3/5 stars

This grim and mean story has a clever script which makes it difficult to predict what’s coming next – and that’s as good as it gets for a crime film. Neatly edited action sequences and the dark and gritty cinematography add up to a superior caper that’s one part police tactical, one part bad cop drama, and one part gangster thriller. A gripping 90 minutes, the film does peak early, with the last quarter spent simply cleaning up the story.

Triple 9 revolves around a heist that a group of cops in Atlanta, Georgia, are blackmailed into carrying out for the Russian mafia. To make a diversion, they decide to fake a 999, the code for a police procedure we won’t reveal here, as it’s a spoiler. Things, of course, go horribly wrong – or more accurately, exactly right in completely the wrong way.