Triple Frontier Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

3. J.C. Chandor's Tight, Suspenseful Direction

Despite the aforementioned scripting issues, J.C. Chandor does a mostly bang-up job directing the movie which, again, is by far his most ambitious to date.

And though Hollywood is littered with "arty" directors who crumbled when helming bigger-scale blockbuster fare, Chandor transitions into more demanding genre filmmaking with ease.

Furthermore, he's also an actor's director through and through, evidenced by how compelling most of the group dialogues turn out to be. Even when the writing is at its most contrived, neither the actors nor the director are phoning things in.

And while this is definitely the filmmaker's most tepid effort so far, it does little to diminish his stock as one of the most intriguing directors working today.