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There are many who forget that actress Jessica Alba, like Jennifer Garner, pretty much put herself on the map doing action as she starred in the short-lived FOX TV series Dark Angel. Even though that show only lasted two seasons, it still resonates with fans to this day and Alba became a star because of it. Garner also started her career with the five season hit Alias and has done many action projects since like Elektra and Peppermint. Alba hasn’t done much in the way of action since, but she did do Sin City and most recently starred in the Bad Boys spin-off show L.A.’s Finest. Say what you will but I feel that there is an action star somewhere inside of Alba that is still trying to burst out. Maybe the lackluster poster above for the movie was a warning sign? You decide.
Unfortunately, her newest Netflix actioner Trigger Warning isn’t the project to propel her to action star status as it’s mostly forgettable like most of Netflix’s action films besides the Extraction franchise. Let me defend this one just a little and say that it isn’t the horrible mess that a lot of people are saying it is. I didn’t feel like I wasted my time watching it as Alba is still solid in it and she does deliver some impressive action design but that’s about it. Anthony Michael Hall does have a small role as a crooked senator in the film, but he is underwritten and really serves no purpose besides making a little impact when he’s onscreen. Hall always delivers but here he deserved better.
Trigger Warning finds Alba starring as Parker who is a spec ops soldier battling insurgents when we first come across her. The film does open with a serviceable action sequence which involves bullets, explosions and some of that Indonesian fight choreography that I was looking forward to. Upon surviving the attack, Alba learns that her father was killed in a tunnel collapse and while at first it points to an accident and maybe a suicide, Parker isn’t convinced and she returns home to tend to her affairs, say her goodbyes and then commences to do a little investigating.
Upon delving deeper into her dad’s demise, Parker learns that her ex-boyfriend now sheriff Jesse (Mark Webber), his inept brother (Elvis Jake Weary) and their farther Senator Swann (Hall) are involved in some shady arms dealings with a domestic terrorist known only as The Ghost (Kaiwi Lyman). Viewers pretty much know who the bad guys are from the get-go and the plot is standard action revenge fare with Alba demonstrating some bad ass moves on many a stuntman. Spoiler Alert. Her dad was murdered. Big surprise.
Alba and Hall are as advertised, and Alba does make Parker relatable. likeable and dangerous with Hall making Swann menacing and vile as he does what he can with what he’s given. The rest of the cast is fine as well but aside from Tone Bell who plays Parker’s spec ops comrade Spider and Peter Monroe who is Mickey, Parker’s pot selling friend who helps her, I really can’t remember anyone else who was in the movie. I will say that Kaiwi Lyman’s Ghost was a massive, missed opportunity as well as he is given little screen time to mount any kind of remembrance that he was even in the movie much alone being any kind of legit threat to Parker. His showdown with her in the movie’s climax lasted roughly a minute if that and I was left wondering why he was built up to the audience in the first place just to be discarded like an afterthought. Nothing against the other actors including a few townsfolk who also help Parker, but I shut off to anyone else.
A lot was made about the fight choreography while promotion got underway as Alba trained in Indonesian martial arts and knife fighting and she does get ample opportunity to display said training in a variety of altercations that are solid enough. One highlight sees Parker thwarting a robbery as she defends herself against a chainsaw wielding opponent and then proceeds to use garden shears on the poor bastard. I thought Alba was decent in the action as she executed some pretty lethal moves both empty handed and with knives including a huge blade in the finale, but said finale was criminally underwhelming and over before you knew it.
I will address the elephant in the room as some are once again saying that a woman like Parker wouldn’t be able to fight off men twice her size, but I hate that argument as a martial artist. If you train in the arts as well then you know it’s not the size of the fighter but the size of the fight in that person and technique, when executed properly, can do damage to opponents who are bigger and more formidable. I’m not a big person either and I had my share of fights where I had to defend myself against men bigger than me and I did just fine. Why? Because I knew what I was fucking doing, and I was trained to execute moves that did the job and there are thousands of women in the armed forces as well who can kick the shit out of the opposite sex because they are trained to razor sharp precision and weight doesn’t necessarily mean you have the upper hand. It’s all about technique, timing and training. Moving on.
Director Mouly Surya, who is best known for dramas, was not the person to direct an action movie but she does do an admirable job as some of the action is decent. It shows in the execution, however, that Surya was out of her league here and there’s a reason why she didn’t helm an action film until this one. I really don’t understand why she was hired for this one as there are much better choices. Why not give a female stuntperson an opportunity to direct like we’ve been seeing from the men like Sam Hargrave and JJ Perry. Both men directed Netflix action films with Hargrave doing the epic Extraction franchise and Perry doing Day Shift. It’s time the kick ass ladies make a name for themselves behind the camera as well. I’d love to see what Heidi Moneymaker could do or even Zoë Bell, who has proven that she can direct action as well as do it.
Overall, Trigger Warning is yet another Netflix original movie that will be forgotten in a week or two. Lord, Atlas starring Jennifer Lopez just came out a few weeks ago and no one is talking about that movie anymore. Let me clarify that it’s not just the ladies starring in these action films that are forgettable. The men are equally guilty in delivering drivel that is less than spectacular. Alba is sold as is Hall in a wasted performance and there are some beats of action that stand out but at the end of the day…yawn.
Like I said, I do feel that with the right material and director, Alba can really deliver a memorable action hit but sadly Trigger Warning is not the one to do it. It’s not as horrible as some are making it out to be and there are positives to take away upon viewing and I’ve seen way worse, but I really was excited for this one when I heard about it, but it failed to leave an adrenalized impression on me. It doesn’t help that I watched this one after I viewed Bren Foster’s Life After Fighting as that film is a master class on how to do action design. In a year that has given us some truly standout action pics like The Beekeeper and Land of Bad, Trigger Warning just ends up being an imposter trying to impersonate these other stronger entries. Hopefully Netflix will listen and correct these errors in the future. It’s not looking good though and I’m not holding my breath unless the film has Extraction in the title.
VERDICT: 2.5 Out of 5 Stars
Jessica Alba and some of the action and fight choreography is solid but nothing else is memorable about Netflix’s latest action film misfire.
