian
mob runs its business with a counter-productive brutality, the dirty cops
alternate between super cunning and horrendously dumb. It’s a dumb, badly written movie that never
comes to life. It doesn’t even have the real moments of excitement you need to
at least grab you while the rest of the film drifts along. Not good. Not good
at all. Triple 9? Not even triple stars.
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