Trigger Warning

3 outta 5

As far as unhelpful titles go, Trigger Warning is kind of up there because it seems like a parody title. Instead, this is a fairly straightforward action flick. Also, there is a lot of (rather well done) knife battling in this film but inserting the word “trigger” in the title makes it seem like there would be a focus on gunfire. Also, what is it warning about anyway? Crummy and nonsensical title aside, if one wants to see Jessica Alba engage in multiple fights along with some heavy-handed melodrama and plenty of gratuitous Bud Light promotions, this should deliver. But at least the action is satisfyingly crunchy whenever the characters stop moping.

Parker (Alba) is a US government agent who returns to her hometown when it is revealed that her father died in a cave-in. Her dad also owned a local bar that was next to a mine that he also had a personal lounge in it for some reason. It’s as if the writers couldn’t decide if it was about tragic miners or tragic veterans owning a dive bar and decided to split the difference. But the whole thing seems shady to Parker as her dad was a veteran and knew how to stay safe. She meets up with her old flame and current Sheriff, Jesse (Mark Webber) who is the son of Senator Ezekiel Swann (Anthony Michael Hall) and brother to a local ruffian, Elvis (Jake Weary). It turns out that Elvis is up to no good and is selling weapons, something that Parker’s father discovered. Now with the help of some friends, like her weed producing buddy Mike (Gabriel Basso) and her tech-savvy government associate, Spider (Tone Bell), she must strike at Senator Swann and his crooked sons to get revenge for her father’s death.

The whole thing about the film half being set at a dusty dive bar in the middle of nowhere makes it seem like a Road House knock off which is weird because the Road House remake just came out. It makes Parker seem like a common working person even though they are established as an elite government assassin. She even gives some visiting veterans some free drinks which is a pandering way to establish her as a protector of good values. But the bar setting mostly seems to be there for some blatant Bud Light product placement, with Parker and her buddy drinking Bud Light with the label at the forefront. Even the free drinks she gives to the veterans is Bud Light. When she refills her pitcher and gets into an argument with Elvis, the pitcher is half head which is a poor way to fill a pitcher and not great promotion. Later when she goes to visit her friend at his house, the mother tells her to get a drink and “All I’ve got is light,” and it is Bud Light. Netflix makes quite a lot of money so it’s weird that the studio would have to engage in such blatant advertising.

Alba is a decent action hero as she does a lot of brooding and there are some dull romantic bits between her and Jesse. There is a finale confrontation between the two where he is holding a grenade and pulls the pin which does have some legitimate pathos.  But Alba’s main job is selling the action. There’re a few decent fights she engages in, like one in a hardware store where she battles off a goon with a chainsaw. Another good bit is when the Swann boys have her handcuffed and smack her around Parker gets to snap that their punches are weak.

Hall as the Senator is another one in his late career heavies, but he is good at that. The film signals that he is a completely horrible person when he is having dinner with Parker and his first line is “I am not a racist” and then he proceeds to say he doesn’t know how to pronounce Latinx and proclaims most Mexicans are conservatives. He plays a big tough guy but when the real gun running goons show up he gets considerably wimpy. Webber as the son who rekindles a relationship with Parker gets in some rather uninteresting scenes of them looking sad about their lives. Weary who plays Elvis acts like an entitled smarmy jerk so when he gets beaten up it is satisfying. Basso as Mike her stoner buddy is basically there to provide exposition and take bong hits. There is an inordinate amount of beard guys in this movie, so it is easy to get them confused. The only other standout is Bell as Parker’s military buddy and he does get in a pretty clever line when the crooks ask if the Government is onto their scheme and he says “Probably. They’re the United States Government and you’re a bunch of hicks.”

When the fights get going in Trigger Warning it has some kinetic punch. There is nothing as elaborate as something from a John Wick movie, but some moments get close like when Parker is brawling with a goon on a staircase as the bar is on fire and she ends up knocking him over into the flames. What is decent are the little flourishes in the action, and some good grittiness and scowling from Alba, that makes up for the lengthy bits of soggy melodrama.