'Triple Frontier': Ben Affleck Reveals More About His Character's Fate

Ben Affleck has some conflicted thoughts about his latest role. The 46-year-old Hollywood actor, now free of his Batman obligations, can be seen in Netflix’s newest movie Triple Frontier, a heist thriller set in South America where Affleck stars as Captain Tom “Redfly” Davis, a U.S. veteran who takes point on a heist carried out by ex-soldiers to steal from a Colombian drug lord.

But with the chance to steal so much money comes so much risk, one Affleck’s character ends up knowing very well.

Spoilers for Netflix’s Triple Frontier ahead.

Towards the end of Triple Frontier, director J.C. Chandor reveals the ultimate consequence of these soldier’s actions with Tom getting shot square in the head by a vengeful local. It’s a brutal death that comes fast and furious, which is so unlike the overly dramaticdeaths seen in most Hollywood action movies.

When asked about his character’s fate, during a roundtable interview that took place prior to the film’s release on Netflix, Affleck mused on how Tom maybe considered the operation was a one-way trip. Maybe.

“I think he got to a place where he didn’t approach the prospect of his own death in quite the same way as he had maybe,” Affleck says.

Though Affleck’s character embarked on the mission to give his family (rather extreme) financial security, Affleck says Tom probably considered he would not get to see that life of comfort. Still, the actor explains that he ultimately “wanted to come home.”

“It was a resignation on some level. But he wanted to come home. He wanted to see his daughter, help his ex-wife. He wanted to live.”

Triple Frontier, is in essence an exploration of a former soldier’s desperation to find purpose again. It’s also a rumination of one’s inner conflict, torn between honorable, selfless duty and monetary reward. While the characters of Triple Frontier are some of the best of the best, they have little to show for it.

“It’s one of the strengths of the film,” says producer Charles Roven. “Here you have these guys, they’ve not only served their country like so many in the military, they’re the elite. Yet, they’re able-bodied men who can reassimilate into society, and it’s difficult.

“Because the thing you’re trained to do, and you’re the best at, you can’t do at all.”

Affleck’s character Tom is perhaps the most vivid portrait of a soldier’s life post-service in the movie.

Although a highly-trained veteran with an exceptional talent for strategy, planning, and leadership, he is barely making ends meet as a realtor. He’s living in the garage of his ex-wife, and his own kid thinks he’s kind of a loser. So when the opportunity to make a fortune using his unique skills, of course he would take it. 

Unfortunately, Triple Frontier is about the consequences of such actions, and the need to find purpose again. This, Affleck says, was fertile ground as an actor.

“It was a lot of competing motivations; obviously a big deal is greed. Money and that temptation. But there are a lot of pressures that are being exerted on this group of friends in a lot of different ways. That’s what made it a lot of fun for me as an actor.”

Triple Frontier is now streaming on Netflix.