It's a very rare occasion that a film manages to insult me. Not insult me in terms of subject matter or content, but insult me in terms of drawing me into a story, leading me on for over an hour and then giving me absolutely nothing but a twisted conclusion which goes absolutely nowhere and essentially proves to me that the hour and a half I invested was a complete waste of time. It's as close to being violated as I've ever come, and it's not a pleasant feeling.
Triangle is a film I stumbled upon when it was first released on DVD, Melissa George in creepy thriller/horror I thought would be worth checking out. I promptly added it do my Netflix queue but never got around to watching it. Then a few months back while perusing some blogs I follow this film came up on someone's Top 10 of 2009 so I figured I'd finally check it out see if it was worth such praise. Mind you this list was on a blog which more or less specializes in reviews of bad or rare films, so that probably should have been a blatant warning sign, but I trekked on.
On the surface (and really as a whole) Triangle isn't much of a crowning achievement in anything. The film starts out with a group of people going sailing, one of those passengers being Jess (Melissa George) who seems entirely out of it, but as we soon learn she's a single mother with an autistic son and this is simply a much needed break from reality. Eventually they all get stuck in an electrical storm, the boat capsizes, one person is lost at sea and when it's all over they find themselves stranded in the middle of the ocean sitting on-top of the capsized boat. Miraculously a cruise ship comes sailing by and the group believe themselves to be saved, but oddly enough there's no one on the ship.
Up to this point we're already about 30 minutes into film and nothing remotely exciting or thrilling regarding whatever the plot is supposed to be has occurred, but I'm holding on for the inevitable killer that's surely lurking in the shadows of the deserted cruise ship. Of course common sense never enters these people's minds that it's not normal to have an empty cruise ship floating around and nobody on it, frankly I would have taken a life boat and taken my chances on the ocean, but what's a ridiculous horror film if you start rationally thinking? Now 45 minutes in and finally there's a killer, and this is when the film starts getting bizarre, not bizarre in a good way but in an extremely annoying way as Jess discovers who the killer is and finds herself stuck in a continuous loop.
Jess is the only passenger to survive, and after everyone else is killed it all begins again with the shipwrecked crew climbing on the cruise ship along with enough another copy of herself, and the Groundhog Day / Back To The Future II effect continues on for 30 minutes until all forms of excessive scene re-looping is exhausted. Of course Jess never thinks to confront herself to help her figure out what's going on or to prevent the murders, no that would be too rational, she avoids herself and confronts the other passengers which only makes her appear more crazy to them. In an attempt to not spoil the very thin plot of the film for those of you crazy enough to want to watch it, the basic explanation of the what's going on is actually referenced briefly once they board the cruise ship and discover that it's named Aeolus. Aeolus was referred to as the Greek god of the wind and the father of Sisyphus (and the secret meaning behind the film).
While there may be a meaning to this film's madness, I found myself not caring by the end. The main aspects of the film are nothing new, empty cruise ship, time lapsing, none of it is original. Aside from no originality the film takes way to long to get moving, it's 45 minutes into the film before anything related to the plot begins to happen, then it's 30 minutes of the same scenes rehashed over and over again from different perspectives. And while the ending brings a little explanation to the madness there's never closure, there's never satisfaction, and I only felt insulted that I sat through 90 minutes of what became self inflicted torture just to discover if there wasn't any real point to this film. In the end, Triangle is one of those films I have absolutely no respect for because it leads you on to believe there's something actually worth while behind it all, when it's simply the portrayal of someone's personal Hell, kind of like what this film was for me.
3/10
As you know, I felt very similarly to you on this one. The conclusion isn't satisfying in the slightest and whilst I'm open to a film that doesn't explain everything, I'm not open to one that does explain everything... by presenting you with nothing. A few tense scenes and one nicely gruesome way of showing the time loop but it's 'all filler no killer' I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteWow i can really see your point witch is strange as i really enjoyed it. I can see how someone could get that from this but i found it to be a really interesting film. it was recommended to me by a good friend of mine who i really trust when it comes to film and we both agree simply that the film was "tight" its such a complete little package and did keep throwing up surprises that i didn't expect.
ReplyDelete@Film Intel - yep
ReplyDelete@Reed - I like confusing mind benders as much as the next guy, I love Stay and The Jacket which both put this film to shame in terms of twists and hidden meanings. I simply didn't find it that surprising, and the big twist at the end annoyed me more than anything. But obviously there's a niche of viewers who enjoy this film, although I don't understand why.