Director John Hillcoat’s “Triple 9” has an exciting premise, following shady Atlanta cops as they prepare to kill an officer during a heist. Doing so is the only way to distract the police department long enough to successfully open a heavily-guarded vault.
Even with action scenes throughout the movie and a fitting cast, “Triple 9” comes up short of memorable and is harder to follow than it should be. The cast includes actors Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus and Clifton Collins Jr. as bank robbers. Kate Winslet plays a Russian mobster. She demands that the men execute the heist, saying the contents in the vault will allow her husband to be freed from prison. As Ejiofor’s character finds out, turning down her offer is not an option, unless he wants to endanger his son.
“Triple 9” glosses over parts of the plot that would help clarify the movie and make it more engrossing. For example, I wanted to know how these men could be cops one moment and criminals the next. In other words, I wanted to know why they had crossed over to the dark side in the first place.
Mackie’s performance as Marcus, a bank robber and policeman, is one of the movie’s best. He has the task of killing Chris, a cop he knows through experience as his new partner. Played by Casey Affleck, Chris is new to his position in the department and has no idea about Marcus’ plan.
Mackie successfully portrays Marcus’ hesitation. Marcus would rather not kill his partner, and when the time comes to do so, he is reluctant. He knows it is wrong, and this uncertainty is tangible, giving the movie suspense. Focusing more on this turmoil leading up to the scene would have given the movie a more personal feeling.
Other strong performances include those of Ejiofor, who must carry out the heist with his team, and Woody Harrelson, who plays Sgt. Detective Allen, a sleazy cop mentoring Chris. Aaron Paul’s performance as a former policeman anxious about killing another cop is also a high point of “Triple 9.”
Affleck’s Chris is unaware of the danger he is in and is an amateur compared to Harrelson’s character. When Chris says he wants his job to leave a positive impact, Sgt. Detective Allen tells him to think more realistically. Instead, to succeed in his job, Chris must “out-monster the monster,” he says. Unknown to Chris, many of these “monsters” are in the department.
“Triple 9” would have benefitted from ditching certain unnecessary elements of the movie, like the Russian mob. It appears to have been included in the movie only to make the movie seem more hardcore, but instead it seems random. Had “Triple 9” elaborated on the role of the Russian mob rather than simply offering glossed-over explanations and showing tough-looking guys standing over people tied up in a trunk, the movie might have been more intriguing.
_MOVE gives “Triple 9” two out of five stars_
Edited by Katherine Rosso | krosso@themaneater.com