Trigger Warning – Movie Review | Netflix (2/5)

TRIGGER WARNING on Netflix is a new action thriller. To be honest, the first half is more of a thriller mystery. The second half, however, is a lot of action. Read our full Trigger Warning movie review here!

TRIGGER WARNING is a new Netflix movie starring Jessica Alba. These days, Netflix is really rolling out its female-led action movies and I am here for it. The movies might not be great, but the women are certainly kick-ass and do all they can.

For this new action thriller, the title could refer to either firearms or emotions. And both are a big part of the plot, but in ways that actually work. Also, in either case, the preferred weapon of our lead protagonist is a sharp blade. The runtime is too long though.

Continue reading our Trigger Warning movie review below. Find it on Netflix from June 21, 2024.

Small town, big guns

The lead character in Trigger Warning is Special Forces Commando Parker (Jessica Alba). She’s on active duty overseas – which we see in the opening scene that sets the tone in every sense. After a mission, she gets called back to her hometown after her father’s passing.

It was an accidental collapse in a mine, and now Parker owns the family bar. Once home, she reconnects with her former boyfriend-turned-sheriff Jesse (Mark Webber). He was her prom date and still seems under his father’s thumb.

Daddy is the powerful father Senator Swann (Anthony Michael Hall), but wait, there’s more. Sheriff Jesse also has a brother named Elvis (Jake Weary) and he’s a hot-tempered and not too smart guy.

As Parker looks into her dad’s accident in the mine, she finds answers that don’t sit right with her. She now needs to make things right in Swann County, so she enlists her covert ops partner Spider (Tone Bell), who is a brilliant hacker, and the local dealer Mike (Gabriel Basso).

Don’t sweat the small stuff

Look, I recognize that I can get hung up on small details. I always try to tell myself not to sweat the small stuff. Then again, I also think one should expect more. Especially from movies that don’t appear to be lacking in talent or budget.

Things like when our kick-ass heroine can fight anyone but then has to suddenly appear weaker. All to move things along in some particular direction. Or how her nails are perfectly manicured despite coming directly from a mission in the desert.

Small stuff, I know, but it just irks me and (what’s worse!) it ruins the illusion. Jessica Alba works as a fighter, so I get annoyed when it’s these “let’s make her more girlish” details that break the illusion.

I mean, look at her. She is girlish. You couldn’t make her come across as butch if you tried!

Watch Trigger Warning on Netflix now!

The director of Trigger Warning is Moula Surya. She’s a multi-award-winning Indonesian filmmaker and, as far as I can see, this is her first English-language movie. It’s also the first one Moula Surya hasn’t written herself.

The screenplay comes from three writers, which isn’t usually the best thing.

More often than not, more than two writers can be a warning sign that too many people have messed with the story. In any case, the writers are John Brancato (The Net), Josh Olson (A History of Violence), and Halley Wegryn Gross (Westworld).

Overall, I really liked Jessica Alba in this, and the cast as a whole worked. Sure, it’s full of stereotypes but also uses real-life elements to keep it from going too far. I loved the little jabs at various political topics that never got too heavy-handed.

Trigger Warning is on Netflix from June 21, 2024.

Details

Director: Mouly Surya
Writers: John Brancato & Josh Olson and Halley Gross
Cast: Jessica Alba, Mark Webber, Jake Weary, Anthony Michael Hall, Gabriel Basso, Tone Bell, Kaiwi Lyman, Hari Dhillon