Triple 9 Research Paper

There have been some pretty memorable dirty cop movies over the years - with The Departed and Copland being a select few of the most notable productions. There have also been some pretty prolific bank robber movies, as well - including The Inside Man and Heat. But, what do you get when the dirty cops become the bank robbers?

The answer is Triple 9.

John Hillcoat (Lawless) directs the new cop-themed heist film, which features a star-studded cast, led by Casey Affleck - as a young detective, Chris Allen. His first day on the job in his new department also happens to be the same day that a heavily armed team breaks into a local bank. The team is led by Michael Belmont (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and includes two active police officers, Marcus Atwood (Anthony Mackie) and Jorge Rodriguez (Clifton Collins, Jr), along with two brothers, Gabe Welch (Aaron Paul) and Russell Welch (Norman Reedus).

The successful heist was not about money, though. Instead, it was meant to acquire a safety deposit box that contains
I don’t want to be THAT guy, but I’m left to wonder what this film would have looked like if a battle-tested director, like Ben Affleck, would have been behind the camera instead of someone that’s spent the majority of his time filming music videos. On paper, Triple 9 has a magnificent cast, led by the efforts of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kate Winslet - yet their characters barely feel like the focal point. And, while we’re on the subject - none of these characters, no matter how much I enjoy their other bodies of work, will not connect on an emotional front. In the end, Triple 9 isn’t horrible - it’s just unbalance. With some fine tuning, it might have even been the action-packed epic that it start out to be. At the end of the day, though - it’s a colossal disappointment that misses that mark at nearly every turn and fizzles out long before the credits