Trigger Warning review
Trigger Warning would need to wake up from its sleep-inducing malaise to be a terrible movie. At least bad movies are more interesting for their general state of incompetence. That would elicit some sort of reaction. Trigger Warning is too by the numbers, predictable and safe to warrant much emotion at all.
Jessica Alba (L.A.’s Finest) plays Parker, a soldier who’s more comfortable — and deadlier — fighting with a knife than a gun. Parker isn’t exactly ill-tempered but fairly often conflicts end with her holding a knife at someone’s throat. Blame her father, Harry (Alejandro De Hoyos), for teaching her the art of knife combat.
After a rough mission, Parker’s friend and fellow soldier Spider (Tone Bell, The Flash) suggests it’s time she gets some R&R. That just so happens to coincide with a call back from her hometown of Creation. Sheriff Jesse (Mark Webber), Parker’s ex, has to give the bad news that Parker’s father died.
Once Parker arrives back home, Director Mouly Surya abandons any pretense of the bad guy. It’s definitely the not-so subtly “our America” spewing Sen. Swann (Anthony Michael Hall) and his louse of a son, Elvis (Jake Weary). At least Parker has some friendly connection in the family with Jesse, Swann’s other son.
While the original reports suggest Harry killed himself, Parker doesn’t buy it at all. She starts investigating with the help of Harry’s bar employee Mike (Gabriel Basso) and finds the truth is far more sinister.
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This is the kind of role Jennifer Lopez would take on right down to the debut on Netflix. Alba is perhaps a bit more convincing as a soldier trying to crack a mystery though. She does a decent job of selling Parker as a character even if Alba’s let down by other issues with Trigger Warning.
The soldier returning home to a corrupt hometown isn’t exactly a fresh concept. Dwayne Johnson could make the stale concept work (mostly) in 2004’s Walking Tall because of his hulking pro-wrestler physique and undeniable box office charisma.
Alba isn’t the usual towering action hero presence and doesn’t have the presence to demand viewer’s attention. Surya smartly works around both problems. For action scenes, Surya has Parker use a credible hit and run strategy using knife slashes to wear down opponents.
Editing in these sequences was rough resembling Matt Damon’s fights in The Bourne Identity series. There are too many quick cuts that are stitched together haphazardly making for disorienting segments. Alba can sell the idea of a capable, dangerous fighter once these sequences begin.
Sure, not every action movie needs intricate fight choreography a la John Wick. Trigger Warning’s action scenes are adequate. Where is falters most is the script from John Brancato & Josh Olson and Halley Gross. The dialogue isn’t particularly engaging and the eclectic members of the Creation community don’t stand out. No one is especially quirky, colorful or that “only in the movies” type personality.
Spider proves the most fun complementary cast member. It seems like the screenwriters would have been better served just having him tag along with Parker from the start. Alba and Bell have better chemistry than any other pairing.
Trigger Warning needed a spark or some jolt of excitement. For too long the film plays out like a Lifetime movie with the female lead realizing you can’t go home again only with the occasional fight scene. Alba still could fill the role of resident Netflix go-to tail-kicker action star. This one is an outing you can do laundry, fix an involved snack, take a nap and still not miss anything of consequence.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Photo Credit: Netflix