John Hillcoat is one of Australia's better filmmaking exports. From his outstanding Aussie western The Proposition, his bleakly sublime The Road and the brutally awesome Lawless, his latest Triple 9 has big boots to fill.
The film finds a gang of criminals and police, who after an intense robbery, must plan the murder of a cop in order to pull off their most important heist yet.
Despite immense talent involved, Triple 9 fails in almost every aspect. The key issue (as in most instances) is the script. There is a kernel of an interesting idea, but it is buried in bad plotting, lack of depth and a wide focus (eight main characters according to Hillcoat) that stretches the film thin. Hillcoat imbues some action sequences with solid tension, however they become hollow when you don't care for any of the characters.
The ensemble cast is great, made of exceptional character actors from television and film. It's a shame that everyone is wasted on this lacklustre material. Naming a few: Woody Harrelson has fun semi-stoned, Kate Winslet poorly adopts a Russian accent and hairspray, Aaron Paul needs a shower and Casey Affleck looks generally lost throughout. At least there is Michael K Williams crossdressing.
Triple 9 is a waste of time, talent and money, bringing little to the genre.
