Triple 9

From the very start the senses are attacked with action-packed moments and tense interaction. Triple 9 forgets all pretension and takes a partially formulaic story and comes out with something greatly entertaining. The fast pace brings the audience a drama filled with guns, gangs, mayhem, murder and betrayal.

With a cast full of top-tier talent, Triple 9 has a lot to create a story with. The characters are assembled in a seemingly haphazard way that seems slightly off kilter. This creates a feeling of authenticity to interactions and gives a credence to the movies realness. However it comes with a price: the multitudes of central characters collide throughout the film without any of them becoming a truly fleshed-out main character. Casey Affleck comes closest, playing an ex-military man who turns to policing. The audience is given insight into his life with scenes of his family and of his emotional struggle with possible post-traumatic stress. Still, the character is not multidimensional and can be summarised easily as a “bad-ass good guy”. Co-star Woody Harrelson, creates the most engrossing character, even with average screentime, and does so without backstory and purely with his habits and mannerisms.

Graciously, the viewer is offered a slightly new take on the heist genre with its focus and scope. Instead of the main problem being the planning and execution of the theft, most of the film is directed at giving the characters reason to carry out the deed. The exciting capers are almost an afterthought to the political struggles between bad cops and the Jewish-Russian mafia.

Triple 9 is well worth a viewing as it packs a serious punch of thrills and surprise. Taking inspiration from successful police films such as The Departed means that a light-of-heart viewer should not fall in love with any one character as no one is safe. Beware and get ready for a wild ride!

Matthew Pronchick

Triple 9 is released nationwide on 26^th February 2016.

Watch the trailer for Triple 9 here: