Triple 9 ***½ (2016, Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Woody Harrelson, Norman Reedus, Kate Winslet, Teresa Palmer, Gal Gadot) – Movie Review

Director John Hillcoat’s brutal epic cop thriller Triple 9 is tense, gritty and exciting, the realistic antidote to Ocean’s 11 heist capers.

A Russian mob gang of criminals blackmails a crew of corrupt cops to pull off their near-impossible, biggest heist and plan a ‘triple 9’, police code for ‘officer down’ -the murder of an unsuspecting rookie cop. But the rookie foils the attack, triggering screen-writer Matt Cook’s breakneck plot of double-crosses, greed and revenge.

Unfortunately, the plot isn’t entirely credible, what with so many bent cops and evil villains, and so much incredible villainy. And some of the acting is less than persuasive too, with Affleck seeming strangely underpowered, and not fully involved as the central good cop character Chris Allen.

I was not really persuaded by Kate Winslet’s Russian villain Irina Vlaslov, or by her hair-do or her accent, but there’s no denying that it is quite fun, and she seems to be having a ball away from her usual Oscar-contender serious work.

Woody Harrelson has a lot to do as the other good cop, Sergeant Detective Jeffrey Allen, and he does it well. It’s a showy, splashy turn and it works nicely in context, with everyone else (Winslet apart) keeping it down and real.

As expected, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Michael Kenneth Williams and Clifton Collins Jr are all excellent, at least when their roles allow them to be. Some of these characters don’t seem wholly credible either, but the actors put lots of wellie into performing them. The same is true of Hillcoat’s hard-driving neo-noir-style direction, in the manner of The French Connnection, which he’d no doubt like this to be, even if the material isn’t in that class.

Nevertheless, Hillcoat really gets the action pounding, and, anyway, it’s only a movie and, as we say, it is always tense, gritty and exciting.

Queensland-born Hillcoat is known for The Proposition (2005), The Road (2009) and Lawless (2012).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Movie Review

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