Triangle (2009) - 6/10

I do like a good mystery thriller, the question is, is this a good one. Jess (Melissa George, who I don’t think I’ve seen on screen since her time on Home & Away), seems to have a lot on her plate and maybe needs a break. Which is lucky as her friend, Greg (Micheal Dorman) has a small yacht and with a few friends, they head out to sea. Don’t get comfy though, this is a psychologically twisty looping rollercoaster. Much of it driven by Jess, her life is complicated and challenging and it’s immediately obvious that Triangle is going to echo that. With the small cast contained onboard, the dynamic is much like a play. We’ve meet the two main characters, but we have some ballast in Sally (Rachael Carpani) and Downey (Henry Nixon), a couple of toffs that have brought their friend Heather (Emma Lung), who’s much nicer and quite fancies the boat-hand, Victor (Liam Hemsworth, yes related). Things get interesting when, far enough out to sea to be isolated, they’re met with a strange storm that wrecks the yacht and heralds a large ocean liner… that appears abandoned. I love stuff like this. There’s nothing new, but it leans heavily and effectively into the creepy, fear of the unknown aesthetic really well and wears its heart on its sleeve, with its slap you in the face The Shining references. Jess feels like she’s been here before. She seems in sync with the ship, but is that a good or bad thing. Probably bad. Time is jumping around. Jess doesn’t know what’s going on and neither do we, but there’s someone or something onboard too and it ain’t friendly. George does all the heavy lifting and does well as a freaked out survivor and axe-wielding badass. As time and perspective starts to intersect, it really finds its feet, confusing those onboard, but slowly unfurling for the viewer. If you want to, you can theorise what’s really happening quite neatly, but the fun is to be had in just letting it play out. Yes it’s clunky in places, but it’s got some cool visual hooks. It’s not great, but it is very good and well worth a watch for anyone who enjoys a good non-linear narrative, well told with lots of bloody mystery.

6/10