Triple Frontier Review - 7/10
The title, Triple Frontier, is a term referring to a region of wilderness where the borders of three separate countries meet. Typically remote and unprotected such regions are often rife with criminal activity, as authorities would struggle to run down criminal activity when the perpetrators can simply cross borders and change jurisdictions almost at will. While that concept is interesting it plays precious little role in the actual film and is never directly referenced or explained.
Instead the plot revolves around five retired military veterans who are brought together by Santiago "Pope" Garcia, played by Oscar Isaac, to assassinate a cartel boss and rob his stash of drug money. Generally down on their luck and in need of money a rag-tag team is brought together on the promise of a fat payday and the chance to strike back at one of the people ruining a South American country. Falling somewhere between rampantly criminal greed and potentially noble vigilantism this strike is aided by a female informant of Santiago's (Adria Arjona) who is helping the team rob the cartel in exchange for Santiago getting her brother out of jail and smuggling the two siblings out of the country.
Though Ben Affleck takes pride of place on the poster alongside Oscar Isaac the character of Santiago is clearly the main protagonist of the film, with Affleck and Charlie Hunnam's characters serving in supporting rolls. Both Affleck and Hunnam give relatively strong performances though Oscar Isaac came out the strongest and in my opinion carried the film.
It is difficult to decide exactly what genre I think this movie fills. It has action but did not feel like an action film, it has an R rating but is not exactly what I would call graphic, the new Baywatch movie had more gratuitous gore than this film does. In many ways Triple Frontier feels more like a thriller or dark adventure film, not all that different from The Way Back. Over a run time of around two hours the film transitions from an introduction that starts off dark and violent to a by-the-book character introduction and recruitment sequence, followed by the lead up and initiation of the largest action set-piece and then moves into a long wilderness journey. Much like the original Predator this movie seems to shift focus and feel several times throughout the film.
Overall the performances, dialogue and plot of Triple Frontier are solid enough, the action is well shot and the cinematography is decent enough. Where the film really flagged was the soundtrack and the pacing. Several times the film attempts to capture the feeling of a gritty Vietnam war film with sudden transitions into loud music but these felt inappropriate and out of place. The problems are further compounded with the occasional awkward transition between scenes and the various "chapters" of the film.
All things considered I enjoyed Triple Frontier and think it is a perfectly serviceable film even if it likely will not click with many viewers. Oscar Isaac's performance was impressive and makes me look forward to seeing how his career will progress post Star Wars fame. Like many Netflix projects Triple Frontier is solid work that could certainly give mainstream Hollywood a run for it's money but is a far cry from perfect. In conclusion I rate Triple Frontier a seven out of ten, a decently above average movie with a lot of solid working parts that just struggles to bring them all together effectively.
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