Monday, 4 July 2016
A gang are tasked by a Russian mafia boss to steal data from a high security facility, but there’s no way they can lift it before the cops show up. Their idea is to initiate a ‘Triple 9’ scenario – if a police officer is shot elsewhere in town, all the cops will converge there, giving the gang their opportunity. Luckily, two of the robbers are corrupt officers themselves, and one has an overzealous new partner who could be the perfect target.
The key to a good genre film is to provide the familiar thrills of the genre in question while finding an original hook that sets the film apart. As a crime flick, John Hillcoat’s Triple 9 ticks these boxes – you’re never far from a car chase or a heist (the opening chase sequence is particularly suspenseful), and the ‘cops within the gang’ angle provides a fresh take on a well-worn dynamic. It also has one hell of a cast list.
But Triple 9 fails to live up to all its promise. The story becomes more convoluted than it really should and the big heist sequence is a let-down, as certain plot points contrive to get everyone into place. And then, rather than satisfyingly tying up all its character stories, the film’s final act descends into repetitive, nihilistic nastiness.
Triple 9, then, is reminiscent of Hillcoat’s Lawless – a promising crime movie that ends up disappointingly mediocre.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Search
Popular Posts
-
“It could have been a lot better. It could have been slightly better written ... it’s very routine running up and down corridors and s...
-
Abe makes a deal to bring back the eyes of a lost relative… Shot during the brief period of this summer when it was safe to go outside, her...
-
I’ll put my cards on the table right away and say I love it when Doctor Who goes full-on ‘frog universe’ level weird. This was especia...
-
[This review contains spoilers. If you want a spoiler-free review, there are enough out there.] In 2015, when the popular opinion o...
-
I've been keeping myself from going stir crazy during lockdown by working on some creative projects, including this sketch, filmed over ...

About Me

- KieronMoore
- Hi there. I'm Kieron. I write films, comics, and other assorted scribbles. I like Doctor Who, LGBTQ subjects, and chocolate digestives.

Powered by Blogger.

0 comments:
Post a comment