‘Triple 9’ is a meticulous, well-made crime film

Except for Casey Affleck, everyone plays a distinct and different variation of bad.

There’s indecisive, guilt-ridden, soul-destroyed, pathetic bad — who better to play that than Aaron Paul?

There’s also Woody Harrelson, as a dedicated cop with bad personal habits, who gets drunk and waves his gun around in bars and, at one point, gets stoned in the back of a car with a woman he has just arrested.

[...] the Russian mafia is involved in “Triple 9,” the words “Russian mafia” being the movies’ current way of saying “as bad as it gets.”

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the leader of a squad of criminals somehow in debt to the Russian mob.

[...] he must devise a massive plan to steal federal secrets from the government.

According to the film, whenever a “999” goes out on the police radio, all the police cars in the city converge on a single area — thus buying time for anyone who wants to pull off a major job on the other side of town.

With every other actor in “Triple 9” trying on a new variety of evil, you might think Casey Affleck as a good cop would be at a disadvantage here.

[...] as is often the case, Affleck’s mental radio is tuned to a station only he hears, and he arrests our attention.