Trigger Point

Directed by Brad Turner, Trigger Point follows retired special forces operative Nicolas Shaw (Barry Pepper) as he’s forced to spring back into action after his former colleagues are knocked off by a mysterious assassin. It’s a familiar setup that’s employed to increasingly tedious and uninvolving effect by Turner, as the filmmaker delivers a slow-moving endeavor that’s rarely, if ever, able to become the thrilling actioner one might’ve anticipated – with the movie’s arms-length atmosphere compounded by Turner’s styleless, low-rent approach to Michael Vickerman’s exposition-heavy screenplay. There’s little doubt, as a result, that Trigger Point suffers from a mostly impenetrable narrative that grows less and less interesting as time progresses, and although Turner has peppered the proceedings with a small handful of compelling action sequences, the picture’s general absence of forward momentum essentially cancels out its few positive attributes (including a typically engaging performance by Pepper) – with the anticlimactic final stretch and open-ended conclusion ultimately ensuring that the whole thing finishes on as ineffective and underwhelming a note as one could envision.

** out of ****