Triple Frontier (2019)

I'm not even going to pretend that I was interested in seeing Triple Frontier for its plot. I didn't even know what it was about because I just didn't care. Four hot and talented men —and unfortunately Ben Affleck— were a strong enough motivation to sit through Netflix's latest film.

Just in case you are not as shallow as I am, the story follows five Special Forces friends, Santiago "Pope" Garcia (Oscar Isaac), Tom "Redfly" Davis (Ben Affleck), William "Ironhead" Miller (Charlie Hunnam), his brother Ben (Garrett Hedlund), and Francisco "Catfish" Morales as they reunite in South America to rob a drug lord (Reynaldo Gallegos).

There are parts of the plot that are a bit of a stretch of imagination and it's not always very realistic as the five friends make such stupid mistakes Special Forces veterans would never make, but, despite this, Triple Frontier grabs your attention right from the start with a compelling, tense heist, and keeps it until the very end as the characters are forced to face the consequences of their actions. In addition, it does a more than decent job at showing how hard it can be for Special Forces ops, or military in general, to adapt to a normal life.

Sadly, the characters aren't as compelling the reason being the poor writing. As pointed out by Geek Teller, the script focuses too much on the story and heist, and kind of forgets about its characters who, in return, are pretty thin, under-characterized and under-developed —Tom has some backstory and some visible change as he starts off as a calm, practical man who is at first reluctant about the mission only to reach levels of greediness I've rarely seen before.

Despite the poor material, the cast does a wonderful job and the chemistry between them is undeniable. Ben Affleck gives the standout performance —it sure does help that he has the best-written character, the only one whose journey we really care about—, and Oscar Isaac also gives a compelling performance as the head of the operation. Charlie Hunnam whose accent is quite distracting, Garrett Hedlund, and especially Pedro Pascal, unfortunately, don't have a lot to work with, and the only reason they leave an impression is because of their charismatic screen presence.

Netflix

Another good reason to give Triple Frontier a chance is the outstanding cinematography of Roman Vasyanov which really enhances the tension with some pretty intense war-like scenes. The production design is also incredible, and the soundtrack, while I found one song cheesy and not the right fit for the scene, is great.

Ultimately, this is an entertaining film, with an interesting story and good performances. Sure, it does have its flaws as the characters are weak and the action limited, but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.

Papillon (2017)

Something I've come across often when reading about Michael Noer's Papillon is that it is a bad remake of the 1973 film of the same name. Having read the book upon which both are based, I refuse to call this a remake. Instead, I consider it to be a different approach to the material whose outcome is barely decent, but still a notch above the "original". 

The film follows Henri Charrière (Charlie Hunnam), nicknamed Papillon because of the butterfly tattoo he had on his chest, a French safecracker who is convicted of murder and is sentenced to life in the notorious penal colony in French Guyana. On his way there, he meets Louis Dega (Rami Malek), a rich, convicted forger who asks Papillon for protection. In exchange, he will finance Papillon's escape attempts.

On paper, this was a very interesting and compelling story filled with adventures and humorous moments. On film, in this one, the story is dull, most of Papillon's adventures are left out —it's a good thing to be honest, as randomly picking only some would have made for a confusing story—and so is the humour. However, unlike the 1973 film, it addresses its themes in more deeper. It puts more emphasis on solitary confinement and its consequences, both mental —it could drive a man insane— and physical —tremendous weight loss—, on male friendship —Papillon's only glimmer of hope is the unlikely friendship he forms with Dega— and loyalty in its purest form.

As for the characters, they deserved better as this film brings to life —not sure those are the right words— pretty one-dimensional characters —many of the supporting characters weren't even referred to by name, which is such a pity considering how important they are to the plot. 

There are two solid characters though, Papillon and his friend Dega, and the credits go to the actors. Although his performance isn't as good as McQueen's —he comes pretty close though—, Charlie Hunnam gives an intense and dedicated performance as Papillon —he dropped 40lbs and even stayed in the prison cell alone, without food or water for 8 days— and he is very convincing and believable as the resilient man who never gives up on hope and freedom. Rami Malek is excellent as Dega, the nervous but optimistic intellectual —I actually enjoyed his performance more than Hoffman's— and his chemistry with Hunnam is incredible, and easily surpasses that between McQueen and Hoffman. 

Bleecker Street

As for the visual aspect, the cinematography is very good and successfully captures both the beauty of the cities and the jungle and the brutality, bleakness of the prison, and helps to portray the fight scenes with a sense of dread and sadness, without glorifying violence, which is something movies tend to do nowadays. Also, this version, unlike the 1973 one, is well-edited.

The Ledge (2011)

I must be retarded or something because I wanted to watch The Switch, yep, the romantic comedy starring Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston, but I ended up watching The Ledge, a thriller starring three very bangable actors instead. Or perhaps it's because Patrick Wilson is in both and the short titles confused me. 

Either way, the film is about two men who intersect each other on the ledge of a skyscraper: one man, Gavin (Charlie Hunnam), is about to jump, the other man, Hollis (Terrence Howard), is the detective trying to talk him out of it. At first, it looks like a regular suicide attempt but it quickly relieves to be way more complex than that as Gavin starts telling his story and explains to Hollis why he has no other choice than to jump. 

I don't want to spoil it for you so I won't add anything else about the plot. Although there's really nothing to ruin here as the potentially compelling and thrilling story is poorly executed and filled with pretty needless subplots —Howard's character finding out that he's been sterile his entire life and yet having two kids with his wife; and the drama with Gavin's gay roomate— that aren't nearly as compelling as the main storyline, which isn't the most compelling of stories either. 

The problem is that Matthew Chapman —director and writer— made a movie about faith and morals, provided a Christianity vs Atheism argument without really exploring it, only presenting pretty common arguments. I'm an atheist like Chapman but I would fairly represent both sides. There's no point in making a philosophical film like this one and then categorize all religious people as homophobic, small-minded bigots —whether it's Christianity or Judaism, all the religions get an unfair treatment here. Instead of saying that people can do good or bad things regardless of their philosophical orientation —something I firmly believe in—, it says that Atheists do good things, religious people do bad things. This film delivers one of the most biased messages ever.

IFC Films, OMC

The characters are another problem. They have very little development and they backstories are pretty contrived and unconvincing —they are too extreme to fit with the rest of the script and this takes away from the film's realism. The villain, however, Joe the Christian is quite a compelling and sympathetic one and the credits go to Patrick Wilson for his solid performance. As for the other leads, Charlie Hunnam is not believable in the role of the sweet and emotional guy; Terrence Howard gives a somewhat empty performance, if that makes any sense; Liv Tyler isn't that great either —you get to see her boobs though if you're interested— and her chemistry with Hunnam is nearly non-existent as they send this awkward and uncomfortable vibe when they are together.

Summing it all up, The Ledge is a boring, non-tense thriller that isn't really worth watching unless you love, like insanely love one of the actors, or are one of those Atheists people, myself included, hates.