Triple Frontier

Triple Frontier will certainly end up among the most popular and best respected genre titles of the year. It’s a proudly masculine story that perhaps doesn’t expose its characters much beyond the limits of their own morality and that at times feels too telegraphic, but one that doesn’t stumble in any scene, has very well written dialogues and pulls the viewer into the events so intensively that I would love to see it in a cinema. A very good job with great actors in a rather fresh setting and with a final scene that has the courage to leave things partially unresolved. I would like to see something like this at least every six months. (03/15/2019)

An outstanding drama for men about the importance of money. A group of soldiers go to pick up their pay and, even if most things go right, one screw-up is enough. The scenery is wonderful, a feast for the eyes. A great role for Affleck, and Chandor gets the maximum out of everybody. There’s not much action, but when there is, it’s pleasantly realistic. The most important lesson of all is that even an honorable man can turn into a swine when he’s thrown into the deep end. (03/17/2019)

A manly military relationship drama with an interesting plot, and a solid, sometimes very unpredictable script up to three quarters of the way through. When the main heist scene takes place in the middle of the film, it’s clear that the escape won’t be an easy task. Unfortunately, the last quarter sees the main characters suffering from acute lobotomies, and you just watch their decisions with your mouth open, shaking your head in disbelief at their thought process. If that was the intention of the filmmakers, then it is very over the top dark humour. Unfortunately, this Netflix feature is also a bit weaker due to the presumably smaller budget. Plus points for the beautiful locations and for Ben Affleck. (03/31/2019)

Netflix pulls off a macho flick that switches genres from jungle heist, steamy relationship drama and survival adventure, and surprisingly it works. The cast is awesome and everyone involved is great: Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Ben Affleck, Pedro Pascal and the unknown Garrett Hedlund, definitely an admirable lineup for Netflix. There's not that much action, but when it does come it's pleasantly bloody and clear. The suspense works, the locations are beautiful, there's one unexpected twist and an unexpected denouement at the end. I had a great time and it's a bit of a shame that we couldn’t see this film in the cinema. Netflix is headed in the right direction and I'm rooting for them. 80% (03/14/2019)

I imagined this to be more of an action flick, but I still enjoyed Triple Frontier a lot. It's kind of a multi-genre guy movie, which after the heist part flips into a (slightly) psychological survival thriller. The sudden slowing down of the tempo might not be to everyone's taste, but the filmmakers clearly didn't intend to follow the current trend of ultra-fast and bombastic action movies. They decided to go slightly against the crowd and instead of a flashy testosterone ride, they serve up a film that is slightly personal, slightly psychological, slightly action-packed, and actually quite daring in its concept, a film that is difficult to put into a universally known box. The fantastic cast and Metallica are also a delight. (03/19/2019)