Title – Triple Frontier (2019)

Director – J.C Chandor (Margin Call)

Cast – Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund, Pedro Pascal

Plot – Five ex-special forces operatives lead by Santiago ‘Pope’ Garcia (Isaac) set out to kill and rob a South American drug figure but their heist doesn’t end up going quite to plan.

“You cannot go back to your normal life after tonight”

Review by Eddie on 15/03/2019

Like so many other of its unfortunate Netflix compatriots, Triple Frontier is yet another “almost” film for the streaming service.

On paper this is a film that screams success.

Helmed by young and proven director J.C Chandor, who on the back of his first three films Margin Call, All is Lost and the criminally underrated A Most Violent Year has established himself as one of the must-watch directors in Hollywood and with this film starring a cast of proven performers in the forms of Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal, Triple Frontier feels like the type of all-round production that Netflix has mostly missed so far in its original offerings.

Despite the on paper qualities, Chandor’s film never film never breaks the shackles holding it back, there’s moments of genuine cinematic spectacle and execution and the seasoned cast all give it a good crack but there’s a constant, nagging feeling that the thrilling concept and potential of this men on a mission tale misses the mark more than it meets or exceeds it.

It’s not to say Triple Frontier is a bad film, the film looks great and features some beautifully shot moments of quietness and carnage and still at times gets the pulse racing with its heist concept that goes from bad to worse very quickly for Isaac’s Pope and his fellow ex-elite American special forces agents as they attempt to rob a drug kingpin of hundreds of millions of dollars in the depths of a South American rain forest.

The main problem is the films solid and gripping moments are too frequently disrupted by a sense that things remain throughout rather underdeveloped or under-explored, particularly evident in the character stakes that never allows us to connect meaningfully with any of this crack team, meaning the stakes often feel lower than they should due to the fact we don’t really care to much what fate lays ahead for these well-oiled operatives.

It’s a shame Chandor and his cast couldn’t elevate things here from a passable and polished time filler to something truly of note and with Triple Frontier at various times starring some of Hollywood’s elite in previously developing inceptions, you can’t help but feel like what we are left with is the bare basics product of a story that could’ve provided something special had everything aligned up in a more comprehensive fashion.

Final Say –

A classic case of an “almost” film, Triple Frontier isn’t horrible and is at times elevated by its shine and polish and a cast that is always watchable but you never escape the feeling that this is a tale that could’ve provided a lot more, culminating in a finale that makes the whole experience even more forgettable.

3 tickets to Sydney out of 5