Triple Threat (2017) Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White, Tiger Chen, Iko Uwais, Scott Adkins, Jeeja Yanin

[DragonClaws]

14 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

Damn this reviewing business is sometimes cutthroat!  The agency handling 'Triple Threat' gave frequent reminders that the review embargo was lifted at 9:00am EST on 15th March, usually with a lot of emphasis on the 9:00am EST!  Well, it looks like maactioncinema aren't the only ones to jump the gun, so in this case, we'll jump on the bandwagon.  Coming a whole 7 hours earlier than it's supposed to, my review is up over at cityonfire  -

http://cityonfire.com/triple-threat-2018-review/

 

Superb review, you've sold me the ticket @One Armed Boxer, hope we get a Blu-Ray & DVD release here in the U.K.

[MobFu1972]

I am going tonight @ AMC!!!! Can't wait to see it on the big screen!!!!

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

[laagi]

For those of you who can't watch it on the big screen (like myself) iTunes release is set for 22nd of March @ $9.99!

Edited March 18, 2019 by laagi

[Drunken Monk]

A pretty scathing review by The Playlist - https://theplaylist.net/triple-threat-review-20190318/

I'm surprised to read that they think the film has too few fights and that the fights there are aren't all that good. 

 

[kami]

I'm also not THAT excited by the fights. They are good and they are plenty but they lack impact, perhaps even because there's so much action. Accident Men has less action but every fight leaves quite an impression. It also helps that Accident Man is a much smarter film screenplay-wise. Triple Threat is almost as dumb as most Cannon productions even though there are some funny lines. Triple Threat is still quite a rollercoaster ride of an b-actioner, the gunplay is particularly well done, something that was a bit of a problem in earlier Jesse V. Johnson movies. The thing that bothered me most was how underused Jeeja Yanin again was. One underwhelming fight, that was all.

[Drunken Monk]

I’ve just gotten back from Triple Threat and...

This is a 5 out of 10 film that simply cannot be saved by a smattering of okay-to-good fights. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am.

Firstly, there are NOT many fights. There are a few scattered throughout the film but, for the most part, they are short. The major martial arts action is saved until the end where we get a good fifteen minutes of everyone throwing punches and kicks.

The story is fine. I mean, it’s ropey but it genuinely feels like an 80’s action movie so it’s all very forgivable. The actors, considering they’re not speaking in their native tongues, do a very good job. Yes, there are some terrible lines and yes, there is some odd delivery. But again...forgivable.

But for a film this hyped and this full of martial arts stars, it really fails to deliver. Michael Bisping is an awful on-screen fighter. There’s no better way of saying it. His fights just aren’t all that good. However, Tony Jaa, Scott Adkins and Tiger Chen shine when they’re given a chance to. But Tim Man’s choreography here is VERY uneven. There are beautiful flourishes here and there but, a lot of the time, it feels like two people just trading kicks. It gets better towards the end and Man does cater to each fighter’s distinct style but, in my eyes, the fights in Accident Man and Ninja 2 are superior.

I feel bad. There ARE excellent moments. Jaa and Adkins facing off really works and looks great but there are as many boring fight moments as exciting ones.

Oh and the many gun fights did nothing for me whatsoever.

To see so many reviews giving this such high praise is shocking. It is distinctly average. There are a good amount of rewatchable moments but they just don’t have the strength to carry the entire film on their back. Sure, I’ll buy the Blu Ray. But I’ll be waiting until it goes on sale.

[kami]

No, it's not average, especially not in this day and age. Where else do you have a b-actioner with this amount of well-made action, with such a line-up of great martial arts actors, with such production values that never look cheap? And did the trailer promise a pure fight fest? No, it made it abundantly clear that there's at least as much gunplay as there are fights. People should expect an all out action film and exactly that is Triple Threat.

BTW, I liked Michael Bisping's fighting well enough but I wasn't impressed by Tiger Chen who moved rather soft and slow, especially compared to Tony Jaa and Iko Uwais.

Edited March 20, 2019 by kami

[Drunken Monk]

4 hours ago, kami said:

No, it's not average, especially not in this day and age. Where else do you have a b-actioner with this amount of well-made action, with such a line-up of great martial arts actors, with such production values that never look cheap? And did the trailer promise a pure fight fest?

Therein lies my issue. The action ISN’T well-made. It has its moments but I didn’t find it all that exhilarating or original. In fact, at times I found it boring.

And no, the trailer didn’t promise a fight fest. But the film should have been a fight fest. That’s one of my main gripes; that the talent was wasted.

Besides, I don’t watch a b-movie and say “It’s good...for a b-movie.” Either a film is entertaining or it isn’t. I don’t segment my viewing experience to cater to the production values. In this case, the film isn’t very entertaining...to me. Granted, it’s all subjective. But, at the end of the day, I simply didn’t find it all that fun. Hence, average.

[DragonClaws]

6 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

Besides, I don’t watch a b-movie and say “It’s good...for a b-movie.” Either a film is entertaining or it isn’t.

 

I used to have the same views, but its hard to be cirtical of a movie thats been shot in just under three weeks. The same way you would a movie thats had months of pre/post production, let alone more money and time to play with.

[Drunken Monk]

24 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

 

I used to have the same views, but its hard to be cirtical of a movie thats been shot in just under three weeks. The same way you would a movie thats had months of pre/post production, let alone more money and time to play with.

Like I said, it's subjective. Me? I don't judge a film on time or money given. If it's an entertaining film, it's an entertaining film. I don't cut a film slack because it had two weeks less than another film to shoot. As long as it entertains, I'm happy. A movie like...I don't know...Tremors, for example. I'm sure its budget was very modest but, good god, I love that film. Why? Because it's great. My love of the film doesn't factor in "Wow, it was shot on a minuscule budget so its even better!" I judge things on how they make me feel, not on how the weather was on the third week of production.

Some people don't. And that's cool. If you want to cut a film some slack for whatever reason, that's fine with me. If it increases your enjoyment then more power to you. If we all judged films the same way, we'd be a bunch of boring fuckers.

Some people with love Triple Threat and I'm genuinely happy for those people. Really, I am. As much as I thought the film was mediocre, I do want people to like it. I want people to enjoy the martial arts film genre in general.
 

Edited March 20, 2019 by Drunken Monk

[mark187]

Anybody know what services it’ll be on other than iTunes?

[mark187]

Ok time to show this film some love. I loved it! Top 4 Tony Jaa movies alongside Ong Bak, Tom-Yum-Goong and SPL 2: A Time for Consequences!! Pacing was on fire, choreography was good to great and stuff was definitely filmed and edited quite well. Tiger Chen is definitely growing on me and Iko gets some good moments too. If you’re a fan of these guys it’s a must have. Props to Jesse V. Johnson for this one!

[thekfc]

On 3/21/2019 at 3:10 AM, mark187 said:

Anybody know what services it’ll be on other than iTunes?

It's already on Google Play, Microsoft Movies & TV and VUDU.

 

[andy338]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Triple-Threat-DVD/dp/B07PW9B3Q1/ref=sr_1_16?qid=1553258279&refinements=p_n_theme_browse-bin%3A5808040031&rnid=5808039031&s=dvd&sr=1-16

17 Jun. 2019 - UK dvd release.

[DragonClaws]

8 hours ago, andy338 said:

17 Jun. 2019 - UK dvd release.

 

Thats dates going in the diary, reserved for a Triple Threat purchase and screening.

 

Thanks for posting the U.K release date @andy338, happy to hear its getting a physical release here. Is it just a DVD release, or will it be getting the HD treatment on Blu-Ray?.

 

Edited March 22, 2019 by DragonClaws

[D1 Ma]

Random thoughts

A bit above average action flick. Not the best for anybody in the cast, but a better effort for many.

Iko had the worst fights, (well, Jeeja Yanin got it even worse, but that's not the point). The point is, Iko was totally wasted here

Tiger chan got some OK-ish fights in the beginning, but it was downward after that

Michael J White had a blast, wisecracking through the whole movie. His fights suck, though, as usual. Slow and even sloppy at times. I don't think he had any great onscreen fights in his whole career, except for the magnificent Blood and Bone and some very good moments in Phoenix Rising

Tony Jaa got the top billing - that was a surprise. Probably his best role after his Thai movies, as good as SPL2

Scott Adkins was the only guy who really shined. His fight with Jaa, obviously, was the highlight of the movie. One of the best one-on-one fights in Jaa's movie career, if not the best. Adkins is still fast and agile as ever

Putting rather small Asian fighters against white (and a black) musclemen didn't look like a good idea to me

Right up to the police station sequence the movie was well-paced and the story was good. After that, it all went downhill

It was nice to see Michael wong and hear him speaking English

Gunfights were... Meh... Did absolutely nothing for me. I could understand gathering all the greats of the MA world in a gunfight movie if before mentioned shootouts  were as great as John Woo's ones, but here we were treated to the most primitive point-and-shoot gunfights

The main guy to blame - Tim Man( it hurts me to say this, 'cause I love some of his work and use to praise him a lot). After a superb job on Ninja2 and Boyka4 he did a lackluster job in Accident Man(his fight with Adkins there was just plain boring) and now this. I can't say the choreo totally sucked, some moments were top-notch, but for the most part it was so generic, so un-inventive and totally unimaginative. I said it a gazillion times, - a great MA movie is made by a great fight choreographer. The fighters, for the most part, are not so important. If your choreo sucks, the best onscreen fighters are not gonna save your movie

Overall, a decent above average action movie, which for some totally unnecessary reason features some of the best martial artists working today

[laagi]

@D1 Ma You summed this up nicely! And pretty much all your thoughts cover what I had to say.

Kudos to the entire film team for putting together the cast and releasing the movie; in the age of superheroes galore. I hope to see more!

Edited March 23, 2019 by laagi

[andy338]

12 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

Thats dates going in the diary, reserved for a Triple Threat purchase and screening.

 

Thanks for posting the U.K release date @andy338, happy to hear its getting a physical release here. Is it just a DVD release, or will it be getting the HD treatment on Blu-Ray?.

 

Yeah, i'm pleased it's actually getting a release here at all considering the UK appears to be the last place these films come out but just like the recent Boyka it appears to be only on DVD. I really don't understand why as there's obviously a blu ray available and surely nowadays everybody has a blu ray player!

[mark187]

I can’t wait to get this on Blu-ray and watch it again and hopefully get some Singha beer haha 🍻 

[Daxtreme]

On 3/22/2019 at 11:10 PM, D1 Ma said:

Random thoughts

A bit above average action flick. Not the best for anybody in the cast, but a better effort for many.

Iko had the worst fights, (well, Jeeja Yanin got it even worse, but that's not the point). The point is, Iko was totally wasted here

Tiger chan got some OK-ish fights in the beginning, but it was downward after that

Michael J White had a blast, wisecracking through the whole movie. His fights suck, though, as usual. Slow and even sloppy at times. I don't think he had any great onscreen fights in his whole career, except for the magnificent Blood and Bone and some very good moments in Phoenix Rising

Tony Jaa got the top billing - that was a surprise. Probably his best role after his Thai movies, as good as SPL2

Scott Adkins was the only guy who really shined. His fight with Jaa, obviously, was the highlight of the movie. One of the best one-on-one fights in Jaa's movie career, if not the best. Adkins is still fast and agile as ever

Putting rather small Asian fighters against white (and a black) musclemen didn't look like a good idea to me

Right up to the police station sequence the movie was well-paced and the story was good. After that, it all went downhill

It was nice to see Michael wong and hear him speaking English

Gunfights were... Meh... Did absolutely nothing for me. I could understand gathering all the greats of the MA world in a gunfight movie if before mentioned shootouts  were as great as John Woo's ones, but here we were treated to the most primitive point-and-shoot gunfights

The main guy to blame - Tim Man( it hurts me to say this, 'cause I love some of his work and use to praise him a lot). After a superb job on Ninja2 and Boyka4 he did a lackluster job in Accident Man(his fight with Adkins there was just plain boring) and now this. I can't say the choreo totally sucked, some moments were top-notch, but for the most part it was so generic, so un-inventive and totally unimaginative. I said it a gazillion times, - a great MA movie is made by a great fight choreographer. The fighters, for the most part, are not so important. If your choreo sucks, the best onscreen fighters are not gonna save your movie

Overall, a decent above average action movie, which for some totally unnecessary reason features some of the best martial artists working today

 

The best fight choreographers managed to make dancers look better at fighting on-screen than most fighters during the HK golden age.

That's how important choreography is to a MA movie.

Great post great review, thanks!

[AlbertV]

Rented this from my cable company on Friday and watched it with my folks. If you're looking for a "showreel", look elsewhere. 

I didn't find the fights that bad. They may have been short and sporadic but I felt the stories helped. Tony, Iko, and Tiger were able to show their individual and trademarks in their fights. 

I did like the brief comic relief from Tony when he cooks for Tiger and Celina's character. Lol. 

Adkins and company did their best. Yes I wished Jeeja had done more as well along with Ron, but I thought the final act gave the film's title a "double meaning".

For me,  a solid B+

Edited March 24, 2019 by AlbertV

[DragonClaws]

2 hours ago, Daxtreme said:

The best fight choreographers managed to make dancers look better at fighting on-screen than most fighters during the HK golden age.

 

Good statement.

 

Dont quote me, becuase I cant remember what making of documentary, I heard this from. Sure it was for an American film, where some former dancer, was praised for how they handled the action scenes. Basically the action director said, dancers are very agile, dextrous, and have great timing, there also used to learning long complex sequences of movement.

[KCN9NE]

4 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

 

Good statement.

 

Dont quote me, becuase I cant remember what making of documentary, I heard this from. Sure it was for an American film, where some former dancer, was praised for how they handled the action scenes. Basically the action director said, dancers are very agile, dextrous, and have great timing, there also used to learning long complex sequences of movement.

Dancers also make the best transition to  jujitsu. Some of the best in my classes are former break dancers