TRIPLE 9 – The Review

Violent, profane, ambitious, pretentious, overcooked and entertaining as hell, director John Hillcoat’s TRIPLE 9 presents a wide canvas of memorable characters for a satisfying urban crime drama. Michael Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor) leads a crew of dirty Atlanta cops and ex-cops (Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, and Clifton Collins Jr.) working for the “Kosher Nostra”, a mob of Russian Jews led by dragon lady Irina Vlaslov (Kate Winslet), who operate out of a meatpacking plant.  The crooked cops are introduced pulling off an ultra-efficient bank heist for Irina, but she withholds payment until they execute another job – one she’s convinced will help spring her husband from the Russian Gulag (held there just because “Putin so fears him”) . Michael has a son with Irina’s sexy younger sister Elena (Gal Gadot), who he won’t see again unless he cooperates, so he convinces his team to break into a Homeland Security safe house, a nearly impossible mission. Michael concludes the only way to pull it off successfully is to create a 999, police code for “officer down”, as a distraction to buy them time to pull off their caper. The plan goes awry when Chris Allen (Casey Affleck), the innocent cop they set up to murder, refuses to be sacrificed, resulting in an action-packed third act complete with greedy double-crosses and bloody payback.

There’s plenty that’s familiar in TRIPLE 9 and there are portions that don’t work so well, but adrenalin junkies will appreciate the blistering pace and the careful sense of desperado tension. Hillcoat’s film is distinguished by a series of pulse-pounding dread-fueled scenes that leave the viewer perched on the edge of their seat — the tense opening bank robbery, a carefully planned police raid that quickly spirals out of control, a rolling gun battle, and three heads on the hood of a car – the result of a brutal gang execution. One major reason why I found TRIPLE 9 to be so effective is its complete messiness–there are neither tidy resolutions nor easy payoffs as the initially grim makes way for the even grimmer and almost no character is left off the hook. That all falls in line with what Hillcoat and writer Matt Cook obviously set out to do, which is to paint with grimy authenticity a warts-and-all portrait of cops and criminals and cops who are criminals. Hillcoat and Editor Dylan Tichenor do a great job of maintaining pace and suspense throughout and the remarkable cast helps to bring this sprawling web of nastiness to another level. Aaron Paul and Norman Reedus are excellent as desperate brothers, though Walking Dead fans may be disheartened at how soon their hero is dispatched. Collins Jr. and Ejiofor are especially noteworthy, and Woody Harrelson is outstanding as a drug-abusing good cop. Teresa Palmer as Chris’ wife and Gal Gadot are little more than window dressing but they both look great from behind while Casey Affleck’s performance grounds the story by making us care about the story’s single uncorrupted character. The one glaringly theatrical note is struck by a hammy Kate Winslet as the ballbusting Russian mobstress, but it’s a fun performance highlighted by repellent behavior and bright red high heels.

Whatever one’s reaction to the darkness and grit, it’s a shame that Hillcoat can’t quite maintain the film’s momentum. He effectively keeps TRIPLE 9 moving to its climactic bloodbath, which turns out to be a predictable chain of killings and not much else. The film calls to mind the nihilistic cop stories of director Antoine Fuqua such as TRAINING DAY and BROOKLYN’S FINEST with its tour through the seamy side of contemporary urban America but there is also a strong sense of the 1970s’ about it as it references the gritty police dramas of that decade, especially those from director Sidney Lumet, for its inspiration, pouring on all the realism and downbeat atmosphere movies of that era pioneered. It’s a style that suits Hillcoat and his actors well and TRIPLE 9 is recommended.

4 of 5 Stars