Triangle (2009) Somebody Divided By Zero

Every so often, a movie comes along and it...does something to your head. As a huge fan of LOST, I love a good puzzle on my screen. Something that makes me imagine or makes me ponder the odd circumstances in which the characters find themselves. Triangle, written and directed by Christopher Smith, is a movie in which someone, somewhere divided by zero, sending everyone - viewer included - tumbling into a pit like that kid falling into the hat dimension in the kid's show Lidsville.


Normally, when I share my thoughts on a film, I give a mostly-spoiler-free synopsis of what happens. Triangle is one of those films that to give a synopsis is to spoil the entire thing. I honestly can't get into the entire thing without spoiling everything. I can tell you what happens to a point, but I can't elaborate much after that. It really that wonderful sort of film that requires you to pay attention from start to finish...and beyond.


Here's what I can tell you: quiet, somewhat nervous beauty Jess (Melissa George) joins her good friend (and nice guy who's attracted to her) Greg (Michael Dorman) on his boat, along with Greg's young first mate Victor (Liam Hemsworth), yuppie couple Downey and Sally (Henry Nixon and Rachel Capriani), and their friend Heather (Emma Lung). Greg's worried about Jess, who has left her autistic son Tommy (Joshua McIvor) at his school. Downey and Sally don't care for Jess and have brought Heather along to fix her up with Greg. Setting sail, it isn't long before they encounter strange radio broadcasts and a violent freak storm which capsizes their boat.


It isn't a spoiler to mention that Heather is lost during the storm, and the survivors manage to make their way on board an oddly-quiet luxury liner happening their way. Once they board, they begin to explore.

This is when it gets weird.


The rest of the movie - and even parts up to and including the basics I just mentioned - is a trip that will surely make you rewind, rewatch, and end up insanely scrawling mad equations on the wall of your padded cell. Things happen. You want there to be a solution, but like the myth of Sisyphus, who was doomed to roll a rock uphill repeatedly for all eternity (and who's mentioned in the movie), it's not going to come easily.

As for the movie itself, it's tightly written and well-directed with a standout performance by Melissa George. This really is her movie, and she's up to the challenge. The movie looks good and director Smith makes the most of mounting tension and stunning reveals throughout. There will be inevitable comparisons to Timecrimes, but I personally found Triangle to be the superior movie - and was allegedly conceived well before Timecrimes.

Really, check this one out. Give yourself a good movie-watching atmosphere and follow the bouncing ball, because it'll have you bouncing off the walls. Then think about what you just saw and try to figure it out. That's the fun.

Oh, yeah, and that kid from Lidsville? He divided by zero. Check it out:



You don't want that to happen to you, do you? Trapped in a dimension of giant talking hats, being pursued by an evil Charles Nelson Reilly?

Until next time, friends, practice safe math. Seriously.