Ah, the heist movie, one of Hollywood’s most storied sub-genres, including such cinematic achievements as Armored, Takers, and Tower Heist.
OK, none of these movies should be considered as achieving anything, especially on the cinematic level. It’s tough to classify any movies like that as cinematic at all since they are but a seemingly random conglomeration of familiar faces crammed into a set so you can’t tell who the main character is and, frankly, wouldn’t really care to know because the plot is so underdeveloped and vague that it’s next to impossible to decipher the primary storyline anyway.
Triple 9 is no exception to this unfortunate, overly ordinary motion picture stereotype, aswarm with an unbearable plethora of cliches and useless stock characters. This particular film falls into the “one last job” plot category complete with gratuitous violence and sex that no proper crime film of this variety could go without.
Despite the agonizing predictability of the storyline, a few acting performances shine through as beacon’s of entertainment in an otherwise latent cast. Most notably Casey Affleck, Anthony Mackie and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Casey Affleck does what he does best as an emotionless good guy who somehow manages to garner the audience’s sympathies. Mackie and Ejiofor do well as corrupt thugs, paralyzed by newfound morals and conflicting motivations. Sure these actors put up pretty top notch performances but, the movie still falls short, right on its face.
I’m pretty young so I can only imagine a time where putting several stars and a couple of on screen explosions in a movie wasn’t a recipe for disaster. Where good guys and bad guys had suffered actual complexities rather than the basic emotions that come with deciding between right and wrong.
Even now, though, these adrenaline pumped action films aren’t always all bad. There’s still some good apples in the bunch like Reservoir Dogs, Ocean’s 11, and Casino. Plus, it’s still good to see Hollywood hasn’t quit on the prospect of making a successful action movie. So here’s to the future.
Here’s to hoping that a decent flick can still be made with an all star cast and an edgy plot. Here’s to the heist movie’ s potential.
I gave Triple 9 2 of 4 stars
