At the end of the day, stories need to be about characters, not types. While nothing that ought to inspire a letter writing campaign from the ADL,"Triple 9" fails to make it past shorthand.

| Feb 1, 2018

The real screen stealer in Triple 9 is Clifton Collins Jr., as the quietly diabolical, dirty detective Rodriguez. He is a reason why this film will keep you glued to your seat.

| Apr 12, 2017

It's the kind of crooked cop film that will likely wind up on a random list of 100 Crooked Cop Movies compiled in no ranking order... in the next few years. It's that derivative.

| Original Score: C | Mar 21, 2017

The solid direction, storytelling and acting by Hillcoat, Cook and the cast don't reinvent the crime/thriller genre. They just add to the trove.

| Nov 8, 2016

As for the final 20 minutes, they are a sudden burst of sound and fury signifying precious little of significance, pushing the thriller towards a frustrating final flurry of events that are as disappointing as they are unhappily inconsequential.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 15, 2016

A solid, sturdy little crime picture, in which a deep bench of fine actors have a great time playing good guys and bad guys (and variations between).

| Apr 27, 2016

There's a blue-chip cast running the gamut from A (Casey Affleck) to W (Kate Winslet) and terrific action sequences in Triple 9 - but in the end, this relentlessly nihilistic crime-caper thriller adds up to less than the sum of its impressive parts.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 10, 2016

This is a boys' movie, a cinematic video game, full of sound and fury, but in the end amounting to disappointingly little.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 4, 2016

Hillcoat makes the final product seem almost apocalyptic: a social panorama with a functioning society nowhere in sight.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 4, 2016

The movie involves a pair of heists, a prisoner abroad, corrupt cops, mobsters, gangsters, and more, and the parts are considerably better than the messy, unfocused whole. But oh, the parts can be a pleasure.

| Mar 4, 2016

The uneven thing [here] is John Hillcoat's direction: a tense, sustained journey through an apartment while lined up behind a bulletproof shield alternating with indulgent zooms and cuts depicting local color.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 26, 2016

Triple 9 won't bore you, that's for sure. But neither will two hours of browsing YouTube. Perhaps it's best to think of it like one long highlight reel, and just sit back and enjoy the muddled, messy ride.

| Original Score: C | Feb 26, 2016

Hillcoat directs with a sense of immediacy and grimy realism, bringing the audience into the shootouts and bloodshed on the streets. Atlanta becomes another war zone for the men who have seen war, battling an enemy of a different race and culture.

| Feb 26, 2016

Though compelling in the acting and cinematography, Triple 9's plot is by the numbers and about nothing.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 26, 2016

Most parties concerned maintain their grim countenances, their characters struggling to find the sweet spot between honor and greed, between doing the right thing and doing the absolute worst.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 26, 2016

"Triple 9" is as heartless as the people who infest it-the exception being a decent cop, Chris Allen, played by Casey Affleck-and mannered to the point of self-parody.

| Feb 26, 2016

One of those productions in which much of the creative energy has been funneled into gaudily inventive displays of violence.

| Feb 25, 2016

John Hillcoat packs a binge watch of characters and incidents into this corrupt-cop thriller.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 25, 2016

Cops prowl darkened mazes, looking for perps they probably couldn't see even if they found them.

| Feb 25, 2016

With a stacked cast and skillful filmmaking, Triple 9 proves to be a satisfying crooked cop heist thriller, imbued with complicated topical issues that last long after the adrenaline rush.

Full Review | Feb 25, 2016