"Triple 9" (2015)

Really scratching my head on this one. I knew a person who worked on it. I worked on director John Hillcoat’s movie “The Road.” I liked it, but not really sure what this movie was trying to say.

It’s a harsh cop story. I joked that it was the opening scene of Michael Bay’s “Bad Boys.” And you’ll never hear me say this again, but at least Bay was smart enough to know this was a 3 second scene not a feature length movie.

From what gathered from the muddled plot. Casey Affleck is paired up with Anthony Mackie. What the “newbie” doesn’t know is there are a group of corrupt cops robbing banks and splitting it with Russian mafia. There’s a subplot of a Mexican gang thing going there, but I don’t want to confuse everyone. That dude from “12 Years A Slave” is at the head of this nonsense. Attempting to regain his son through an Israeli gang (I’m not joking…in the heart of Atlanta!) moll, Irina, played by Kate Winslet. Her accent is odd, since she seems to be copying an off-beat accent of her sister played by Gal Gadot (who really is Israeli). Better as a t.v. series? Probably.

So, this thing is a star studded movie which really wants to be a “End Of Watch” tension. But it fails. It’s not scary, it’s funny. Casey Affleck is ridiculous as the cop with the white hat. He’s a dope. Aaron Paul is a junkie who was part of the original bad cops/gangster bank robbers, and is brothers to Norman Reedus. Have I named some names here. Well, go check out on IMDB who was GOING to be in it.

My biggest gripe with this movie is that I have no idea what is going on. There isn’t a real through story with anyone involved here. And everyone speaks in a ultra-serious tone. As if we move through life knowing what we say is the most important thing in the world. Fuck if I know. A “triple 999” is officer down. This leads every cop to drop their shit and go to the scene. Which allows time for them to do a crime. Yes…it seems NO ONE saw “Bad Boys.” I think I realize what the deal is with these big named actors in small movies:

Now that shooting gets down in 30-40 days, some of these “names” show up for maybe a week, shoot their shit out, and still get paid a full shoot price. Who wouldn’t do that. Which, by the way, at the tail end of Steven Seagal’s career, that is precisely what happened. He nickel and dimed his way through crap. I guess it should be a lesson in the new Hollywood. Don’t put your work ahead of living standard. Cary Grant was actually one of the first actors to realize it to be a job, and NOT an artistic endeavor. He treated it like a job and walked away financially solvent. But I’m not saying sell-out to everything. It is admirable that Woody Harrelson, who appears in this movie, may well be doing it as a lottery ticket to more respectable roles.

Anyway, on a slow night, this is an interesting watch. It’s a step below “Street Kings” which follows the same theme and tone. Also, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a digitally shot movie that seemed so…digital. Almost like they were proud this looked cheap. How awful.