Triple Frontier is the kind of pleasant surprise you want to find on Netflix, especially given its history as a DVD rental company. It’s a story about a group of old friends from the military coming together to pull off one last job, and then that job, predictably, goes FUBAR in record time.
The name Triple Frontier is derived from the borders shared between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. It’s the area where Santiago “Pope” Garcia works as a private operative. At the start of the film, he learns from his informant, Yovanna about the whereabouts of the drug lord Lorea, who has taken refuge deep in the jungles of Colombia. Lorea is sitting around a literal houseful of cash. He has already paid off enough local authorities to prevent any inquiry into his activities.
It’s the kind of B movie premise that’s instantly recognizable. What makes Triple Frontier such a fun watch, however, is the main cast of five that anchor the movie’s plot to the overall narrative of greed, downfall and redemption.
Ben Affleck delivers his finest performance in years as Tom “Redfly” Davis, a retired Delta Force operator who has been reduced to selling real estate for a living. He is supported by very capable performances from the likes of Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Gareth Hedlund and Pedro Pascal. They function well as an unit, and throughout the film, you believe that these five men can form a very capable fire team when the situation calls for it.
The story, however, is about moral decay, and how money tempts even noble men to turn their backs on their moral compasses.
Redfly, lured by Pope’s (Oscar Isaac) entreaties to join the good fight, finds his conscience tested when he stumbles upon nearly endless stacks of money in the middle of nowhere (for this film, that’s Columbia). William “Ironhead” Miller (Charlie Hunnam) soon finds himself questioning his and his team’s reasons for being there, as does Pope after Redfly guns down a village full of people after an intense standoff. After the fact, he pays off a surviving elder statesman to ease his conscience.
This film is chock-full of tension, masterfully worked by director J.C. Chandor and writer Mark Boal. Boal has previously worked with Katheryn Bigelow on the Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. In fact, Bigelow was originally slated to direct Triple Frontier. However, she dropped out to focus on other priorities, and Chandor was brought in as her replacement.
Chandor operates like a crafstman who is intimately familiar with his area of expertise. The film is filled with iconic music, from Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls to Masters of War by Bob Dylan. His chemistry with Boal and the cast is clearly electric; the first half’s pacing is as smooth as teflon. However, the film starts to lose its momentum afterwards, when the morality play comes into full effect.
In an interview with Collider, Ben Affleck revealed how he pushed for an important development that happens late into the film. “Yeah, I thought that would be interesting and I wanted to see somebody actually pay a price for what happened…
It kind of takes you off guard. I wanted to do the same thing.”
Chandor and Boal are reluctant to indite their protagonists as being entirely at fault for their circumstances. After a pivotal development late in the film, they were faced with a difficult narrative choice. It’s a bit disappointing that they chose the easier path, painting their cast as reluctant and flawed heroes. The end result is a movie that entertains, but fails to elevate itself above the bindings of its basic action movie tropes.
At the end of the day, Triple Frontier probably won’t stand the test of time as well as Hurt Locker or Zero Dark Thirty has. And that’s perfectly fine. It’s a Netflix movie, and you get to watch it for essentially free.
Netflix’s slate of films has been getting continuously better, and even Affleck was quick to note that. “…Netflix has shown a willingness to break with convention, to try unusual things. To experiment. They’re in a different situation then the studios because the studios start over from scratch every time they put out a movie.
Netflix already has 130 million people that they have a relationship with and they can advertise to directly. I think that means they’re not so beholden to that opening weekend idea. You know what I mean? They already sort of have sold the ticket, in a weird way.”
It’s the only movie where you get to watch cast members and alums from Justice League, Star Wars, Pacific Rim and Tron: Legacy work together, and for me, that was the price of admission alone. The action and soundtracks were just cherries on top.
If you are a fan of old fashioned, Expendables-type flicks that clear your palate, then this movie will go down your throat as easily as hot chocolate. It’s available right now on Netflix, and will be there for a while, if not forever.