Call me crazy, but I swear if South America weren’t “full” of rich drug lords, it’s like we wouldn’t even care about the place … but that’s just silly, right? Triple Frontier has bigger problems than our standard take on Columbia. It’s a film that wants to pretend bro codes are noble while ignoring that it’s about unfettered and fatal greed.
Triple Frontier is the kind of film that gets made by little boys who dream of money and guns … and more money and more guns … and winning the lottery, so they can travel to strange, exotic places and shoot the people they meet there. Don’t be alarmed. It’s OK. They’re shooting bad guys … and body guards of bad guys. Hey, they knew what they were getting into … and the drivers and manservants of the bad guys. Ditto them … and the peasants who work the coke fields. They made their choice … and the family members of the drug lord. Hey, they all knew who dad was; they knew this was comin’.
OK, so maybe, just maybe a little of this is unjustified. You’ll be relieved to know that 1) this Colombian excursion isn’t endorsed by any government agency and 2) it’s all about the Benjamins. Now I feel a lot better, kinda like the way I felt about Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt after seeing Forces of Nature.
Speaking of Ben Affleck, he’s the missing link for this South American getaway. Agent Santiago (Oscar Isaac) has had it up to the Andes with the antics of drug lord Lorea; it’s time to take this guy out once-and-for-all. Oh, and by-the-way, Lorea’s two-story jungle retreat is literally made of money. So, naturally, it’s time for Santiago to get the band back together. And by band, I mean Santiago’s old team of badass combat veterans, all of whom could now be rightfully called mercenaries. Triple Frontier is kinda like The Blues Brothers if Jake and Elwood hung out in a jungle and traded song and dance for C4 and grenade launchers.
“So who wants to go take out a South American drug lord in his well-guarded retreat? Did I mention there’s millions of dollars for this payday?” If you can summon that image of Juan Valdez scaling the mountains with a train of coffee-bean loaded donkeys, imagine instead the donkey’s burdens are not beans, but bags and bags of money and Juan Valdez has been replaced by the A-Team. Then and only then can you get a good idea of what this picture looks like and whether or not it appeals to you. Personally, I found the tale, action, and characters middling, but I’m more-or-less appalled at a forgiving and altruistic conclusion for the mercenaries. Honor among not-exactly-reluctant combatants means a lot less when paycheck has been the prevailing motivation.
Whether war, love, or whatchamacallit
From Mitch McConnell to Jussie Smollett
One thing in this age
That I’ve learned, to my rage:
Morality belongs to the biggest wallet
Rated R, 125 Minutes
Director: J.C. Chandor
Writer: Mark Boal & J.C. Chandor
Genre: Disguising greed as bromance
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Bromantics
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Cynics
