One Star Classics : Triangle

Triangle

May 21, 2021 / Geometrical Sci-fi

After their yacht is capsized by what can only be called a mysterious storm, a group of passengers is forced to board a seemingly abandoned ocean liner. Jess (Melissa George) instantly feels that something is off. She has repeated deja-vus, finds her keys in a hallway she has never been in, all before realizing her group is being stalked by a killer.

At first, and for too long, Triangle comes off as a relatively ordinary cat-and-mouse slasher. It takes forty-five minutes for the movie to reach a twist already revealed in the synopsis – every time sole-survivor Jess pushes the killer overboard, a time loop occurs. The added revelation, as it were, is that Jess remains in linear time, while a new group – that is, the same resurrected group, including Jess – boards the ship like they originally had done. In other words, the time loop occurs for the group but not for old Jess.

It’s a mind-bender, Triangle, chock-full of good ideas. I’m not sure how well these are executed, and parts of the movie seem very choppy. I get that you don’t want to see the same scenes over and over, but how old Jess manages to move locations as quickly as she does feels jarring at times.

Her motives are equally questionable. That she wants to break the loop to return to her son makes sense, but why she repeatedly does what she does is unclear. Sure, she finds notes from her past selves and all, but wouldn’t it at some point make sense to question those? Particularly seeing her advice has not worked for-seemingly-ever.

Parts are touched upon in the final scenes, but the story is structurally flawed if you can’t follow the mystery because of its obtuseness. I certainly will have missed things, but there are still glaring inconsistencies and lapses of logic throughout.

Yet, Triangle has stuck with me. I am willing to bet that repeated viewings really would increase my enjoyment. There are copious references to the number three throughout the film, and mythological motifs are liberally strewn about. At its heart, Triangle is a captivating film.

People, in general, seem to be more into Tringle than I am, so make up your own mind. I would not discourage anyone from giving it a chance – it is a solid mind-bender. I just wish the execution would have been a little better.

For your consideration

Here at OSC we consider the conceptually similar Coherence to be a better movie.

By Remi, May 21, 2021

Letterboxd summary: When Jess sets sail on a yacht with a group of friends, she cannot shake the feeling that there is something wrong. Her suspicions are realised when the yacht hits a storm and the group is forced to board a passing ocean liner to get to safety, a ship Jess is convinced she’s been on before.