Trigger Warning Parent Guide

Special Forces commando Parker (Jessica Alba) is unexpectedly called home from overseas duty when her father passes away suddenly. While there, she starts to notice that things in her hometown feel off, and the circumstances surrounding her father’s death don’t add up. Her investigation leads her to a gang of violent arms dealers, who don’t take kindly to being asked questions.

Revenge action flicks have been all the rage for a few years now. And frankly, I’m bored. If you’re not John Wick don’t bother. Trigger Warning is not the worst of the genre, but it does exemplify many common pitfalls. I should not be bored while watching knife fights, but I was. Constantly. This film could barely hold my attention, to the point that I had to place my phone out of reach so that I would watch the movie instead of finding new ways to distract myself. The pace is far too slow and the action too generic to qualify as exciting, or even mildly entertaining.

To give the show some credit, it doesn’t look cheap. Production values are higher than expected, with great camera work, set design, and editing. But that effort is lost on a tedious script and poor casting choices. Perhaps a better actress could have elevated the material, but Alba is not believable as a commando. She hits the emotional moments between fight scenes just fine but can’t seem to deliver the heart-pumping action required in this role.

As expected in this genre, there’s a significant amount of violence and profanity. Though not gratuitously gory, the film features blood and on-screen deaths. There is also some smoking and a scene involving a marijuana grow-op, which has no bearing on the plot, so I don’t know why it was included. Regardless, the TV-MA rating is rightly earned and interested audiences should consider it before choosing this movie. Though I still wouldn’t recommend it even if it was G rated. There are simply better action films out there, so no reason to waste your time on this one.