TRIPLE 9 : Friday 4th March 2016.

'TRIPLE 9' which I saw over the weekend as Directed and Co-Produced by Australian John Hillcoat, is a crime drama that might get you thinking about 'The Town' or 'Heat'. With an ensemble cast and made for just US$20M this was released in the US at the end of February and so arrives fresh in Australia only this week having so far brought in US$10M.  Early on many other names were attached to this project including Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Christoph Waltz and Charlie Hunnam - but they all dropped away giving way to the line up that now makes this film.

The film opens with an impressive bank robbery set piece in broad daylight when three criminal types - Michael Attwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Russell Welch (Norman Reedus) and his brother Gabe (Aaron Paul) and two corrupt cops Marcus Belmont (Anthony Mackie) and Franco Rodriguez (Clifton Collins Jnr.) retrieve a strong box from the bank vault, in downtown Atlanta, and in the process Gabe helps himself to a stash of new dollar bills sitting on a nearby trolley. With only minutes allowed to execute their plan which they have timed to perfection, they make their getaway in various vehicles undercover of plain sight. In doing so, the cash money picked up by Gabe during the heist explodes in one of the getaway vehicle spraying the crims with red dye and engulfing the inside of the car with red smoke, as they speed along a busy highway. They are forced to stop after several collisions and exit the car resulting in a bullet ballet shoot out on the city freeway. Needless to say the gang do get away before the police can descend upon them.

Having robbed a safety deposit box which contains information which could overturn the recent conviction of a Russian Mob kingpin, Michael delivers the said box to the mobsters wife Irina Vlasov (Kate Winslet) who withholds their reward money demanding that they do one more job involving a further heist to secure data which will support her husbands cause for freedom. This time though they have to infiltrate a secure closely guarded government building. To ensure that the gang get the message of just how serious she is, she orders the murder of Russell, leaving the gang shocked and Gabe traumatised. That said, they have no choice but to comply, and for Michael there is an added complication in that he has a son with Irina's sister Elena (Gal Gadot), and if he fails to co-operate it might prevent him from seeing the young lad again . . . or worse.

Having agreed to do the plan, we are quickly introduced to Chris Allen (Casey Affleck) and his wife Michelle (Teresa Palmer) as he joins the local PD and is assigned to partner up with Marcus. Arriving on the scene to investigate the bank robbery in the aftermath, is Sergeant Detective Jeffrey Allen (Woody Harrelson) - who also happens to be the uncle of young Chris. Marcus and Chris do not get off to the most promising partnership in police history and things go arse up on their first day out together when Marcus heatedly questions Chris when he seeks to gather information from a local gang over a gang-related murder.

By now Michael, Marcus and Franco are hatching their plan to steal the data needed by Irina, but have concerns about the time needed to get in, lift the merchandise and get out - requiring ten minutes or more, which is plenty of time for the police to converge on the scene of the crime once the alarm is raised - which they know it will be. What to do? Gabe meanwhile has been linked to the robbery by Jeffrey and still grieving the death of his brother tries to stop the robbery from proceeding.

To give the gang the time necessary to pull of the heist, they decide to pull a 'Triple 9' - which is an officer down call, that sends all police to the scene of an incident, so potentially detracting the police from the scent of the crims who can go about their business largely unhindered, and buying the time required to complete the job and get the hell outta there.

As the time approaches Marcus and Chris are out on patrol and arrive at a rundown projects estate to meet with an informant. This is where the Triple 9 call will originate from so allowing Franco and Michael to complete the robbery. Things go awry inside the darkened derelict building, resulting in a shoot out involving Gabe, Chris, Marcus and a gang member on the run that had been involved in earlier questioning by Chris. The Triple 9 call is made, but who is the officer down, and what are the far reaching consequences of this on Franco, Michael, Irina and Jeffrey?

In the final analysis it does not end well for the crims and the corrupt cops in this piece who all get their comeuppance in this cops & robbers tale. With such a strong cast and a grounded story I was expecting more, and in this case the sum of its parts does not make a whole. The films looks good and the premise is sold enough, but, this is certainly not up there with 'Heat' or 'The Town'. Whilst there are some redeeming features I felt let down as the story seemed to run out of steam until the final five minutes when the conclusion is rushed as it races towards the credits - perhaps an extended DVD/Bluray release will deliver more. The ensemble line up is strong, and good to see many of them playing against type, although for me Winslet does not quite meet my expectations of a menacing, cold, callous, show no mercy, take no prisoners Russian Mafia mob wife, but, the principle male leads did well.

You don't need to see this on the big screen, and hopefully the DVD/Bluray release will tease out more to make for a more rounded complete film ultimately.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-