A successful heist is difficult. Whether stealing the jewels from the Topkapi Palace, tunneling into the Société Générale in Nice or robbing the Glasgow to London mail train, a heist takes a dedicated crew, meticulous planning and impeccable execution. Making a movie about a heist is much a much less complex and dangerous prospect: it is legal, aboveboard and an accepted part of commerce. But there are still rules to be followed. “Triangle” breaks a number of them fails as an exciting account of a crime, as a human drama propelled by conflicting needs and desires or as a dark comedy. There were too many talented people trying to work in the same filmic space and the result was an intermittently entertaining mess.

None of the characters were developed in the time allotted to each director but worst of all, there was almost no depiction of the planning for and carrying out the crime itself. The three criminals simply dug into the Legislative Assembly building, found the priceless treasure and wheeled it away. Which was one of the most ridiculous scenes in the movie--they didn’t have a plan to move the treasure from where it had been hidden and so walked through the streets of Hong Kong pushing a cart carrying a casket with rotted bodies and intact gold. This all too obvious lacuna made continued suspension of disbelief impossible.

There were some excellent performances, a couple of good chase scenes including one that went in circles in a wilderness area that featured some very large alligators. “Triangle” ended as it had to with the main characters waving goodbye and walking away--it would have been impossible to have an ending that made sense because the movie until that point hadn’t.