Director J.C. Chandor has been on somewhat of a subtle meteoric rise since his debut in 2011 with the financial crisis-based “Margin Call.” Seamlessly, he has elevated his cinematic style, using Robert Redford as a one-man show in “All Is Lost” and tackling the criminal landscape in “A Most Violent Year.” While all these films are quite excellent, they have remained below the surface of the zeitgeist, just short of an extraordinary status to place Chandor on a prestigious level, such as his similar contemporaries like Damien Chazelle or Ryan Coogler. Yet, his next film, a Netflix production, seeks to elevate his filmography even more into the realm of hard-line, adrenalized action. Much has been known about “Triple Frontier,” going back to its development in 2010 when actors like Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp were attached. It’s probably for the best that the project evolved into what it is now: an action vehicle for some of the most hardened, masculine faces to ever ensemble a contemporary film.
Considering Chandor’s relatively artful approach to familiar plots, and writer Mark Boal’s consistently realistic and politically tinged prose, “Triple Frontier” could be a self-serious, philosophical version of “The Expendables,” where we depend on the congruence of the male ensemble and the delivery of the action. This cast, however, is no B-list: Ben Affleck (who needs a movie like this after vacating the Batman role), Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garret Hedlund and Pedro Pascal, who dips back into a role similar to his striking performance in “Narcos.”
The synopsis speaks to a storyline expected from Boal:
Loyalties are tested when five friends, all military veterans, reunite to rob a South American drug lord, unleashing a chain of unintended consequences.
The Drug Cartel Narrative is currently a popular device in crime and action films (“Sicario,” “Narcos), informed by on-going, real-life events, such as the recent apprehension of El Chapo. However, these stories always run the risk of demonizing foreign countries as criminal hotspots; the recent “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” was unfortunately guilty of such impressions. And with the current administration’s inhumane handling of the border, it is a subject that requires delicate and complex handling.
With all the talent involved, “Triple Frontier” excites not only the impulse to witness some blistering action, but the curiosity to find if there’s something more valuable beneath the gunfire and explosions.
“Triple Frontier” will be released on March 15, 2019.