Angel and Tiggs

Triple 9 is the best cop/action thriller of the decade so far. I took it for granted after watching the trailer at a theatre earlier this year. Yesterday, while looking for a movie to watch, I saw this poster with 4 dudes carrying big guns, wearing red balaclavas and thick goggles, involved by red smoke. Before doing a quick search on the story, I immediately thought of a Power Ranger reunion at Color Me Rad. Boy, was I wrong.

This is an all-in-one thriller. It has a complex but solid storyline that connects like a perfect game of Tetris. It’s dark and gruesome. The pace is incredibly fast and nail-biting. Blockbuster action scenes are intertwined with daunting short conversations.

I can see Street Kings and the always-in-mind Training Day being inspirations for Triple 9, but it’s also fair to say that the latter carved its own place in the history of great cop thrillers. By the way, Triple 9 was able to show the ever-existing tension between ghettos and the police really well. In my humble opinion even better than the acclaimed Training Day.

The cast has some of the biggest underrated actors in the last 20 years, led by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Casey Affleck in a role similar to his excellent Gone Baby Gone. There’s also the one-and-only Woody Harrelson and Anthony Mackie at their best. Let us now forget a brilliant Kate Winslet and Gal Gadot, who seemed very comfortable in the few scenes that were given to her.

Affleck reminded me a lot of his role in Gone Baby Gone, which was also a fantastic thriller. Ejiofor is truly the man. He’s the new Denzel. Think of him as in 12 Years a Slave meets Inside Man. He’s truly amazing.