Today’s quick review: Triple 9. Mike Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor) leads a team of skilled criminals (Anthony Mackie, Clifton Collins, Jr., Norman Reedus, and Aaron Paul) composed of ex-soldiers and crooked cops. Their latest job requires a massive diversion, so the criminals contemplate the unthinkable: murdering a police officer. For their victim, they set their sights on Chris Allen (Casey Affleck), a recent transfer caught up in a cartel investigation.
Triple 9 is a crime movie with an ensemble cast and a hefty dose of action. The movie follows Mike Atwood and his crew through the most difficult job of their criminal careers, one that will require cold-blooded murder to pull off. With pressure on Mike from his employer and a police investigation nipping at their heels, Mike and his must act quickly and intelligently to complete the job, keep the money, and get out of it all alive.
Triple 9 does a skillful job of tying together its large cast. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Mike Atwood, a security contractor-turned-criminal who’s currently being blackmailed by Irina Vlaslov (Kate Winslet), the wife of a Russian mob boss, over the son he has with her sister Elena (Gal Gadot). His partners in crime are Russell Welch (Norman Reedus), a former soldier, and his brother Gabe (Aaron Paul), a disgraced ex-cop and recovering drug addict.
The crew is rounded out by two new inclusions, courtesy of Gabe’s time on the police force: Marcus Belmont (Anthony Mackie), Chris’s new partner, and Franco Rodriguez (Clifton Collins, Jr.), a bloodthirsty homicide detective. Up against the criminals are Chris Allen (Casey Affleck), the honest cop that Marcus must kill, and Jeff Allen (Woody Harrelson), Chris’s protective uncle and the eccentric detective assigned to their previous robbery.
Triple 9 weaves these numerous threads into an engrossing, unpredictable plot. Mike and the others have the skills and resources needed to accomplish the job, but their position is a tenuous one. Just one or two bad decisions or unlucky breaks could spell disaster. The intricate plot is backed by a pair of robberies that are fast, hard-hitting, and well-coordinated. Triple 9 isn’t a pure action movie, but it knows how to deliver when it wants to.
However, there are a few flaws that keep Triple 9 from being a great movie. The story and cast require a lot of effort to track relative to the payoff. The intermediary segments of the film work better than the ending, and though the writing is strong, it still falls short of the best in the genre. The characters are clearly drawn and work well with one another, but each one only has enough screen time for most of an arc, not a full one.
Even so, Triple 9 is a promising choice for crime fans who are willing to invest the effort to follow its complex plot. Triple 9 gets most of the basics right and begins to move into more advanced territory. While it doesn’t have quite the depth or the expertise to become a classic, it makes for an interesting watch with more meat on its bones than the usual crime flick. Skip it if you’re looking for a straightforward story or pure action.
For a crime movie in a similar vein with a tighter, more personal story, try The Town. For a crime movie about a dirty cop, try Training Day. For a crime thriller with an even more intricate plot and better payoff, check out The Departed. For a highly-regarded crime movie with similar scope, check out Heat. For a more straightforward heist movie with an ensemble cast, check out Takers.
6.3 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.0 for a satisfying mixture of plot, cast, and action.