Do you remember Jessica Alba? Trigger warning, the actress’ new vehicle for Netflix, is her most high-profile project of the last decade. And it’s not far removed from one of his career-defining projects, the television series created by James Cameron. Black Angel, which lasted two seasons starting in… 2000? It was a long time ago, wasn’t it? We also remember her from films like Dear, Into the blue, city of sin, Fantastic Four and, uh, Good luck Chuck – but more recently she appeared in a few low-budget films that no one saw and the short-lived series The best of Los Angelesrelative obscurity despite being a spin-off of the Bad Boys movies. Trigger warning gives him the opportunity to come back and kick some ass, under the eye of talented Indonesian director Mouly Surya, and I will say this: it’s way better than those crappy Jennifer Lopez action movies that Netflix put out.
The essential: We open with one of these hilarious subtitles: OPERATION ALICE 116, BADIYAT AL-SHAM DESERT, SYRIA. It is Very important information. You wouldn’t want to confuse this with OPERATION ALICE 115, you know. Anyway, what happens in the desert is relevant to the plot, but it at least shows us that Parker (Alba), who is some sort of MERC or OPS, is one hell of a soldier- warrior wielding a knife. She takes out the bad guys and stops a rogue compadre from executing the prisoners – and then learns some horrible news. His father. He was in a mining cave in his hometown in the dusty desert of Creation, in the state of – well, they don’t mention it. Looks like Arizona, maybe New Mexico. But I’m pretty sure Creation is right near Hellentarnation, Texas. But his father. The cave collapsed. He left. She is devastated. He’s all she had, it seems.
Parker goes home to cry and take care of things. She sits down with Sheriff Jesse (Mark Webber), who very delicately states that they’re not ruling out suicide. Red flag: Parker doesn’t believe it for a second. She returns to the bar she owns, finds a bottle and takes a long drink. She nearly murders her boyfriend Mikey (Gabriel Basso), a local stoner who helped his father take care of the property, when he enters the building. This lady is deadly, boy. She goes out for a beer and meets Elvis Swann (Jake Weary), a good ol’ boy who is the brother of Sheriff Jesse and the son of Senator Ezekiel Swann (Anthony Michael Hall), who is running for re-election on God’s guns. American banknote. Elvis gets his hands on Parker and he’s lucky he got the damn thing back.
We don’t even have to be in the room to understand that Elvis and his paw smell like wet, moldy prairie dog shit. One look at these guys and you jump to the conclusion that Parker’s dad has seen too much dirty stuff and the Swann boys probably did something about it, and of course they just fucked with the wrong one father of a deadly MERC. or OPS. I’m not saying that’s how this plot goes, but I’m not saying it. not neither can I say it, and what’s more, it’s what we’re all already thinking about, because we’ve seen a movie or two or 20 or 350, and we’re not dummies.
Anyway, Parker notices that some local thugs have a machine gun (don’t worry, she’ll screw up their cans next week), then she spots Elvis at the shooting range playing with a damn ROCKET LAUNCHER . “Are they just handing out military weapons now? Parker said to himself, and that’s when we politely informed him uh bro this is America you can buy this stuff at Wal Mart now, about 12 minutes before the script makes the same joke. Now, just because we’re a step ahead of all this doesn’t mean the movie isn’t entertaining. We actually have fun despite that and the fact that some of these dirty white-boy characters all look the same with their beards and quasi-mullets, and we sometimes confuse them. It does not matter. We’re here to watch Alba put her big knife in, and put her big knife in, she does.
What films will this remind you of? : Trigger warning reminiscent of Frank Grillo’s rock-solid action thriller on Netflix Point blank, which also painted by numbers but was nonetheless entertaining, benefiting from a convincing performance from its lead actor and savvy direction. (Note to producers: put Grillo and Alba together in an actioner. It would be electric, I tell you, electric!) This also plays out a bit like a season of Justified condensed to 100 minutes. Oh, and when Alba got her hands on a machete, it made me think of how she starred in that movie. What was it called again? RIGHT – Fantastic Four: The Silver Surfer.
Performances to watch: This isn’t the start of Alba’s Oscar campaign, but it’s good to see her in fighting shape, convincingly exerting a bit of toughness and emotion while carrying a lightly action pic better than average.
Memorable dialogues: Mikey has questions:
Mikey: Are you a spy?
Parker: No. I’m not a spy. No.
Mikey: Exactly what a spy would say. What TO DO you do for the government?
Parker: Shenanigans.
Sex and skin: None.
Our opinion : I will say this: Trigger Warning plays like something Robert Rodriguez would have directed in 2002. And if Robert Rodriguez had directed it in 2024, it probably would have been bad instead of somewhat good. (What can I say, the guy’s been off his game for a while now.) Surya and Alba make a modestly formidable team, working through the script’s myriad clichés and plausibility issues with a bit of style and panache. The director deftly choreographs the chases, shootouts, knife fights, and fisticuffs without relying too much on CGI, and the star takes the material seriously until she’s in it. not obligated, bringing her to the brink of poker intensity before stepping back and delivering a little look or quip that acknowledges how stupid it all can be. I’d bet Alba studied 80s action stars in order to deliver a winking performance without actually winking (don’t expect too many he’s-dead-tired/yippee-ki-yay lines , perhaps unfortunately).
Look, it’s not a masterpiece, but when your expectations are modest and a film delivers much more kinetic and cohesive action than your average straight-to-VOD star rental title, and isn’t not come with the baggage of an excessive mega-budget – well, that tickles the body. Add in a non-obtrusive leading performance from the very playful Alba (anyone else feel like her return to relative prominence is overdue?), and you have 100 minutes of entertainment perfectly enjoyable in the moment that – despite the presence of a morally evil right-wing politician as an antagonist – isn’t really about anything other than watching a star demonstrate a bit of charisma.
Our call: Pull the trigger, baby! Spread it.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.