Triple 9

If I leave aside the fact that this film offers rather solid action scenes, I wouldn’t know what else I should talk about in this case. Triple 9 had a great cast of actors and it didn’t manage to work with them well enough for me to get used to any single one of them at least for a while. Instead, the movie focuses on a band of nasty Hispanic guys who make life miserable both for the group of familiar actors and for ourselves. And that’s a world I don’t need to see. (03/18/2017)

Olivier Marchal, David Ayer, Shawn Ryan, James Ellroy and, last but not least, Don Winslow are the big names of dirty harsh criminal movies about corrupt police officers in the movies/series/literature. And with this feature-length debut, Matt Cook enters the same room with them. He lags behind but only a little bit. Yes, it has such potential. It's a pity that it´s conflicting with Hillcoat's concept, because chose the wrong pace of narration. Considering how much is happening and on how many levels, it gives you feeling that it´s way too lengthy. I´m not saying boring, not at all. But this movie was supposed to be an adrenaline-fueled ride driven by inner tension and not a slow-paced something that looks like nothing is really going on. But even that being said, it´s exceptional in terms of genre. And even more considering that similar movies were almost exclusively made as series. (05/31/2016)

Triple 9 offers a fairly authentic excursion into the dirty streets of Atlanta, which are full of ruthless mobsters, dangerous gangs and corrupt cops. Even though the situation is portrayed quite believably, there was still something missing and I personally would have shortened the running time a bit. As far as the cast is concerned, I was mostly satisfied, (as always) especially with Kate Winslet, who really suited the villain role and had an absolutely great accent. (06/06/2016)

A great crime movie that would benefit from being a couple of minutes longer to make it easier to orient oneself in the story. These days it’s almost a miracle to see something so bloody with such a well thought-out storyline and such an excellent cast. Hillcoat puts on a great performance. Ejiofor is pleasant at last, and Winslet is just perfect. Triple 9 is both the purpose and the result in a thoughtful probe into the world of today’s police. This little piggy... (05/29/2016)

It's strange to say the least that despite a first class cast, Hillcoat has failed to create anything more than a slightly above average genre spectacle. In truth, Triple 9 suffers from a kind of "overcasting" where the individual stars of the cast act more like staffage without adequate impact on the plot itself. It's as if John Hillcoat, after the successful Lawless, thought he'd now do a police heist with star actors for a change, except that John Hillcoat simply isn't Michael Mann, David Ayer, or Ben Affleck. The result is a kind of weird mishmash of police drama, gangster movie, and heist film that has its moments, but these are truly scarce. It's an example of wasted potential with an extremely poor Kate Winslet who has nothing to play and the scenes with her really hurt. [60%] (11/23/2020)