Triple Frontier (film)

Santiago "Pope" Garcia works as a private military adviser in Colombia combating drug crime. While there, an informant named Yovanna asks for his help with smuggling her and her brother out of the country in exchange the whereabouts of a drug lord, Lorea. Yovanna tells Pope that Lorea lives in a remote house in the jungle with $75 million in cash. Pope travels to the States to recruit his former Delta Force friends to seize the money under the pretense of working for the Colombian government: Tom "Redfly" Davis, a realtor; William "Ironhead" Miller, a motivational speaker; his brother Ben “Benny” Miller, an MMA fighter; and Francisco "Catfish" Morales, a former pilot. Pope manages to convince the group to steal the money for themselves.

The group plans to move on the house while Lorea's family attends church to minimize casualties. They subdue the guards but cannot find Lorea or the money. Pope realizes that the money is in the walls, and the crew finds far more than expected. They rush to pack as much as possible before Lorea's family returns with more guards. Redfly fixates on the money, demanding the team continue loading past the hard stop time he set, until they convince him that they must leave. With the money loaded in the truck, they do a final sweep for Lorea. He ambushes them and wounds Ironhead, before Pope kills him. The crew tends to Ironhead's wound, as the family returns with the rest of the guards. The crew eliminates the guards, burns down the house, and drives away with $250 million in cash while leaving the family alive.

They rendezvous with Yovanna and her brother at an airfield where Ironhead's contact provides them with a Mil Mi-8 helicopter to reach the getaway boat off the coast of Peru. Catfish does not think the helicopter can hold their weight with all the money and reach the altitude necessary to cross the Andes Mountains. Unwilling to leave behind any money, Redfly urges Catfish to proceed. The group departs, with the money in a net bag attached to the helicopter. They drop Yovanna and her brother off over the border where Redfly aggressively questions her knowledge of them, knowing she could link them to the robbery. Yovanna adamantly denies knowing any of the crews personal information. Before leaving, Pope gives Yovanna and her brother $3 million and visas to Australia. He urges them to leave South America immediately. As the crew departs, an unsatisfied Redfly claims that Yovanna was lying but Pope talks him down. Fixated on the money, Redfly becomes increasingly unstable.

The crew begins flying up the mountains but at the helicopter's maximum ceiling, the money's weight overwhelms a gearbox, and they begin rapidly descending. Catfish urges the team to release the net bag of money to allow for a safe crash landing, which the group survives. Redfly and Pope attempt to retrieve the money, which landed in a cocaine farm, by negotiating with the farmers of the village. Their attempts to peacefully recover the money fails when the farmers mistake the group for DEA agents. When one of the farmers approaches with a machete, Redfly draws his pistol and kills him and several others. The remaining villagers scatter. Pope compensates a village elder while Catfish, Ironhead, and Benny prepare mules to transport the money through the mountains.

As they move toward the coast, two of the villagers ambush the crew. Redfly kills one before the second kills him; Pope subsequently kills the second villager. The crew then proceeds towards the ocean with the money and Redfly's body. Benny scouts ahead and reports the getaway boat is still there, but the town is filled with armed teens waiting for them. Knowing they cannot sneak through with all the money, they toss what they can’t carry into a ravine, and carry what fits in their backpacks. They attempt to quietly move through the town carrying Redfly's body, but are discovered. After a car chase, the team makes it to the boat with $5 million and Redfly's body.

Later, as the team sets up an account in St. John’s, a lawyer provides paperwork disseminating the funds evenly between the four men and Redfly's family trust. Guilt-ridden, the men each agree to give their shares to Redfly's family. The team separates, and Pope plans to head to Australia to find Yovanna. Before leaving, Ironhead gives Pope a set of coordinates on a piece of paper: the location of the ravine in Peru.

• Ben Affleck as Tom "Redfly" Davis
• Oscar Isaac as Santiago "Pope" Garcia
• Charlie Hunnam as William "Ironhead" Miller
• Garrett Hedlund as Ben "Benny" Miller
• Pedro Pascal as Francisco "Catfish" Morales
• Adria Arjona as Yovanna

In October 2010, Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp entered talks to join the cast of the film, to be directed by Kathryn Bigelow from a screenplay by Boal with shooting set to commence in early 2011.[3][4] In November 2010, Hanks officially was cast.[5] Production lagged, and, in June 2015, it was announced that Chandor was in talks to direct the film for Paramount Pictures, while Bigelow left because she wanted to focus on her film about Bowe Bergdahl[6] (ultimately dropped in favor of Detroit). Both Hanks and Will Smith were in talks for the lead roles.[6] The film, alternately titled Sleeping Dogs, would be produced by Roven and Alex Gartner through Atlas Entertainment.[6][7] In September 2015, Chandor officially signed on to direct the film.[8] On January 20, 2016, it was reported that Depp was again in early talks to star in it, while Hanks' attachment was yet to be confirmed, and Smith had left due to scheduling conflicts filming Collateral Beauty.[7]

In January 2017, it was reported that Channing Tatum and Tom Hardy were in talks to join the film, with Depp and Hanks no longer up for roles.[9] In February 2017, Mahershala Ali joined the cast, with Tatum and Hardy also officially signed on.[10] On April 12, 2017, a month before shooting was set to commence, it was reported that Triple Frontier had been dropped by Paramount, and Tatum and Hardy no longer would be a part of the cast, while Ali and Arjona were still attached to star.[11]

On May 1, 2017, it was reported that Netflix was in negotiations to acquire the rights to the film with Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck in negotiations for the roles Hardy and Tatum vacated, with Ali and Arjona remaining on the project.[12] Ben Affleck exited the film in early July 2017, for personal reasons.[13] On July 26, 2017, it was reported that Mark Wahlberg was in talks to join the film in the role Affleck vacated, along with Hunnam, Hedlund, and Pascal, with Arjona still attached to the project.[14] Principal production was set to commence in August 2017, in Hawaii and Colombia.[14][15]

On March 19, 2018, it was announced that Triple Frontier would commence principal production on March 26, 2018, in Oahu, Hawaii. Ben Affleck had signed back on to star, cast with Isaac, Hunnam, Hedlund, Pascal, and Arjona. Ali had been forced to drop out of the project when production was delayed.[16]

The film's name, Triple Frontier, refers to the Tres Fronteras area of South America,[17] which is known for its high levels of trafficking in drugs and contraband.[18]

Disasterpeace composed the film score. The soundtrack was released by Milan Records.

The soundtrack is composed of Disasterpeace. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich plays on some tracks. The album is available in Download.[19]

The film's world premiere was held in New York City on March 3, 2019.[20] It was released in select theaters on March 6, before its worldwide Netflix release a week later on March 13.[21] On April 16, 2019, Netflix announced that the film had been viewed by over 52 million viewers on its service within its first month of release.[22][23] On July 5, 2019, Netflix announced that the film had been viewed by over 63 million viewers since its release on the service.[24] In July 2020, it was revealed that the film had been watched by over 63 million viewers since its release on Netflix.[25]

On the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 70% based on 132 reviews, with an average rating of 6.32/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "An outstanding cast and ambitious story help Triple Frontier overcome an uneven narrative—and elevate the end result above a crowded field of grim and gritty heist thrillers."[26] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[27]

Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, and writing: "From the direction to the script to the production elements to the performances, Triple Frontier is a first-class ride.[28] Entertainment Weekly's Chris Nashawaty gave the film a "B" and wrote that "suffice it to say that Chandor, Boal, and their gruff band of he-men never let things slacken. There may be no honor among thieves, but Triple Frontier certainly makes watching them pretty entertaining."[29]

• Triple Frontier at IMDb