TRIGGER WARNING
(director: Mouly Surya; screenwriters: John Brancato, Josh Olson, Halley Gross; cinematographer: Zoe White; editors: Robert Grigsby Wilson, Chris Tonick; music: Enis Rotthoff; cast: Jessica Alba (Parker), Mark Webber (Sheriff Jesse), Tone Bell (Spider), Jake Weary (Elvis), Gabriel Basso (Mike), Anthony Michael Hall (Senator Ezekiel Swann), Kaiwi Lyman (Ghost), Hari Dhillon (Mohamed), Alejandro De Hoyos (Harry), Nadiv Molcho (Beck), Peter Monro (Mickey), Stephanie Jones (Georgia); Runtime: 106; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Erica Lee, Basil Iwanyk, Esther Hornstein; Netflix; 2024)
“Traffics too much in stereotypes.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Indonesian director Mouly Surya’s (“Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts”/”What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love”) slow-paced English-language debut is a visually pleasing formulaic action pic, but it traffics too much in stereotypes. Writers John Brancato, Josh Olson, and Halley Gross turn in a weak script hindering Surya’s efforts to make things sizzle or say something fresh.
The tough American Special Forces commando, Parker (Jessica Alba), while on combat duty killing terrorists in Syria, learns of her father’s (Alejandro De Hoyos) death. Returning to her mining hometown of Creation, New Mexico, where she inherits her late dad’s bar, she grieves for her loss.
Meanwhile her ratty ex-boyfriend is now the sheriff (Mark Webber), who unconvincingly tells her that her dad’s death was either an accident or a suicide. She believes it was neither, but suspects foul play.
Upon investigating his death in a collapsed mine shaft, she confronts a violent gang that deals with illegal weapons stolen from the military. That her father knew the gang stored the weapons in the mine shaft, results in her getting help from two of her trusted male pals–her fellow combat commando (Tone Bell) and the town’s stoner (Gabriel Basso)–to go after the bad guys who must have killed him.
This action scenario gives Alba a chance to show off her fighting skills, especially with knives, and go into a female Rambo act.
The dialogue is stilted, the bad guys–Jesse’s criminal brother Elvis (Jake Weary) and the crooked prominent opportunist Senator Swann (Anthony Michael Hall)– are banal villains, and the action isn’t always convincing.
It’s the kind of decent thriller that’s forgettable.
REVIEWED ON 6/27/2024 GRADE: C+