Triangle (15)

TRIANGLE took writer/director Christopher Smith two years to pen.

But the sad truth is it's still a good few rewrites shy of success.

Triangle is a hugely ambitious thriller - Groundhog Day with a shotgun, basically. Melissa George is Jess, a possibly-mad single mum on a yachting trip with her boyfriend (Michael Dornan) and his pals.

Unluckily for them, a freak storm wipes out the boat. Then a sinister ocean liner appears on the horizon.

Jess and chums climb aboard to find the ship deserted - and what ensues is a weird, time-looping stalk- 'em-up with Jess meeting near-past and near-future versions of herself who want to kill her mates.

At first Triangle works well. The atmosphere's nicely creepy. And Melissa - who's carving out a nice little career for herself after Home and Away - is on top form.

Plus, when the time-loop stuff works, it's great - seeing the events of ten minutes ago play out from a different angle that explains the weirdness you saw the first time round is a neat trick.

But usually it doesn't add up. And a face-punchingly dumb final act with a car crash and an out-of-place sinister taxi driver smacks of Smith not being able to think of a decent finish.

Memento set the gold standard for time-twisting thrillers, because given 15 hours and a whiteboard, you could actually work out the thing was 100 per cent watertight.

This is leakier than a hedgehog's cagoule, and you'll be picking holes in the plot long before the end.

Which means as psychological thrillers go, it's got about three fewer points than an actual ruddy triangle.

OUT FRIDAY 17th OCTOBER

This article has 0 comments