Combining a number of the biggest (unsung) names in modern action movies, including Tony Jaa (the “Ong Bak” films), Iko Uwais (“The Raid”), Scott Adkins (“Dr. Strange”), and Tiger Hu Chen (“The Man of Tai Chi”), filmmaker Jesse V. Johnson’s latest film is, essentially, exactly what you think it’s going to be, for better or worse. “Triple Threat” is an exceedingly dumb action movie, with a number of impressive fights that are unfortunately bookended by too much exposition and tedious gunplay.
The plot revolves around Payu (Jaa), a scout in Thailand working at an MI6 black site. This secretive site is stormed, and eventually destroyed, by a band of mercenaries led by Devereaux (Michael Jai White), in an attempt to free a terrorist named Collins (Scott Adkins). However, during the raid, Payu’s wife is killed, and Devereaux’s team betrays Jaka (Uwais) and Long Fei (Chen), setting up the titular “Triple Threat” of Payu, Jaka, and Long Fei, seeking revenge from Devereaux and Collins. Of course, there are other subplots, one involving Xian (Celina Jade), an heiress who is attempting to implement an anti-criminal agenda, only to become intertwined with the other characters.
The amount of plot in this film is surprisingly dense, with the sheer number of double-crosses and triple-crosses adding up, overloading what should be a basic, action film set-up. The audience is constantly forced to follow Payu, as he both plays protagonist and antagonist, aligning himself one minute with Jaka and Long Fei and the other with Devereaux’s crew. If there is an overall plan for making sense his shifting loyalties, it does not show up in the final film. It feels like screenwriters Joey O’Bryan and Paul Staheli got lost in their own unnecessarily complicated story. Other aspects of the film are woefully under-explained, such as Xian’s subplot, which comes with a barrage of information but, really, makes no attempts to clarify why exactly she falls in with Jaka and Long Fei or what purpose she serves in the film, overall.
But, enough about the paradoxically overloaded and bare-bones plot. What about the fight scenes? Let’s not fool ourselves, that’s the main reason anyone is considering watching “Triple Threat.” Overall, the fighting in the film is only serviceable, which is a shame. There are a few standout sequences, including a round in the ring between Jaa and Chen that is, without a doubt, the highlight of the film. Too bad that the fight comes so early. Often Johnson de-emphasizes the martial arts aspect, favoring huge amounts of bloodshed as Devereaux and his team mow down people left and right with bullets, not fists. Every action film needs a certain amount of insane gunplay, but for a film that puts three of the biggest names in martial arts cinema together, the focus on shootouts is baffling.
When Johnson does stage action, it’s more than effective. Having been around as a stunt-performer and action movie director for a while now, the filmmaker knows his way around an action scene. It’s just sad that “Triple Threat” loses focus on what viewers come to the film expecting, namely hand-to-hand fighting, instead of burdening the film with boring, convoluted exposition and far too many shootouts.
When “Triple Threat” finally does reach its climax, in which various characters pair off to fight, shoot, or both, the film is already running on fumes, perhaps exhausted from the long bits of exposition contrasted with the barrage of gunplay. “Triple Threat” is a shrug of a film. It’s not a bad film, by any means, as there are definitely worse action movies to spend 90 minutes with. Yet, there are so many other, better, martial art films out there, with many including at least one actor from this film. Sadly, you’re left asking yourself why you’re wasting your time with a subpar product when there are so many better options to explore? [C]
