A fine way to kill time on your couch
(Countless films and TV series now arrive unheralded on streaming services, leaving viewers seeking something fresh and good to sort through it all. Raju Mudhar’s column Upstream samples the services’ original offerings, looking for things to recommend.) Triple Frontier
★★ 1/2 (out of 4) As Steven Spielberg reportedly prepares to make his case that films from streaming services should not be eligible for the Oscars without a lengthy exclusive theatrical window, it’s interesting that Triple Frontier makes it way to screens this week. Already playing at the TIFF Lightbox, and then arriving on Netflix next Wednesday, this odd duck of an action film is in no danger of winning any awards, and yet is ammunition for both sides of the argument.
With a starry cast that could be jokingly be described as The Expendables for 2019 — if anybody in this had previously starred in a decent action film — it features Ben “Sad” Affleck, Oscar “Intense” Isaac, Garrett “The MMA one” Hedlund, Charlie “the guy who counts things” Hunnam (seriously, keeping track of numbers is supposedly part of his character) and Pedro “The Pilot” Pascal. They are a former specialforces squad who are coaxed into a final “big score” to rob a South American drug lord and then live on easy street. Things don’t go smoothly.
Working from a script by Mark Boal ( The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty), reportedly reworked by director J.C. Chandor ( A Most Violent Year, All Is Lost), there are signs of the movie that this wants to be, along the lines of Three Kings with hints of Zero Dark Thirty or Sicario, making some kind of commentary about lost former soldiers and the effects of violence. It unfortunately never gets to those heights, and is only a weird action/road movie with moments of machoness, humourless intensity and sporadic bits of action.
With the exception of the speeches about nothing being more important than serving the flag, the opening setup and building of suspense is pretty good. Isaac’s Pope is obsessed with the drug lord and who brings the score to his mates. Affleck is the former captain Tom “Redfly” Davis who, like A-Team’s Hannibal Smith, always has a plan — but he has to be coaxed to do this job, and makes a big speech about crossing the line into crime. Despite very little actual character development, I eventually bought these guys as a group who would fight with, drink with, and die for each other, despite their many flaws.
I just wish more actually happened, or it had something to say. Heck, some truly awesome action scenes would be nice too. There are interesting strands here — the private-soldier setup, Isaac’s obsession, why is Affleck’s character so sad — but there is a weary spirit to the entire affair.
There’s no great reason that you have to see it on the big Lightbox screen, though there are some lovely shots of the jungle. Even if you want to go for the hunks, there is not a lot of eye candy here, save for Hedlund’s bare torso during an early MMA fight. Amid the ongoing Netflix/cinemas fight, the reason this has a theatrical opening of any kind is likely just because a star’s agent insisted. The new Kevin Costner-starring The Highwaymen is going to follow a similar route in a few weeks.
Spielberg is reportedly getting ready to make a case at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board meeting next month trying to exclude films from streaming services for awards consideration. Even before Roma’sthree Oscar wins last month, he told ITV news: “Once you commit to a television format, you’re a TV movie … I don’t believe films that are just given token qualifications in a couple of theatres for less than a week should qualify for the Academy Award nomination.”
Since we are already in a world of token openings, Spielberg sounds like a taxi driver in an Uber world. Netflix may have its detractors, but it has also provided plenty of benefits, including being a place for smaller films, being more representative and providing access to a worldwide audience for films from anywhere in the world. The disruption has already happened. Keeping these films out of the awards shows is little more than a stalling tactic.
Spielberg has also reportedly said, “Every time I go to a movie, it’s magic, no matter what the movie’s about … when the lights go down in the theatre and the movie fades in, it’s magic,” about the theatregoing experience, which I certainly don’t agree with.
Triple Frontier is a perfect example. Wherever you see it, it’s not magic. It’s a fine way to kill 125 minutes, but I’d much rather do it from the comfort of my couch, and I suspect the majority of you will too.