PremiumTrigger Warning movie review: Jessica Alba in avenger mode is dull despite domestic terrorism angle
Trigger Warning movie review: Jessica Alba returns to movies after 5 years with actioner that's way too predictable
Last Updated: 06.14 PM, Jun 21, 2024
Trigger Warning movie story: Parker (Jessica Alba), a special forces commando with great gun and knife skills, returns home to small-town Creation, following the death of her father, Harry (Alejandro De Hoyos). It does not take Parker long to realize that there’s more than meets the eye in her father’s demise, and begins digging into it – an intrusion that’s not welcomed.
Trigger Warning movie review: The amount of money that Netflix seems to be throwing into the making of films and series that make sense to no one but the streamer, is absolutely astounding. What’s even more mind-boggling is that they are far from done, with the latest case in point being Jessica Alba’s return to acting after a self-imposed 5-year hiatus, Trigger Warning.
A commando with some slick skills avenging a family member, whose death is shrouded in mystery, is a done-to-death trope. Only this time, Alba gets to be the ‘kick ass’ commando, who finds out that military-grade weapons are doing the rounds in the small town. There’s no time to grieve, what with a mystery to crack. The who, where, why of this mystery behind the artillery leads her to her dad’s killers. Can she shut down their operation and do right by her dad? Well, no prizes for guessing that one.
Alba’s attempt at playing a femme Rambo, including the guns, knives and machetes, yields some results, but it’s never impressive enough to make the viewer want more. Strangely enough, despite her more diminutive frame, she makes the take down of big-built terrorists look believable. Helping her along the way are a local drug dealer Mikey (Gabriel Basso), who also works at the pub her father used to run, as well as her military pal Spider (Tone Bell).
The problem with Trigger Warning is not only the familiarity of the subject. It’s the execution – Parker’s investigation into her father’s death has her able to sneak in to all the right places at the right time, with all the bombshell revelations made ‘in her presence’. Despite running a domestic terrorism racket, the bad boys in this tale are not concerned about turning their hideouts into a fortress, you see. Hell, Parker doesn’t even attempt to conceal her movements, grunting loudly after scaling a wall, and running across open fields and yet be noticed by none. Everything’s just a tad too convenient.
Is there anything in Trigger Warning even remotely redeeming? The answer’s a firm No.
It doesn’t help that the dialogue writers also decided that this was the film they’d let the most cringe lines in. “If you pivot on that back foot, you won’t punch like such a little bitch”, during a ‘torture’ scene, to ‘You wouldn’t by any chance have a bunch of guns lying around’, before Parker goes all out ninja on the men who killed her dad, are just some of samples.
Trigger Warning movie verdict: Jessica Alba in action mode may seem an interesting proposition, but that’s an allure that will fade 2 minutes into the film.