Netflix movie Triple Frontier a deep-thinking run-gun-and-stun affair

Netflix movie Triple Frontier is a nifty little set-up for a military-themed thriller, staged as more of an Expendables for the thinking man, rather than a blam-blam-blam action picture.

TRIPLE FRONTIER (MA15+)

Rating: Three and a half stars (3.5 out of 5)

Director: J.C. Chandor (A Most Violent Year)

Starring: Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund.

Crash through, then cash in or burn up

“You’ve been shot five times for your country,” a seasoned global mercenary tells an old US Army buddy he is trying to recruit at the outset of Triple Frontier, “and you can’t even afford a new truck.”

Oscar Isaac and Ben Affleck in Netflix film Triple Frontier. Picture: Netflix

The man doing the talking is Santiago (Oscar Isaac), a veteran troublemaker and problem-solver in any third-world country that can pay his way.

The man doing the listening is Tom (Ben Affleck), a tired, wired vet for whom life has never been the same since he excused himself from Special Forces duties.

Santiago has the deal of a lifetime on the table, an ambush-extraction op deep in the jungle somewhere in South America.

Tens of millions of bucks of drug money must be retrieved at the behest of an unnamed government regime. Should the job be completed as planned, Team Santiago can keep a quarter of any money they find.

This image released by Netflix shows Ben Affleck in a scene from the film, "Triple Frontier." (Netflix via AP)

There’s just one hitch. Santiago doesn’t have a team in place, and time is of the essence. Which is why he is offering a small fortune to ex-soldiers who need the cash just as quick.

This is a nifty little set-up for a military-themed thriller, staged as more of an Expendables for the thinking man, rather than a blam-blam-blam action picture.

Though Triple Frontier takes a while to reach the right heightened levels of tension, confusion and aggression promised by Santiago’s semi-suicide mission, it does indeed get there in the end.

This image released by Netflix shows Garrett Hedlund, from left, Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, Charlie Hunnam, and Pedro Pascal in a scene from the film, "Triple Frontier." (Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix via AP)

It does help, of course, that ‘name’ actors such as Isaac and Affleck (neither of whom are really exerting themselves here) are there to anchor proceedings.

Sterling back-up, when needed, arrives in the most effective form of fellow rookie mercenaries played by the likes of Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), Garret Hedlund (TRON: Legacy) and Pedro Pascal (Narcos).

Overall, a deep-thinking, deep-digging run-gun-and-stun affair, based on a story penned by ace scripter Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker).

Triple Frontier is now showing exclusively on Netflix.