This little slice of nastiness from John Hillcoat (The Proposition, The Road), a director who knows his way around balancing bleak and heart, looks to be pushing the police action boundaries of Sicario and Training Day as far as it can go. In fact, this film was originally set to open against Villeneuve's prestigious hitman drama, but was recently pushed back to February 19, 2016.
Triple 9 -- police code for officer down -- has elements of the militarization of police, the war of attrition with crime and violence (severed heads abound), and everyone thrown into the blender. Props to whoever came up with the kids 'this little piggie' to score this trailer, because it is damn effective with the imagery on display.
When a group of corrupt cops find themselves in serious trouble from the Russian mafia, the only way to deal with the debt is to perform what is believed to be an extremely challenging heist. The plan involves the murder of a rookie cop and when the rest of the force is distracted by the 999 call, the other half of the corrupt cops will pull off the job.
The cast is beyond stacked: Woody Harrelson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Norman Reedus, Casey Affleck, Aaron Paul, Anthony Mackey, Gal Gadot, Clifton Collins Jr., and somewhere in there is Kate Winslet. All stuck in John Hillcoat's murky grime. I cannot wait to wade into this 'city on fire' in February 2016.