Line #16 Film/TripleThreat2019


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/22749af9_a966_4b30_8245_4f9eee8e4a8f.png]]
2
3	''Triple Threat'' is a 2019 Martial Arts Action-Thriller directed by Creator/JesseVJohnson, starring Creator/ScottAdkins, Creator/IkoUwais, Creator/TonyJaa, Creator/MichaelJaiWhite, Tiger Chen and Jeeja Yanin.
4
5	A villager loses his wife when a band of mercenaries massacre his village to free their leader; days later an heiress pledges money to charity in order to combat corruption, making her a target of said team of mercenaries, on behalf of a local mobster. Meanwhile, two of the mercenaries have taken up illegal boxing. Each path collides in a heated final confrontation.
6
7	!These tropes don't just quit, do they?
8	* TheAtoner: Payu used to work for a mob boss before becoming a mercenary, and wants to overcome his past.
9	* BadBoss: {{Downplayed\|Trope}}, in that Collins doesn't give a rat's ass about his subordinates outside of how useful they are to him.
10	* TheBait: Jaka uses Payu and Long Fei to lure the other mercenaries into a trap.
11	* BigBad: Most of the conflict stems from Collins directly antagonizing Payu and Long Fei and trying to kill them, as well as target Xiao Xian. Additionally, Jaka wants vengeance against Collins and his crew, and is not involved with any conflict with Su Feng on any level.
12	* BloodKnight: Collins is a bloodthirsty, yet highly competent combatant.
13	* TheCameo: Creator/MichaelWong as "Old Man", an unnamed character who shows up in precisely one scene.
14	* CardCarryingVillain: Collins claims not to have a soul, and comments that he didn't set out to be a murderer, but that he is good at it.
15	* CopKiller: Collins and his band of mercenaries massacre an entire police station while looking for Payu and Long Fei.
16	* CrusadingWidow: Jaka pursues the band of mercenaries in order to avenge his wife and his village.
17	* DefectorFromDecadence: Payu and Long Fei abandoned Devereaux and Collins when they figured out that their mission was less than humanitarian.
18	* DefiantToTheEnd: The UsefulNotes/MI6 operative in the village refuses to cooperate with the mercenaries, and refuses to beg for his life when Collins kills him.
19	* DoomedHometown: Jaka's village is sacked by Devereaux and company on the orders of Collins, their leader, to release him from his prison.
20	* DoubleAgent: Jaka pretends to align himself with Collins and his mercenary crew in order to gain their trust and destroy them, while assisting the defectors Payu and Long Fei.
21	* TheDragon: Devereaux is the second in command to Collins. Like Collins, he is a ruthless individual, although where Collins is mostly cold and detached, Devereaux is more jovial and sarcastic; additionally, where Collins views his team as expendable, Devereaux genuinely seems to care both for his subordinates and his superior.
22	* DueToTheDead: Jaka buries his wife, along with other villagers, after his village is massacred.
23	* EverybodyWasKungFuFighting: Almost every named character is proficient in martial arts to some degree, resulting in a large number of close quarters combat sequences.
24	* EvilBrit: Collins, who was imprisoned for involvement in terrorist activities, has a British Accent.
25	* EvilLaugh: Collins has a good chuckle over being asked if he remembers the last time his soul started slipping away. According to Collins, he has no soul.
26	* AFatherToHisMen: As ruthless as he is, the mercenary second-in-command Devereaux appears to care about his subordinates, unlike his superior, the cold and bloodthirsty Collins, as seen when Devereaux expresses concern upon realizing that two mercenaries are unaccounted for.
27	* FauxAffablyEvil:
28	** Collins, as played by Scott Adkins, has the superficial charisma befitting someone desensitized to violence, and is a heartless monster.
29	** Deveraux, as played by Michael Jai White, is a wisecracking and jovial mercenary who is indifferent to civilian casualties.
30	* FightClubbing: Jaka encounters Payu and Long Fei, the {{Token Good Teammate}}s turned defectors of Collins' crew, at an illegal boxing match.
31	* ForTheEvulz: Collins chose to be a professional killer because he was good at it, and enjoys the carnage. Similarly, while part of the reason he wants to eliminate Payu, Long Fei, and Tian Xiao Xian, regardless of whether or not their negotiation is sincere, is that his livelihood and life depend on their deaths, his bloodlust and desire to see them suffer also factors into his decision.
32	* GreaterScopeVillain: Su Feng may not have had any involvement in the village massacre, and has little direct influence on the plot, but she hired Collins and his crew to eliminate Tian Xiao Xian.
33	* HeroicBloodshed: The film centres on an Indonesian man who wants to avenge his village's destruction at the hands of a band of mercenaries, while two defectors fight for their own survival alongside a Chinese heiress targeted by the mercenaries. There is an assortment of stylized gun, melee, and close-quarters-combat violence and virtually every named character is a capable combatant.
34	* HonestCorporateExecutive: Tian Xiao Xian, an heiress from China, pledges money to charity in order to combat corruption.
35	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Devereaux checks out courtesy of a railing baluster through his torso.
36	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Collin's entire team of professional mercenaries armed with automatic weapons manages to miss nearly single shot on the protagonists despite hailing them in the open (with the one bullet that does manage to hit being inconsequential and not even slowing Payu in his final fight). This is hilariously lampshaded by Tian Xiao Xian, a philanthropist who's never handled a weapon, outgunning the last mercenary, by hitting every shot while she quickly unloaded her pistol (thankfully, the gun had no recoil).
37	* LackOfEmpathy: Collins only cares about his subordinates inasmuch as they are useful to him. Even when his loyal second in command, Deveraux, is killed, Collins is more upset because he didn't realize Jaka was playing him.
38	* LudicrousGibs: Jaka kills Mook, the sole woman amongst the mercenaries, by dismembering her with her own grenade launcher.
39	* NoHonourAmongThieves: Collins does not care about the lives of civilians or his own subordinates.
40	* NominalVillain: Payu and Long Fei initially accompany a band of mercenaries who raid a village to free the mercenary leader Collins. Despite nominally being on the side of the mercenaries, Payu and Long Fei do not kill anyone, and once they realize that they are not on a humanitarian mission like they thought, they turn on Collins and his crew, freeing the prisoners who would have been killed by Collins' explosives.
41	* PermaStubble: Jaka has a noticeable five o'clock shadow which emphasizes his brooding nature as a man who lost his wife and village.
42	* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Collins leads a team of professional mercenaries. Payu and Long Fei used to be mercenaries before defecting.
43	* PsychoForHire: Collins and his team are brutal mercenaries in the employ of a Chinese Queenpin.
44	* TheQueenpin: Su Feng is the Chinese mob boss who hired Collins and his crew. She is a ruthless woman who wants to kill Tian Xiao Xian for interfering with her illegal activities.
45	* ScaryBlackMan: Devereaux is a ruthless, wisecracking African-American mercenary who takes part in the massacre of Jaka's village. Unlike Collins, he is loyal to his fellow mercenaries. Devereaux is also the first mercenary to be suspicious of Jaka when the latter infiltrates their ranks.
46	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Mook is the sole woman among the mercenaries.
47	* SoftSpokenSadist: Collins, the mercenary leader with balls of steel, delivers many of his lines in a casual tone befitting a psychopath who is desensitized to violence.
48	* TokenGoodTeammate: Payu and Long Fei had been working with Devereaux under the impression that they were going on a humanitarian mission to free prisoners. When they realize that the only prisoner being freed is a notorious killer, and that the mercenaries intend on killing the other prisoners, they refuse to co-operate, proceeding to escape, taking the prisoners away from the intended blast radius.
49	* VillainousValour: All of the mercenaries, especially Collins, are willing to go hand to hand against the protagonists, even when the odds turn against them; this is not out of honour, but out of bloodlust, for Collins in particular.

Context Film / TripleThreat2019