Summary
The overlooked 2019 war action movieTriple Frontierhad a star-studded cast that deserves more recognition. Directed by J.C. Chandor, whose other works includeA Most Violent Year(2017),All Is Lost(2013), andMargin Call(2011),Triple Frontieris surprisingly just the fourth feature film directed by Chandor, who was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar forMargin Call.Triple Frontieris based on a screenplay by Chandor andMark Boal, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter and producerofKathryn Bigelow’sThe Hurt LockerandZero Dark Thirty.Triple Frontieris available to stream exclusively on Netflix.
With so much critical acclaim to back upTriple Frontier, it’s somewhat shocking that the film has not garnered the attention of Chandor and Boal’s previous works. The film received mostly positive reviews, earning a critic score of 70% on Rotten Tomatoes but interestingly only receiving an audience score of 58%. Fortunately for fans of the star-studded original, asequel toTriple Frontieris in developmentand is expected to be released sometime in the near future.Triple Frontier 2is set to be producedby Charlie Hunnam but is not officially guaranteed to be in production.
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Triple Frontier Has A Great Cast Including Ben Affleck, Pedro Pascal, Oscar Isaac & More
It also features performances by Charlie Hunnam & Garret Hedlund
Looking back,Triple Frontierhas an incredible cast that likely will never be replicated again. The action film features leading performances fromBen Affleck, Oscar Issac, Pedro Pascal, Charlie Hunnam, and Garret Hedlund, all of whom are certified movie stars in their own right and have collectively had dozens of leading roles in major franchise films and acclaimed television series. What’s more, they are joined by outstanding female leads such as Sheila Vand, who starred inA Girl Walks Home Alone at Night(2014), and Adria Arjona, who recently starred in Richard Linklater’s celebratedHit Manalongside Glen Powell.
Triple Frontieronly received a brief one-week run in theaters on June 24, 2025, before it was released straight to Netflix on March 13 of the same year. Because of this release strategy, the box office results ofTriple Frontierare in no way indicative of its success or quality. Netflix reported thatTriple Frontierwas one of its most popular new releases and original films of that year,earning 63 million views in its first month alone. It’s no surprise that a massive ensemble cast, backed up by a screenplay from a previous Oscar winner, would generate mass appeal on the streaming platform.
Triple Frontier’s Original Cast Was Even Crazier
Triple Frontier has a star-studded cast, but a number of big names, such as Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp, were attached before the cast was finalized.
What Triple Frontier Is About
A group of Special Forces plan a heist & go rogue
Triple Frontierfollows a group of former U.S. Army Delta Force operators comprised of Affleck, Pascal, Issac, Hunnam, and Hedlund, who team up once again to orchestrate the heist of a South American crime lord named Gabriel Martin Lorea. It’s a very interesting story in that theseformer Special Forces operatives “break bad” in a wayand organize separately outside of the U.S. military’s interest and command. The team collectively goes rogue in the name of self-interest and, as one might expect from other classic heist movies, not everything goes exactly as planned.
Critics were mostly fond ofTriple Frontier, praisingthe film’s innovative combination of military and heist action subgenres. Clarisse Loughrey ofThe Independentwrites in her 3-star review of the film, “Triple Frontier makes a decent stab at looking beyond the usual ambitions of the genre. There’s thought behind all this gun-toting.” Brian Truitt ofUSA Todaywrites, “If you dig shoot-‘em-up sequences, “Triple Frontier” has plenty and they’re often the default. Yet what it does well - though not enough - is introduce the complicated motivations of characters and what’s led them to this somewhat impossible mission.”
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Why Triple Frontier Is An Underrated Netflix Action Movie
Triple Frontier looks way better in hindsight
AlthoughTriple Frontierreceived mostly critical acclaim, some critics were less supportive of the film’s ambitions and execution. Peter Travers ofRolling Stonewrites in his negative review ofTriple Frontier, “This Netflix action blowout gets a pass on mindless escapism, but its attempt to sell itself as something deeper is beyond redemption.” However, given some of the action misfires that Netflix has had in recent years, such as Kevin Hart’s abysmalLift(2024),Triple Frontierlooks way better in hindsight. A 70% Rotten Tomatoes score isn’t bad at all, but with an incredible cast and the combined efforts of Chandor and Boal,Triple Frontierdeserves more credit.
Pedro Pascal Interview: Triple Frontier
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Triple Frontier
Cast
Triple Frontier is an action movie that sees five former Special Forces operatives reunite to plan a heist in a sparsely populated multi-border zone of South America. For the first time in their prestigious careers, these unsung heroes undertake this dangerous mission for themselves instead of the country. But when events take an unexpected turn and threaten to spiral out of control, their skills, loyalties, and morals are pushed to a breaking point in an epic battle for survival.
