Triple 9

Police crime drama films are about as plentiful in Hollywood as the footprints at the Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. Films such as "Training Day", "Contraband", "We Own the Night", "The Departed", "Narc" "Bad Boys", and the like are great fodder to ignite that incredible energy in every young guy that fantasizes about nabbing the bad guys. So to add to that ever increasing list, Hollywood brings us "Triple 9".

A crew of dirty cops including Mike Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Marcus Belmont (Anthony Mackie), Gabe Welch (Aaron Paul) and Franco Rodriguez (Clifton Collins Jr.) is blackmailed by the Russian mob headed up by Irina Vlaslov (Kate Winslet) to execute a virtually impossible heist. The only way to pull it off is to manufacture a 999, police code for "officer down". Their plan is turned upside down when Lt. Jeff Allen (Woody Harrelson) hires his nephew, Chris Allen (Casey Affleck) who transfers to their Atlanta division. The corrupt cops set up the unsuspecting cop to die, but Chris ends up foiling the attack, triggering a breakneck, action-packed finale filled with double-crosses, greed and revenge.

Others to round out the cast are Teresa Palmer as Michelle Allen, Chris' wife, Michael Kenneth Williams as Sweet Pea, Norman Reedus as Russell Welch, Gal Gadot as Elena Vlaslov, Michelle Ang as Trina Ling, Terri Abney as Leah Green and Alexander Babara as Ben Feldman.

This was directed with intensity and grit by John Hillcoat ("To Have & to Hold" '96, "The Proposition" '05, "The Road" '09, "Lawless" '12) plus shorts and videos interspersed. The emotion he was able to extract from these actors was amazingly real, especially Affleck's character, Chris. He played off well that 'regular guy' cop just wanting to do his job well, and this is pure directing. It was adequately written by Matt Cook (One Short). If this guy's resume says anything, it proves why this script had some problems. It simply jumped around too much and the lack of continuity was very apparent. Even when someone was asking about what a 999 was, it was never fully answered, like it was accidentally left out. I found out by doing research. This story had potential of being a very taught 'cat and mouse' game, but there was just too much choppiness in this to truly see it. Cook has the raw ability to write a good script--he does have a film completed and one in pre-production, so it will be interesting to see these films to see if there is any improvement in structure and style of his screenplay. I believe this guy just needs more work to see what he can really do.

This had a killer cast and solid directing, but with a mediocre script, it just wasn't the story it could've been. Certainly if your genre is police crime dramas, you'll like this, but even a fan of this genre might still have a bit of a problem. But if one can muster up enough objectivity, than you'll be able to see the potential.

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                                 Rated: R                                     115mins.