Triple 9 Review

In almost every cop movie, the bad guys are former or current cops, is that all major crime works in the real world?

Triple 9 is a crime drama with an all-star cast that takes place in Atlanta.  The simple plot of the movie is Michael Belmont, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, is hired to do a job for the Russian mob.  With the help of Russell Welch (Norman Reedus), Russell's brother, Gabe (Aaron Paul), and two cops, Marcus Atwood (Anthony Mackie) and Franco Rodriguez (Clifton Collins, Jr), Michael does the job.  The only problem is now the Russian mob, led by Irina (Kate Winslet), now wants him to do another job.  He would love to not do the job, but he has a child with Irina's sister, Elena (Gal Gadot), and the only way he will see is son again is if he does the job. The job requires him to break into a government building and steal documents that will help Irina's husband be released from a Russian prison.  To break into this building Michael decides they need to create a distraction that would cause all cops in the area to go to another part of the city, far away from the building.  Marcus decides that the best distraction would be a Triple 9 aka officer down.  Marcus nominates his partner, Chris Allen (Casey Affleck), to be the cop that they take down.  Soon the pressure starts to mount on Michael.  The group starts to fight amongst themselves and their own moral code starts to weigh on them.

I thought Triple 9 was a lot of fun.  The performances in this movie were fantastic.  I am really starting to enjoy seeing movies with Casey Affleck.  I feel that he is fully out of his big brother's shadow.  I thought the action in this movie was excellent.  I was on the edge of my seat during the beginning heist scene.  There are also some great chase scenes.  I enjoyed all the twist and turns that take place.  They may not have had me fully questioning what was going to happen, but I enjoyed watching them play out.

The main thing I didn't like about Triple 9 was the Russian mob.  I felt like Kate Winslet was miscast.  She is a great actress but she didn't feel right in this role.  Plus her Russian accent wasn't that great.  They could have used a different plot device that would force Michael to have to complete these jobs.  The cops, Marcus and Chris, are part of the gang unit, they could have used a local gang that were forcing Michael to do the jobs.  Woody Harrelson also felt out of place in this movie.  In all his movies now he just seems like this eccentric drugged up character.  I would like to seem him do something new.

Triple 9 exceeded all my expectations for it.  I had a fun time watching it.  The action was great and the performances were outstanding.  I was on the edge of my seat with every twist and turn.  I think this movie you can wait to see once it's available to rent and you won't be disappointed.

3 1/2 Stars