The perennial problem of ensemble action movies is about maintaining the right balance between developing the characters and keeping the action flowing within the limited time frame. The buddy cop movies mostly need to deal with two characters and often takes us deeper into their individual journeys. But most action thrillers with more than that number of leading actors head for a zone that borders more towards ‘The Expendables’ side of the act. Triple Frontier with its powerful casting and an exciting setting tries hard to balance the scales by weaving in the right elements of tragedy through the action.

The movie plays with the familiar setting of veteran soldiers in a “one last job” scenario. Oscar Issac, playing Santiago “Pope” Garcia, is the mastermind, who is working in a South American country as a consultant, hunting down a drug lord named Lorea. He receives a tip about the location of Lorea from his informant and sets out to gather his old teammates to take out the man. Only this time, he intends the team to operate independently and stuff the recovered money Lorea has stocked in his villa, in their own pockets. The team consists of William Miller (Charlie Hunnam) and his brother Ben (Garrett Hedlund) along with Francisco “Catfish” Morales (Pedro Pascal), the pilot. The plot gives the impression that none of them are doing very well in their lives, at least financially. In addition, there is Tom “Redfly” Davis (Ben Affleck) who has been struggling with bad deals in life since he retired from the force.

Pope is able to convince them and the lure of money does get them back in doing the things that they do well. The plan works well and the movie makes a point about greed and its effects on even the most trained individuals. The first half of the film deals with the staging of the heist and the second half puts forward the team’s struggle with the loads of money across a hostile landscape. The action set pieces are very well shot, specially a thrilling helicopter ride across the mountains. The cinematography by Roman Vasyanov (Fury, Suicide Squad) makes the film look striking as the camera captures the jungle and the barren routes across the mountainous terrain perfectly.

While the first half of the film makes a grim portrayal about soldiers adapting into normal life, the second half brings in the issues of measuring human life against money. There are plenty of thrilling moments as the team finds the burden of money not so easy to carry. Inner conflicts flare up but the brotherly bond that ties soldiers together does not allow much of an escalation. The crisp editing keeps the film perfectly in line to highlight the physical and moral challenges that they face when it comes to money versus human life.

Triple Frontier lacks the necessary ingredients to make the audience care about the characters. The writers, Mark Boal and J.C. Chandor do not divulge much about their lives, nor provide any background detail that can make the chemistry more interesting. They are a band of soldiers on a mission that forms the priority for them and also for the audience.

Oscar Issac is charismatic as usual and his presence is an added attraction for the movie. Ben Affleck wears the cloak of weariness that his character requires, feeling alive only when he is in the middle of action. The others perform well enough to make things engrossing but their characters do not have much to bite into. Triple Frontier is not the typical ‘blow them up’ action movie but it keeps the excitement thriving till the end. Though the finer points of the story does not cut deep enough, it does guarantee two hours of good entertainment as an action adventure.

Triple Frontier is now streaming in Netflix.

 

Teleratz rating: Above average

 

By: Suvajit Banerjee

 

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