The line of morals are blurred for a group of city cops who are influenced by a dangerous ali, in “Triple 9”. Director John Hilcoat’s gritty and unapologetic look inside the underground crime world is about a crew of dirty cops who are blackmailed by the Russian mob to execute a virtually impossible heist. The only way to appease them is to perform the task to get the cash. Despite its nearly impossible difficulty, they eventually hatch a plan: on one side of town, half of the crew will commit the murder of a rookie cop named Chris Allen (Casey Affleck); while the rest of the police force is distracted by the 999 incident (Officer Down), the other half of the crew will perform the heist. Although the plan is executed smoothly, Chris Allen survives and tries to bring down the crooks, and eliminate a grey side to police trust. What follows will test friendships and trigger a breakneck, action-packed finale filled with double-crosses, greed and revenge. “Triple 9” is rated R for strong violence, aggressive language, drug use, and nudity.
Director John Hillcoat constructs a gritty shoot-em-up picture that follows suit to the 90’s films like “Heat” and “Insomnia” that it pays homage to. The film is full of pulse-setting action, but struggles creatively from a lack of solid structure in the film’s three part act. The big attraction to this film comes in the idea that four dirty cops decide to set up one of their own to get away with a big heist. This idea alone feels like an upcoming season of “True Detective”, and “Triple 9” is easy to compare to that TV show because it’s bloated with storylines that don’t easily mesh well together, and lots of characters that are presented with no backstories. The film kind of starts us off in a wrong place, right in the middle of one of their heists. Because of this, we are never given enough time to decide whether or not these guys are worth the near two hour committment. With that kind of time frame, the biggest handicap creatively comes from giving these guys enough screen time to make their casting worth it. The film chews them up and spits them out without much build up when this bloated film decides it has nothing more left for them.
The movie’s pacing does begin a little slow, sauntering through a second act that kind of beats around the bush at what we already know. From the opening minutes of the film, we are given this information that our characters haven’t figure out yet, and it’s in that structure that highlights perhaps the biggest problem of this film; no bombshell surprise. Films like these are judged on how credible the ending wraps itself up. This movie doesn’t ever have that big mystery because the audience already knows everything. So for the better part of an hour we wait in slow motion for Casey Affleck to figure out that he is being set up by four different men who are close to the Atlanta P.D. What does work however, is very adult mood that this film displays. There is a lot of doubt as to whether there are good people in this police force, and that very same question has been spoken by us in regards to the people around us. Screenwriter Matt Cook is wise enough to set this world in a place where cops can sell their souls like patrons do, and you really kind of wonder if you can trust a criminal. That question is answered more than once.
I mentioned earlier how the film has a wide range of cast, and while some are left on idle without much to do, there are others that really carry the film in the right direction. Woody Harrelson is once again the showstealer for the film. Besides the questionable choice in dental wear that they give to him, Woody commands attention as a compelling police chief who has been a part of this world for far too long. There’s a lot of skeletons in his closet, but his character ended up on the right side of things you could say, and his guidance to Affleck’s character really gives the audience something to invest in with an otherwise shallow character gene pool. Anthony Mackie is also showcasing why he is one of Hollywood’s widest ranges in any genre of film. This is one of the only times Mackie gets to portray a villain, and his turn in this film is that of an egomaniac who will step on anyone to get what he wants. Anthony packs so much emotion in his performance. He sees his world slowly falling apart, with his dirty fingerprints all over it. I was also impressed once again by Chiewetel Eijofor. No matter what I think of the film, I notice that I am always a fan of Eijofor’s performances, and this one ranks near the top. As the leader of this tainted gang, he serves as a cold and calculating presence. It really is a refreshing side to Chiewetel, as much of his roles to this time has been a character we can root for.
On the negative side of performances, Casey Affleck is just kind of bland and unused for a majority of the first two acts. He is the top name on the bill, so it’s kind of funny to see that he doesn’t get a lot of screen time until the very end of the movie. This only cemented what I said earlier about too many cooks in the kitchen. Kate Winslet was a terrible choice for the mob boss in charge. I don’t think Kate absolutely couldn’t pull off this role, but her performance is not only unconvincing, it’s presented with the absolute worst Russian accent that I have ever heard. The only thing I can compare it to is part Portuguese, part Mexican. For much of her dialogue, I found myself laughing over and over again, and could only be reminded just how streaky her accent in 2015’s “Steve Jobs” was.
The action is very solid for the film, both shot gorgeously through a couple of fast-paced car chase scenes that really get the heart pumping. The film’s sound editing/mixing is really impacting, making the audience feel these bullets zooming by just nearly missing our characters. I also dug some subtle symbolism used with color shading that really popped the atmosphere of most of these shots. The color red is present for quite a few scenes, and I interpreted its appearance as a cross between the shady activity that is about to go down, as well as the blood spilled by that of these dirty officers who have never been brought to justice for it. They wear this color like a scar, and that scar follows them everywhere.
“Triple 9” has traits of a great action flick, but the sum of its spread out parts is a little messy in its overall presentation. Its talented big presence cast and original directorial flourishes are offset by messy storytelling choices that leave the audience barely hanging on. If you have to see it, wait for DVD, but “Triple 9” is a film that spins out of control before the pieces start to come together.
5/10