Triangle - Blu-ray Review

'the central conceit of Triangle means we really need to either care about our heroine or question her and Smith never seems to settle on which it should be'

Triangle is the type of mind-bending pshychological twister that will either leave you eager for more, or suffering from a severe case of head scratching. Combining a horror aesthetic with some science-fiction components, Christopher Smith's film has received some glowing reviews from the British press, obviously finding themselves falling in to the former of the aforementioned categories. Personally though, this was the type of film that has become endemic of a Hollywood affliction - there's a good idea here but the development of that idea is shoddy at best.

Smith's idea (like all the best ones) is, at its core, extremely simple. The crew of a shipwrecked yacht (main components; Melissa George, Michael Dorman, Henry Nixon, Rachel Carpani, Liam Hemsworth) are rescued by a passing ocean-liner only to find it abandoned. Worse still, having spent some time onboard, it appears someone is trying to kill them.

As the plot develops down its twisty-turny route, certain things are nice and easy to spot. If you don't work out who the masked killer is pretty early on for example, then you can count yourself as having not paid enough attention in the early moments where Smith telegraphs the answer to you via a series of obvious occurences. This isn't neccesarily a problem. During the first third of a film that's obviously going to throw more turns at you further down the line, it's nice to feel one step ahead, even if you know the rug is going to be pulled from under you at some moment in the not too distant future. When that does happen for the first time, Smith does it in a pretty macarbre yet grusomely satisfying way that will leave you pondering what's going on, even if you already think you know, whilst your stomach lurches on the crest of a wave.

As the plot develops though, weaknesses start to show. Small things start to hint at it, tugging at the back of your mind; what for example, happens to Heather (Emma Lung) and if what Smith suggests happens, happens, then why is her character even needed? Did the actress quit halfway through or something? More crucially though, the central conceit of Triangle means we really need to either care about our heroine (Melissa George's Jess) or question her and Smith never seems to settle on which it should be. As a result she does come across as a genuinely conflicted individual but not really a sympathetic one and it is difficult to understand some of her contrived decision making which seems more in-keeping with Smith's desire for plot turns than her character's development.

I came away from Triangle thinking I'd seen something technically quite impressive made on an assumedly meagre budget, but also feeling like I'd been mainpulated by the director for the past hour or so, rather than by his plot. The end may pose problems for some who crave narrative closure and it all feels a bit rushed and muddied up, a far cry from the careful scares Smith creates so successfully in the earlier moments. For horror fans it's worth seeing as as a film which offers something new with the 'anonymous killer' but for others be warned: this may perplex more than it entertains.

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'Triangle feels like it falls under the weight of its own logic, and at times the timeline and concurrent events don’t make all that much sense' - Movie Moron (Clint Barton), B-