Review of Triple 9 (2016) by Brett H — 21 Dec 2016

Triple 9 is a star-studded and highly gritty cops and robbers film; which pulls no punches and comes across like a breath of R-rated fresh air that has really been lacking in Hollywood lately. The story follows the lives of a trio of career criminals and two dirty cops, who formulate the perfect robbery scheme: execute a cop, inciting a 999 call (officer down), all police attention will turn to finding the cop killer, and their robbery will be completely unperturbed.

This of course sounds like the perfect plan, but the drama leading up to it and the execution of the plan is where the meat of this film lies. The cast is easily the most impressive aspect as it features: Casey Affleck, Anthony Mackie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kate Winslet, Aaron Paul, Woody Harrelson, Clifton Collins Jr, and Norman Reedus, who all give mostly excellent, unglamorous performances and help fill the seedy crime world of Atlanta - a setting rarely featured in films.

Kate Winslet is the odd addition as she's pretty bad as a Russian and Jewish mobster with a sketchy accent and cringe-worthy line delivery. The film owes a great debt to films like End of Watch, Training Day and most notably, Heat, but through John Hillcoat's assured direction, the film stands on its own and even manages to pack a few surprises I didn't see coming.

The action is handled old-school with realistic gun-play, real squibs when people are shot, and it was awesome to see very little CGI fouling up the screen. The film is also book-ended by two very intense robbery sequences that impressed me big time! The story does admittedly venture off into too many side plots and there isn't enough development given to the large array of characters, but Hillcoat himself admitted he enjoyed the challenge of balancing so much in one film, and I found he did a very commendable job.

It's certainly not an AMAZING film, but the bleak and gritty tone grabbed me early and I found myself completely hooked throughout. Watch it for the exceptional cast, but don't expect too much you haven't seen before in the realm of crime films.