Sometimes a year will see two movies about volcanos. Sometimes it’s killer meteors. Sometimes there are two damn Jungle Book movies and one blinks. For some reason, March of 2019 offers us two movies beginning with the word Triple.

The two films in question have a couple things in common. Lots of violence for one. Plenty of protein for another. Beyond that, there is not much overlap and comparing the two would be childish and stupid. And so onto our comparison.

You can read my review for Triple Threat here. For those who would rather not, Triple Threat is a b-action film directed by the great Jesse V. Johnson that unites a handful of well-known action stars for a fun free for all. You basically know what you’re getting into when you buy a ticket for a movie starring Michael Jai White, Scott Adkins, Iko Uwais, Tiger Chen and Tony Jaa. Triple Threat is a very very good version of that movie. Folks who do not love highly-choreographed action punctuated by stiff dialog and cheesy musical cues probably won’t have a good time, though. This isn’t the kind of action film you bring new folks to watch.

Triple Frontier is also about a collection of tough guys. In this case, they’re doing bad things they’ve managed to justify as okay things. Starring Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal, it is a much fancier affair for all its grittiness and Netflix home. They even ponied up to use not one but two different Metallica songs, telling you right up front exactly what kind of movie you’re getting into - this is not going to be the most original thing but it doesn’t know that and probably wouldn’t care anyway.

With the benefit of actors who can give more nuanced performances, Triple Frontier’s script attempts to get into ambiguous moral territory. Essentially, the film focuses on an old military team who decide to use their significant skills to murder and rob a drug cartel. As the film progresses, the difficulty of transporting all the cash they steal reveals them to be far less heroic than we first thought. The first half offers many justifications for their crime (and even though it is against a criminal, it is a crime). Eventually they move onto full murdering to keep their money safe. The double trick is the film mostly wants to see them as good people again by the time it ends.

There is no such fake moral ambiguity in Triple Threat. The villains thoughtlessly murder anyone who irritates them with no fear of consequence. At one point, they loudly shoot up an entire police department in broad daylight and no one seems to care. The heroes are on the up and up as well. There is a somewhat ill-advised plot device in which Iko Uwais goes undercover with the villains to better set up their fall, but we never worry he actually turned to the dark side.

Along with its more complicated moral implications, Triple Frontier also has the better characters. These guys might be dirtbags, but they have a long history together that the film conveys well. They don’t all five get complicated characteristics but the feeling of camaraderie among them is there enough to lend weight to their return to combat after years of being apart from each other. As such, while they do not deserve success or happiness, we kind of want it for them anyway.

Triple Threat has an opportunity to do this as well, but mostly fails in this regard. While Iko Uwais’ character is a stranger to all, Tony Jaa and Tiger Chen are supposed to be buds. That comes across a bit but not nearly as much as we see in Triple Frontier. Furthermore, the film opens with two of its villains breaking an old pal (Scott Adkins) out of prison, thus reuniting an old crew after time apart. This doesn’t really have any impact on their relationship or how they interact with each other, unfortunately.

Both films have decent action. Triple Frontier’s is of the armed military variety, while Triple Threat is mostly focused on punching and kicking, as one would expect with that cast. Neither are particularly gory, though Triple Threat is definitely meant to be seen as fun while Triple Frontier wants to provide pathos and tragedy with its violence.

Given that three badasses come together to take on villains, Triple Threat’s title makes some sense. Triple Frontier, on the other hand, refers to the area in which the film takes place, but I needed Wikipedia to tell me that and it has no real bearing on the film itself. It just comes off sounding generic. The film’s plot deserves something a little better than that.

In the end, it’s remarkable that in such a short amount of time, we have two very different - but also somewhat small - action films with the word Triple in the title. It's a shame Triple 9 couldn't have come out this month as well. Historians will look back upon this era with great confusion, searching for the cultural link between them that reveals what could have possibly led to such a phenomenon. I can only hope this article will give them some modicum to guidance. I also hope Jesse V. Johnson is super famous and respected by then.