‘Triple 9’ Trailer And Buzz: How Does John Hillcoat’s Star-Studded Crime Thriller Shake Out?
What do you get when you combineJohn Hillcoat, the talented director ofLawlessandThe Road; an A-list ensemble cast that includesWoody Harrelson,Casey Affleck,Chiwetel Ejiofor, andKate Winslet; and more dirty-cop tropes than you’re able to shake a stick at? The answer isTriple 9, a gritty crime thriller that lands in theaters next weekend. The Black List script byMatt Cookcenters on a group of corrupt officers blackmailed by the mob into pulling off an insane heist. They decide the only way to pull it off is to kill one of their own, but suffice it to say things don’t go as planned.
Open Road Films has come in just under the wire with one lastTriple 9trailer, just as the firstTriple 9reviews have hit the web. Watch the latest promo, and find out what the critics are saying about Hillcoat’s caper, after the jump.
First things first, the trailer.
The trailer looks intense and grimy and it isn’t afraid to remind you how great that cast really is. The promise of Winslet chewing scenery as a heartless mob boss should be enough to get some curious movie lovers into theaters by itself. And Affleck is really off to a bang this year. He’s already done the old-fashioned heroism thing inThe Finest Hoursandwowed the Sundance crowdwithManchester by the Sea, and now he’s shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the finest actors of his generation here.
The reviews, however, are a little more… mixed… than we might have hoped. On one end of the spectrum are folks likeScreen International’s Tim Grierson, who admiringly describeTriple 9as “pulp with plenty of juice,” but on the other there are critics likeTheWrap’s Alonso Duralde, who found it to be “not just dumb, [but] disastrous. Sample a few other reviews below and then catchTriple 9in theatersFebruary 26if you’d like to make up your own mind.
Indiewire’s Oliver Lyttleton:
The answer, unfortunately, is “nowhere particularly interesting” — or more accurately, “nowhere you haven’t seen before.” Beyond the titular hook, there’s little here that you wouldn’t get from putting “Heat,” “The Departed” and half-a-dozen episodes of “The Shield” in a blender. As well-handled as the set pieces are, the connective tissue doesn’t pull you along, and then collapses completely in a messy, unsatisfying final act.
