About ten years ago, it would have been possible to see medium-budget action films like Triple Frontier only in the cinema. But the streaming age has changed a lot. Today, thanks to Netflix, you can watch such films also from the comfort of your own home, on your own TV screen. And their cast isn't bad either.
In the Colombian jungle there is a recidence of a drug boss who is said to have bunkered millions of dollars there. The ex-soldier and current consultant and mercenary Garcia, who works there in the region, has his eye on it. He wants to rob the money and needs support, support from men he knows and can trust. In return he tries to reactivate his old military colleagues, who today have to struggle with their everyday life. With the promise of richness he manages to convince his former military friends to join him in this job.
The plan sounds very simple at first. First observe, then the robbery and then the escape in a helicopter. The operation goes well but then the first problems arise. Besides the Colombians, who want their money back, the money is too heavy and the ex-militaries are confronted with more and more dangers. The team threatens to break through doubts, but the money lets them relentlessly continue in the fight of survival and death...
As it seems, the film has a long history behind it before it could be produced. The plans for the film were first in the year 2010, but since the cast has been relegated again and again, the project did not have priority. In 2017, however, the project is supposed to have taken a turn and what was previously planned for the cinema was then implemented by Netflix with a star cast.
Triple Frontier is very simple in its story. The film is a bit too lengthy to examine the backgrounds of the individual members of the Heist. Then, when they are in the jungle for the preparation of the robbery, it finally gets interesting, exciting and action-packed. Then the film, next to the action genre, starts its dramaturgy when the escape is about to take place. You can argue about whether it's suitable to to mix genres in such a movie, but after all Netflix is known for always dancing out of the line with his productions. It's not bad at all, because this is where the strongest moments of the individual characters are, where you can finally see some depth, even though they still come across too bluntly.
The film also reminds me of the old 80s military films in which soldiers had to fight their way through the jungle to survive. Whether the touch was consciously given is debatable, but the survival part, which besides the drama that rules, also shows some nice landscape pictures, is still convincing. Also, faces like Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam, Pedro Pascal and Garrett Hedlund give the movie its own character.
As far as I could read, the film is one of Netflix's best in-house productions and has a very good rating. Also in my circle of friends there were a few people who liked the film, I rather belong to those who already know all this and some parts of the film bored me a bit. Especially at the end the curse with the pickups to reach the boat was a bit too overstretched for my taste.
But on the whole the film is not bad. You can definitely watch it, it is a different kind of a heist film and for people who don't know the whole 80's military jungle survival fight movies, it will go down well.
The film got 6 stars at IMDb from me, if I could, I would give it a rating of 6.4.
