"Triangle" Review: The Twist You Miss

Platform: Hoopla, Tubi

Release Date: August 27, 2009

This is a movie that has been sitting on my watchlist for quite a time and, like many, it became one of those “if I ever get to it” movies. Well, I finally got to it. I was initially intrigued by the film due to the combination of its mind-bending premise and its implicit affiliation to the Bermuda Triangle, which I would learn is never actually mentioned in the plot. It was interesting to fnd that this is differentiated as being a British or British-Australian film since, other than the cast, there is nothing inherently foreign feeling about this 2009 thriller. Instead, it focuses its efforts on separating itself through its concept, building a twisty thriller that proves how little we know at every turn.

As Jess (Melissa George) prepares her autistic son Tommy for a boat trip with her friend Greg (Michael Dorman), as empty doorbell ring is the first of many strange occurences. When she arrives at the Florida harbor, but without Tommy, her answer that she left him at his specialized school for the day seems to stump Greg's boat mate Victor (Liam Hemsworth). With no one else questioning the circumstance, the trio along with Sally (Rachael Carpani), Downey (Henry Dixon), and Heather (Emma Lung) head out to find themselves victim of a seemingly instantaneous storm that capsizes the boat. With the storm claiming one victim, the rest board a passing ocean liner that they find to be deserted, well, except for a deranged individual with a shotgun determined to take them out. As strange events ensue and survival becomes the priority, Jess makes a discovery that shakes the foundations of reality. She learns from a very familiar source that she will have to kill everyone on the ship in order to escape and get back to her son.

Anything else would spoil important plot points and this is one of those films where your best experience is being as blind as possible. I implore you to stop reading and watch the film first before you continue reading as the rest of this review will have spoilers abound.

This is the kind of movie where you build your predictions and think you figure out where the story is heading until it smacks you in the face with the reality of the bigger picture that you were missing the whole time. In this case, the “big” twist is that the killer on the ship is Jess, but not the same Jess we were introduced to in the beginning of the film. Rather, there appears to be a time loop occuring during which the capsized group continue to get onto the ship where Jess learns the key to escaping. As she tries to hunt everyone down, she is inevitably stopped by another version of herself. This quickly becomes a one character show, where we follow Jess and experience the ship's initial happenings from multiple angles as she ponders how to proceed and escape the ship. This is where the film's first major issue arises.

Because of the concept, this retelling of the ship's events ends up becoming really repetitive and a bit boring. The mystery remains interesting, but Jess is not interesting enough of a character to be worth exploring as much as we get stuck with her. Also, there is not a lot that happens on the ship prior to Jess's revelation, so there was not a lot of variation to give as we started getting the different angles of what had happened. Now, while how it was presented was a bit boring, it absolutely had its intended effect. It gets you hooked into thinking that Jess is getting close to finding an exit from the time loop and that each reveal is slowly moving things into place. You build predictions and kind of figure where the story is going and whats happening, then it smacks you in the face that you were not seeing the bigger, the biggest, picture. The actual big twist is not that Jess is the killer or the ship being in a time loop or some great discovery that gets made. Rather, the real twist is that when Jess gets off the ship and returns home to find her son, we learn that the entire movie is a time loop and we missed clues right in front of our eyes the whole time.

It is following this reveal that we get the large story-related twist in learning what happened to Jess's son Tommy. A couple of details emerge regarding their home life, as the Jess we have followed to the house kills the Jess already in the house due to the abuse she commits against Tommy. Then, as they are driving away, they get into a car accident that kills both Tommy and Jess. The scene we get is the former Jess that got killed at the house sprawled out on the road cause she was stuffed in the trunk and ejected during the crash while witnesses try to resuscitate Tommy. Then, in an almost existential abtractism, the Jess that was driving is safely standing in the road looking over the scene before getting into a nearby taxi. Where does she go? To the harbor to board Greg's boat, which is where the movie begins and why she did not have Tommy on the boat trip. Within these details comes the very frustrating emotional dissonance towards Jess. The person we are made to cheer for and follow for the entire movie turns out to be a horrible person who abuses her son and we are left with little time to reconcile that issue which presents another strike against the film in how it handles its emotional investment.

As satisfying as seeing this loop play out was, there still remains the question that may frustrate viewers: what does it all mean? Well, for those who want the easy answer, the director in a past interview gave the three interpretations he believes exists: “Is it a Bermuda Triangle story and it's all supernatural?...Is she having a breakdown...did she get in a crash, get a concussion, and go off for the day?”. I think the first option here is the only viable one but that none of these are the actual answer. I think the answer lies in a fourth interpretation of the film that relies on a quick discussion had on the ship about Sisyphus. In Greek mythology, Sisyphus is punished by Zeus to eternally having to roll a boulder up a hill in Hades. My interpretation is that Jess is forever punished to live through this loop as punishment for the mistreatment of her vulnerable son. Even more so, the abandoned ship in the movie is named “Aeolus,” which is the name of Sisyphus' father. You can choose to accept whichever interpretation you want, or create your own, as it's the journey, not the ending, that drives the intrigue of this film.

A better name for the movie would have been “Circle” or “Loop” since they best describe the neverending premise at the core of it. The entire series of events is being played in an infinite loop, with each decision Jess makes eventually leading her back to starting the loop over again and getting on Greg's boat. From a conceptual standpoint, especially considering that it was released back in 2009, this is a remarkable thriller. I think the characterizations and the strange emotional shift towards the end of the movie towards Jess leaves a bit to be desired, even though they are not necessarily core aspects of the film. It may not stand up to the mind-fuckery of 2013's “Coherence” or the time-looping concept of 2014's “Predestination,” “Triangle” does enough to be a must watch for fans of twisty thrillers.

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RATING: 🔄 🔄 🔄 🔄 / 5

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