It’s been well over three years since we saw the last film to be directed byJohn Hillcoat, the immensely talented Australian filmmaker behind the bracingly brutal neo-westernThe Proposition, as well as the not-half-bad adaptation ofCorman McCarthy’s belovedThe Road. When last we left Hillcoat, he directed theTom Hardy-fronted prohibition dramaLawless, which also starredJason Clarke,Jessica Chastain, andShia LaBeouf, from a screenplay by the great singer/songwriterNick Cave.
Lawlesswas a lot more pretty and docile than one would have hoped, especially considering the volatile subject material, but this does not seem to be the case with Hillcoat’s upcoming American feature,Triple 9, about the aftermath of a major bank robbery that leads to a street war between cops and robbers. And more than any other film by Hillcoat,Triple 9boasts an astounding cast, led byKate Winslet,Chiwetel Ejiofor,Anthony Mackie,Casey Affleck, andWoody Harrelson, alongside major character actors likeGal Gadot,Aaron Paul,Norman Reedus,Clifton Collins Jr., andTeresa Palmer. And now we have the UK trailer for the film, which will be released early next year, which gives out a bit more of what the plot turns ofTriple 9will be. Check out the new trailer below:
On one hand, it’s interesting to see how Hillcoat, working from a script byMatt Cook, will separate and layer the bracing drama of the story, between Mackie’s corrupt cop and Affleck’s unlucky, unlikely hero, and between Ejofor’s career criminal and crime queen Kate Winslet. On the other hand, the full-on onslaught of the first trailer was able to get audiences excited about the action-thriller without giving too much away, allowing Hillcoat’s horrifying, exhilerating imagery and his tremendous cast speak for themselves without letting the inner workings of the plot out. Regardless, its good to see the man back in a more brutal terrain inTriple 9, which will see release nationwide on February 19th, 2016.
