A star studded cast was unfortunately not enough to make this movie what it hoped it would be. Some parts kept up interest, but in large part the film felt confused while it jumped around from person to person. What had potential to be a very good tense action movie, left viewers feeling quite the opposite.
The movie was about how a group of crooked cops were blackmailed by the Russian mafia to pull off an impossible heist. To do this they must execute a 999, or a Triple 9 which is cop lingo for “Officer Down”.
First off, let's talk about the cast. Norman Reedus, Casey Affleck (pictured above), Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kate Winslet. They all did the best they could for this movie (with an exception for Harrelson who seemed unfit for the role). Reeds tried his best with the very little that is revealed about him, Affleck gave a very convincing role as a straight arrow cop, Mackie and Paul were very good at playing the role of "not knowing which side they should be with". However, Winslet playing a Russian mob boss often felt out of place. Her Russian accent was more comical than serious.
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to the real issue: the movie itself. It starts you off in the middle of some action. While this did grab attention, the movie never had a backstory to it. It just went right along.
The movie used the stereotype of the Russian mob (How many movies can there be with Russians as the bad guys before it gets old?) as antagonists in this movie, but at the same time there was a Jewish mafia (however the movie didn’t really explain if they were completely separate).
What I’m trying to get at is that the movie utilized way too many clichés. From crooked cops robbing banks to the Russian mafia. I often thought the biggest problem was the movie got in the way of itself. It felt like there was really no director and the script made little to no sense at all.
To sum it up, if you are looking for a really good action movie to watch, you should skip this one.