Seems like people either love it or hate it, but I personally loved Triple 9, director John Hillcoat's contribution to the heist genre, and a film that benefits immensely from its all-star cast.
Here's my quick opinion of the film (Click here for the full review):
With films like Lawless, The Road and The Proposition under his belt, director John Hillcoat is a filmmaker best known for period films (whether they be Westerns, Prohibition-era shoot-em-ups or post-apocalyptic dramas). As such, Triple 9 marks the Australian director's first foray into the cinematic modern-day, a movie that tracks the intersecting paths of a collection of cops and criminals (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Norman Reedus, Aaron Paul, Anthony Mackie, Clifton Collins Jr., Casey Affleck and Woody Harrelson), each of whom find themselves linked by one common element: Irina Vaslov (Kate Winslet), a ruthless Russian mob princess. What follows can more or less be deconstructed into a riveting series of shootouts, car chases and double-crosses, as the characters each try to "out-monster" one another to come out on top. Substituting Atlanta, Georgia for the often-used crime-drama setting of Los Angeles, California, Triple 9 borrows from films like Training Day, End of Watch and Harsh Times to paint a portrait of a city besieged by gang warfare and corruption, an urban battleground where there are few real good guys, but plenty of varying shades of bad. Make no mistake, Triple 9 definitely treads on familiar cinematic territory. But thanks to its thoroughly game cast, the result is triple-A entertaining, and so much more than just another entry in the testosterone-fueled, cops-and-robbers genre.
Film Rating: 4 out of 5
Here's my quick opinion of the film (Click here for the full review):
With films like Lawless, The Road and The Proposition under his belt, director John Hillcoat is a filmmaker best known for period films (whether they be Westerns, Prohibition-era shoot-em-ups or post-apocalyptic dramas). As such, Triple 9 marks the Australian director's first foray into the cinematic modern-day, a movie that tracks the intersecting paths of a collection of cops and criminals (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Norman Reedus, Aaron Paul, Anthony Mackie, Clifton Collins Jr., Casey Affleck and Woody Harrelson), each of whom find themselves linked by one common element: Irina Vaslov (Kate Winslet), a ruthless Russian mob princess. What follows can more or less be deconstructed into a riveting series of shootouts, car chases and double-crosses, as the characters each try to "out-monster" one another to come out on top. Substituting Atlanta, Georgia for the often-used crime-drama setting of Los Angeles, California, Triple 9 borrows from films like Training Day, End of Watch and Harsh Times to paint a portrait of a city besieged by gang warfare and corruption, an urban battleground where there are few real good guys, but plenty of varying shades of bad. Make no mistake, Triple 9 definitely treads on familiar cinematic territory. But thanks to its thoroughly game cast, the result is triple-A entertaining, and so much more than just another entry in the testosterone-fueled, cops-and-robbers genre.
Film Rating: 4 out of 5
