Ben Affleck shines in Netflix’s ‘Triple Frontier’ mixing a heist film with military machismo
An all-star cast and a ton of testosterone drove Netflix’s Triple Frontier into production, giving Ben Affleck to deliver a great performance and fans to endure a heist film disguised as a military thriller. Charlie Hunnam and Garrett Hedlund star alongside one another, confusing fans who mistook one for the other in many films.
Santiago “Pope” Garcia (Oscar Isaac) recruits his old Special Ops buddies for one last job, an assault on a Colombia drug lord, offering up the “big payday” the government never gave them for their amazing services. This is the military Avengers: Tom “Redfly” Davis (Affleck), now a realtor and divorcee; William “Ironhead” (Hunnam) and Ben Miller (Hedlund), a motivational speaker and MMA fighter pair of brothers; and Francisco “Catfish” Morales (Pascal), a pilot now grounded for doing cocaine.
The film is void of any female roles, except for Pope’s girlfriend/informant (Adria Arjona), as the machismo provides an entertaining, yet predictable acquisition of $250 million in drug money and the execution of the faceless drug leader. Triple Frontier gets more interesting as the team attempts to escape with the cash, a total which weighs too much for the helicopter and twist that shocked most fans.
While director J.C. Chandor (A Most Violent Year, All Is Lost) centers around Isaac’s Pope, it’s Affleck who really gets to shine. This is the second best performance by the Good Will Hunting star (see The Accountant), who is way better in quirking dramatic roles than just, well, being Affleck.
Chandor delivered an entertaining action film, but Triple Frontier is too much Expendables and NOT enough Unforgiven. Literally, “Run Through the Jungle” plays while five guys with guns run through the jungle.
Triple Frontier earns 3 stars out of 5 stars
