‘Trigger Warning’ Review: Supersoldier Jessica Alba Wages War on Domestic Criminals in Slick but Contrived Melodrama
variety.comDennis Harvey Film Critic Jessica Alba unleashes her inner Rambo in “Trigger Warning,” wherein her active U.S. military officer gets pulled homeward by tragedy, only to uncover corruption she’ll have to clean up before leaving again.
Indonesian director Mouly Surya’s well-crafted first English-language feature is too formulaically contrived to qualify as “elevated genre” or to boast the personal stamp of her prior work.
Still, it’s an entertaining, pacey action melodrama that should do well for Netflix, where it launches on June 21. After two intriguingly conceived but somewhat vague initial features, Surya made an assertive impression with 2018’s “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts.” That striking “feminist outlaw Western” distinctively juggled elements of revenge thriller, black comedy and character-driven social critique.
Her more conventionally commercial American debut is another vengeance tale driven by a strong-willed, capable female protagonist.
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