One of the early tragedies of the Netflix distribution line must be the 
J.C. Chandor (A Most Violent Year, All Is Lost) Triple Frontier, a movie you can decide after watching or reading this review whether you like it or not. This is not a review that will talk about the merits and faults of Netflix (by one sentence, the 2019 stand is that Netflix is unique with its shows, but I wish it would stay away from movies). Still, Triple Frontier deserved its viewing on a big screen theater, where it could have flourished. I’ve seen over 1500 movies in a movie theatre at the time of this post. I’ve seen 1500 other movies for the first time on my television screen as well. For each movie I’ve seen and loved on my television, I can’t help but wonder what the movie must have been like in the atmosphere in which it was designed to be viewed. I can’t make the same claim the other way around. Sure, I’ve said, “Man, I wish I would have saved my cash and watched this at home…or not watched this at all” when I see a terrible movie in the theatre, but that is a different conversation and, hopefully, one I don’t have to have on a different day.
Beasts of No Nation was the first of the original Netflix films to draw the public’s interest. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said then that for a movie to be considered for Oscar nominations, the film must have at least a limited theatrical run. I don’t know all of the details about how long a movie needs to be in the theatres, locations, etc., but Beasts of No Nation was a film that had to adhere to those standards as it was thought that it might get some Oscar recognition. This movie ultimately got shut out from nominations this year, but it definitely set a precedent.
Netflix has continued to produce some amazing television shows and movies, its crowning achievement being 2018’s Roma. This movie earned and won multiple Academy Awards, nearly winning Best Picture. It was not my favorite movie by any means, and for each person I met who liked it, I’ve met five who disliked it. It was a difficult watch at home. Roma was black and white with subtitles and much more difficult to see on my 42″ television than on a massive theatre. Roma was a not-so-great movie that suffered even more on the small screen. Triple Frontier was a better-than-average movie that suffered the same fate. I mean, come on. It’s a big-budget heist movie with three of the top leading men out there, and you’re reducing it to a tiny rectangle into the corner of my family room apartment. Convenient. Sure? Worth it? Nope.
Chandor’s name is already associated with big hits. For 2011’s Margin Call (88% on Rotten Tomatoes), the screenwriter capitalized on the success of that film with his first two directorial efforts in the Robert Redford solo movie All Is Lost and the incredibly underseen A Most Violent Year. The cast he assembled for this 2019 Triple Frontier alone suggests that this film belongs at your local multiplex on the day of its release. Chandor was able to secure Ben Affleck (Argo, Gone Girl), Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, Inside Llewyn Davis), Charlie Hunnam (FX’s Sons of Anarchy, Papillon), Garrett Hedlund (Mudbound, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk), and Pedro Pascal (Netflix’s Narcos, HBO’s Game of Thrones). While Chandor may not have done the best job distinguishing each character from the others, the team of ex-military men of five had excellent chemistry together on the screen.
The Triple Frontier is where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet at a bend in the Parana River. While three of our characters get roughly the same screen time, our lead is Isacc’s Santiago “Pope” Garcia. Pope is a private military contractor working for a private organization in Columbia. We meet him as he leads an exceptionally heavily equipped team in a detonating raid of a drug cartel kingpin’s secret location, masquerading itself as a disco. Yovanna (Adria Arjona – The Belko Experiment, Pacific Rim: Uprising) is his informant, a beautiful one that we learn later that most of Pope’s informants are gorgeous, and he often has relationships with them that go beyond the scope of the job. While this particular job goes bust, Pope learns of a hidden fortress at the crime boss’s home, buried deep in a Columbian forest. He discovers that the kingpin has hidden at least $75 million. Pope quickly realizes he will not risk his life to “do his job.” If he takes down this notorious man and steals millions from him, the money will go into his pockets. But to do that, he needs to ditch his legitimate team and bring in his former team of trusted marksmen for one last score.
The premise of the movie is familiar. Many stories have been about “getting the band back together one last time.” But this movie is different than that. Often, as is the case with Triple Frontier, we need more character differentiation. Even with a fantastic cast of just five men here, we don’t get to know them enough as individuals to honestly care about them or what happens to them. Ironically, I’m saying that in a Chandor movie (one of his specialties is his rich characters) that stars the incredible Isaac and Hunnam and the always great Affleck. However, we are more than compensated with high doses of action and fantastic adventure for the lack of character development. And, unlike a movie where an agency brings the well-functioning team back, everything here is illegal. There will be blood on their hands. And none of them will be able to return to their lives as they previously knew them. They would have a bullseye from the cartel and be robbed for the rest of their lives. Essentially, we have a popcorn flick, a popcorn flick we’d much rather be watching in the movie theatre, but a popcorn flick nonetheless.
To be patriotic or not to be? Our five leads each served their country dutifully, yet each struggled to sustain the life they wanted to lead. We know that Pope is retired but still risking his life on missions more dangerous than when he was in the military. William “Ironhead” Miller (Hunnam) is still in the military, giving the same recruitment speech over and over to military personnel who have made it to the point where they can leave the service or continue fighting for their country as he did. His younger brother Ben (Hedlund) is a punching bag in mixed martial arts patches. Morales (Pascal) is a former military pilot who lost his license after running cocaine. He is now bored out of his mind with retirement and needs the least amount of convincing to cut the monotony of his life. The wildcard is Tom (Affleck). He’s a divorced dad with a drinking problem whose daytime gig is unsuccessfully selling condos, wondering how he’s going to pay his piles upon piles of bills. He’s not good at it, but the honest life suits him more than the others. Pope will only do the mission if everybody on the team is on board, so of course, everyone is on board, or we wouldn’t have a movie. Duh. And though this is Pope’s idea, once the five have signed on, Tom becomes the project’s mastermind, just as he was when the five served together.
What plays out before us is some of the most incredible and surprising adventures we’ve seen on the silver screen for quite some time. From the moment the team infiltrates the home to the end, we are presented with harrowing scene after harrowing scene in which the team has to make judgment calls about what is more important. Their lives or money? Though we, unfortunately, do have a lot of “Group Think” here, there are some differing opinions, arguments, and even a fistfight among our heroes. The main problem here is that the team like each other far too much. These are five brothers to the core, and all are on the same agenda, or at least as close to being on the same agenda when hundreds of millions (yep, I said hundreds) are involved. And with mountains of money comes all kinds of unknown emotions, including the idea that no money can be enough, especially when they leave bags of money on the table (literally). Well, at least four of them are likable men to the very end. Unfortunately, one of the four has less patience and a bit of willingness to pull the trigger than the others. I’ll leave it for you to decide if it gets the group in more hot water than they deserve.
The film is shot beautifully. The sound is excellent. The scenarios the crew finds themselves up against before, during, and after the heist are unique, even with stories like this being told dozens of times each year. So, while we have these paper-thin characters that make it impossible for us to connect with them, we get an escape route involving mountains, forests, rivers, and more. We have characters forced to make these instantaneous decisions, and it would be great if we felt anything for these characters. If we understood these characters and their motives, we could understand how a particular judgment could be easy or difficult for them and empathize with them. But we don’t know them. So, these difficult decisions that they have to make regarding their survival are not something we care about. There is no investment.
While Triple Frontier is enjoyable, it suffers from a mode of display (television). But worse, it falls victim to poorly developed characters that we don’t care about the mission they are on, and, worse, we fail to care if they succeed or fail in said mission.
Plot 7.5/10
Character Development 6/10
Character Chemistry 7/10
Acting 8.5/10
Screenplay 8.5/10
Directing 7.5/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 8/10
Hook and Reel 8.5/10
Universal Relevance 8/10
78.5%
B-
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