Stars: 3/5
“Triple Frontier” was surprisingly not that action-packed and kind of moralistic. The movie was more about individual struggle and friendship than pulling off a heist. This would’ve been a great “My Little Pony” episode about the power of teamwork.
But even though there’s nothing too new or thrilling about the characters or general plot, it’s still a good watch. “Triple Frontier” starts off with former Special Forces buddies meeting up to discuss a daring plan: stealing a drug lord’s fortune in a South American country.
There’s all the normal action movie stuff, a couple of cute kids thrown in so that you know these are good family guys, them driving around in trucks talking seriously, discussion of how the military did them wrong, and finally them deciding to go back into the field, ready to go big.
This is good stuff. I’m not even going to write about the complete lack of good female representation because at this point, you’ve just got to accept it. There’s no place for women in this epic bromance, so try to let it go and just enjoy staring at Charlie Hunnam’s soldier face.
The cast is good, with the main five characters played by Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam, Oscar Isaac, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal. They do a lot of emotional backslapping and nicknames, which I found charming. A lot of them say intense stuff while covered in grime, which I’m here for 100 percent.
The first 10 minutes include just explosions while the military shoot stuff in South America, which was pretty cool. But the heist scene and all the following action shots are pretty muted, and most of the movie focuses on their journey back. It gets quiet and contemplative real fast, and a lot of the last bit is just them hiking around in beautiful nature scenes.
They do a lot of thinking about their boundaries, their past and how far they’re willing to push their morals. One thing that was striking was this idea about their former glory days and how they think they’re becoming obsolete. “We were warriors,” they say. They did missions and blew stuff up, so now what’s left for them? I liked that touch of uncertainty.
Overall, though, the movie doesn’t really succeed in its contemplative tone. It tries to do too much, but it cannot follow through on the themes it touches on, like those of money, redundancy and death. But the characters have great chemistry and gorgeous faces, which helped a lot. The men also showed some feelings, which is a step in the right direction.
I would’ve enjoyed more gore, explosions and at least one or two more gunfights, but it was a good movie despite not being super thrilling.
