Triple Frontier has just dropped on Netflix and this action-packed thriller is getting pretty good reviews across the board. The 120 minute movie has a lot to unpack from it so I thought I’d put together a breakdown of the film to discuss everything that you need to know it.
This is full spoilers ahead, so if you don’t want to know anything about the movie or it’s ending then I highly suggest that you turn off now.
With that out the way, I’m Deffinition and welcome to the channel where I explain it so you don’t have to!
Triple Frontier Plot Synopsis
After Santiago ‘Pope’ Garcia, played by Oscar Isaac, discovers the whereabouts of a high profile drug lord, named Gabriel Martin Lorea, he reunites with four of his former close Special Forces operatives to plan a heist. It’s pretty clear that the majority of the characters are sick of fighting for their country and this mission, which they plan to be their last, is solely for personal gain.
The group are made up of Tom ‘Redfly’ Davis, played by Ben Affleck, who is struggling to pay the bills as a real estate agent. William ‘Ironhead’ Miller, played by Charlie Hunnam, who make ends meet as a motivational speaker for the army, his Brother Ben, who is a UFC fighter and his trainer Francisco ‘Catfish’ Morales, played by Pedro Pascal.
Whilst predominantly they are retired, the group are struggling to adjust to civilian life and though they initially protest Garcia attempting to recruit them, for one reason or another they are dragged back into the fray. It’s basically like when you tell your mates you don’t want a night out but they keep asking and asking and before you know it you’re lying in the middle of the street, covered in Jagermeister with a woman named Malcolm.
A Drug Raid
Anyway they arrive at the South American house and discover that these guys aren’t your friendly drug dealers like your ex-house mate John but they’re the bad ones that hold executions in their garden and murder anyone who would attempt to rob them. Garcia’s girlfriend, called Yovanna, who’s brother is in jail after a drug bust enters the house and supplies Garcia with information in exchange for her sibling’s release and Garcia reveals to the team that maybe cluing the government in like he originally said, isn’t the best idea. They, say F it and decide to do it anyway, aware that if successful, it means that they won’t be able to return to their normal lives.
With the help of Yovanna, Garcia is able to sneak into the compound and in some stealth scenes that are reminiscent of Splint Cell, they take the house and discover that the money is hidden in the walls. It’s wall to wall cash literally cos…cos of the cash in the wal…nevermind.
Anyway, the group get greedy and try to take more cash than they can cos DC are no longer paying Ben Affleck to be Batman and Lorea ambushes them from his safe room, shooting William in the process. Lorea is killed and the guards return to the house which forces the group to do a pretty merciless, leave no witnesses clean up.
They make it to the LZ, that stands for landing zone in case you haven’t played 700 hours of Call Of Duty, and they start extracting the cash. They drop off Yovanna and her family off with a load of money which is when she drops the bombshell that they stole more than Lorea’s money and that more people will be coming after them.
Black Hawk Down
Over the Andes the helicopter starts struggling so they have to dump $50 million dollars but it’s not enough and a gearbox blows on the helicopter which forces them to make a hard landing in a farmers field minus the money.
Turns out the farmer’s field is actually a drug plantation after Redfly gets a bit trigger happy, the group have to bribe their way out of the situation. They traverse the jungle and mountains, making it rain along the way. The group actually end up burning a lot of the money to keep warm and similar to Pablo Escobar it becomes pretty clear that it was never really about the money for these guys. The entire adventure for them has been about returning to the life that they felt they had to leave behind. Redfly in the film states that he only feels good when he’s got a gun in his hand and this scene of him tipping a suitcase full of cash on the fire showcases that all he cared about was being back on a mission, the one thing that made him feel any semblance of normality.
The Death Of Redfly
Things heat up pretty quickly for the group though when they are shot at by snipers and Redfly is killed by a boy from the farm who had been tracking them until he could get a clean shot. They learn that the village has people tracking them and decide that the only way to survive is to head through them. Chucking away the money into a gorge, they carry Redfly’s body the rest of the journey and manage to commandeer a jeep which leads to a drag race to the beach. Gracia has a change of heart though and decides that he’s done enough killing so tries his best to disable the ones chasing them.
The group manages to make it to the beach and boat and escape. When coming to split the money though they realise that morally it would be wrong to take it when Redfly didn’t make it home so they decide to forfeit their shares and donate the remaining $5 million dollars to his family. They go their seperate ways and Garcia promises to go and see Yovanna in Australia. He parts ways with William, reminding him to make sure that Redfly’s family don’t forget who he is.
Triple Frontier Ending Explained
William passes him a crumpled up piece of paper and says ‘maybe you can go and do something good with it one day.’ Garcia opens it up to find that there are co-ordinates written on it. Now, those who are confused as to what this means, this is because during the scene when the group throw the money away, William marked it on the map. As the area will be covered in snow soon, it becomes unlikely that it will ever be discovered by those who don’t have the exact co-ordinates.
It’s a smart move and lets us know that the trip wasn’t for nothing.
My Review
Netflix original movies are often pretty mediocre and normally the films only appear on the platform because the studio behind them didn’t have the confidence to distribute them theatrically. However, I thought that Triple Frontier was fantastic. The movie could have fallen victim to a number of cliches but, every time I thought that one would rear it’s head, the film diverted and threw another hurdle in front of the group.
This is really gripping cinema that is reminiscent of films like Sicario 2 and much more and it still feels unique and original. Overall I had a fantastic time with the film and right now it stands as one of the best original movies on the platform.
Everyone performed fantastically and hopefully one day we get a quadruple frontier….even if that title is terrible.
Your Thoughts
So, what were your thoughts on Triple Frontier and did you figure out what the co-ordinates meant? Comment below and let me know and if you enjoyed this video then please like it and make sure you check out my breakdown of this week’s other big release, Captain Marvel, which will be linked at the end.
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