Over the last few years Christopher Smith has positioned himself as the go-to guy for British horror films, and with his third feature, Triangle, he's reverted to the formula of his debut effort Creep in casting a recognisable actress (in that case it was Franka Potente, here it is Melissa George) and building the film around her performance.
George plays Jess, a mother of an autistic boy, who has been invited by a friend for a trip on his boat to have some time away from the stress of raising her child. Turning up semi-out of it, proclaiming her son to be at school despite it being a Saturday and spending the beginning of the trip asleep for hours, soon she perks up, before the wind disappears, a storm upends the boat and a liner rescues them. The problem with this is the liner is creepy and seemingly nobody is on board, then the shenanigans start.
Taking the good aspects of this film first, there is a rather nice atmosphere of unease, if not genuine tension. It is for all intents and purposes a performance piece and George does deliver. The role is a complex and challenging one and she does absolutely everything that is required of her. It's a very professionally put together film, the editing is interesting, having George come in and out of frame from various angles and picking her up unusually.
On the negative side though the sound design is a little rough around the edges on occasion and sadly, given the concept of the film, it's nowhere near as clever as it would probably think it is. It's not spoiling much to say this relies on time-loops as the bedrock of the storytelling and it is neither adequately explained nor does it work in its own internal logic. As such there are so many plot holes that this really is, despite being competently assembled, a rather large conceit and basically intellectual-counterfeit money. George ensures it's always watchable and is the reason to see the film, but for long periods it relies on confusion and intrigue and doesn't have enough of a pay off for it to be entirely satisfactory.