FILM REVIEW- Triangle (2009)

Triangle (2009)

By Simon Reed

Where? In the cinema

Review-

While watching you’ll feel you have seen several parts of this film before, you’ve just got to get your head around it.

And being able to understand this effort from the maker of Severance and Creep is no easy task.

Involving a group of friends going out on a boat expedition, their vessel capsizes in a storm, forcing them to board a large ocean liner that comes out of nowhere.

Seemingly deserted the heroine, Jess (Melissa George), still swears she catches glimpses of people onboard. Or does she?

Turns out that, because of an unexplained time loop the ships crew turns out to be past or even future versions of the group, with Jess the one trying to stop them being caught in the loop.

Aided by some effective, but sparingly used, special effects, Jess finds herself realising that she has done the same actions to try and stop the confusion over and over.

Despite this seemingly repetitive nature there is a good pace of narrative progression, with overlaps in the narrative sparingly used so it doesn’t feel as if the director is cutting corners.

Ever present is a feeling that there will be no easy clean cut ending which does not make this film an easy watch. Hard to love, or even to truly enjoy, instead of affection you feel admiration for the difficulties the director, Christopher Smith, must have faced when stitching the films ideas together, or the unwillingness of the plot to ever resort to crowd-pleasing horror clichés.

Although an idea pleasantly unique the film’s smugness in its continually unravelling plot that is always one step ahead of the viewer is similar to Christopher Nolan’s backwards played film Memento. As with that effort while watching you’ll feel you have seen several parts of this film before, you’ve just got to get your head around it.

Rating- A highly intelligent thriller that is a well put together and demands a second viewing, although is hardly anyone's idea of a good time. (3/5)

*Note- This review was published in the Christmas edition of my University's magazine, 'Nerve.' They took out the last sentence though, so the whole deliberate repeating sentence joke didn't get in. Which was a bit disappointing...*