Not exactly a warm welcome ……
Directed by John Hillcoat
Certificate 15
Starring Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kate Winslet
Released on 27th June 2016
A quick word of explanation first. That title. In the UK, 999 is the emergency number used by the public. In the States, it’s a code used by the police to summon maximum assistance when an officer is injured in the course of his duty.
And that’s the crux of the plot for the latest from director John Hillcoat, who made his debut over a decade ago with Aussie western, The Proposition. In Triple 9, he’s now in the realms of the heist movie, one that involves some dirty cops and the Russian mafia, just for a pinch of added spice.
After pulling off a bank robbery ordered by Russian mafia boss’s wife, Kate Winslet, Chiwetel Ejiofor and his gang discover they have do to another, final, job for her. It’s always the way! They don’t really have a choice in the matter, but it’s more complicated than the first one, so they need the police out of the way for as long as possible. Several members of the gang are either serving cops or former ones, so they have plenty of inside knowledge and the plan is to set up a triple nine, with newly arrived cop Casey Affleck as their target. But he’s not as green as they think he is.
So the film is bookended by the two heists, getting it off to a pacey start and finishing it with high speed action and more of the bloody violence that we’ve witnessed as the story escalates. Both have a pulsating soundtrack, which raises the tension levels. But that middle section is a long haul. Sleazy cop Woody Harrelson is trying to track down the gang, and welcomes the arrival of little brother Casey Affleck to work alongside him. Cop and gang member Anthony Mackie is trying to make sure his cover isn’t blown while ex-cop Aaron Paul is going to pieces after the death of his brother, making him something of a liability. It’s getting complicated and, by the time the final heist is under way, the story has nearly tied itself up in knots – or plastic ties. Some of it makes sense, but some of it is downright confusing and harder work than it needs to be.
Hillcoat has bagged himself a seriously impressive cast. There’s even a pre-Wonder Woman Gal Gadot, as Winslet’s sister and the mother of Ejiofor’s child. And seeing these heavyweights sharing the screen is a mouthwatering prospect, especially as the opening sequence fulfils that promise. There’s a definite sense that the director has taken a leaf out of Michael Mann’s book – a touch of Heat, perhaps – but the difference is that, despite all the acting talent on show, it just doesn’t maintain the tension in the way it should between those two big action sequences.
It’s not just the plot that’s hard work at times: some of the relationships are as well, the most problematic one being Affleck and Harrelson, who don’t convince as brothers: as individuals they’re fine, but it’s hard to accept there’s a family connection there. Kate Winslet isn’t much better, with a Russian accent layered on almost as thickly as her make-up, which includes the most lurid blue eyeshadow ever.
The world they all inhabit is shadowy and grimy, with the emphasis on grime. Affleck pays a visit to what must be the grubbiest hospital in the world: his injured colleague is in intensive care, so that room is pristine but, once out of there, everything seems smeared in a deeply unpleasant green. And the housing project, where he’s the target for the triple nine, is so dark and smothered with graffiti that even his CSI torch has difficulty penetrating the gloom.
As thrillers go, Triple 9 is reasonably efficient and has a few thrills, but it doesn’t really deliver on that early promise. If you like your thrillers nice ‘n’ taut, in other words how they should be, you might find this one a bit too slack. I do wonder where Hillcoat will go next. Admittedly I didn’t see The Road, but I was disappointed and undwhelmed by Lawless. I’m beginning to wonder if he can ever recapture the form he showed in The Proposition.
Verdict: 3
Triple 9 is released on DVD on Monday, 27 June and reviewed on Talking Pictures on Thursday, 30 June.
Talking Pictures 