Silent Trigger

Directed by Russell Mulcahy, Silent Trigger follows a sharpshooter (Dolph Lundgren) and his spotter (Gina Bellman) as they arrive at a still-under-construction high rise to take out their latest target – with complications ensuing after said high rise’s security guards (Conrad Dunn’s Supervisor and Christopher Heyerdahl’s O’Hara) start interfering in the protagonists’ efforts. Filmmaker Mulcahy, working from a screenplay by Sergio Altieri, delivers an exceedingly erratic piece of work that grows less and less interesting as time progresses, which is a shame, ultimately, given that Silent Trigger, which does get off to a relatively agreeable start, boasts a handful of admittedly compelling action sequences – with, for example, the central characters’ ongoing encounters with Heyerdahl’s mustache-twirling villain as brutal and exciting as one might’ve hoped. It’s clear, then, that the picture’s downfall is due to its meandering midsection that doesn’t, for the most part, make a whole lot of sense (ie why have they been assigned a new gig after monumentally blowing their beginning-of-the-movie assignment?), with the frequent flashbacks unable to flesh out either the characters or their mission to the extent that Mulcahy has obviously intended. And although the violent climax is relatively compelling, Silent Trigger has long-since cemented its place as a hit-and-miss thriller that’s predominantly more miss than hit.

** out of ****