Silent Trigger

cf

Whoever thought it was a good idea to make this film ought to be shot. The plot makes no sense at all, one minute these two characters are in a lift shaft, the next, they are in the middle of the jungle, then a desert, then back into the lift shaft again. They seem to change roles a lot too. One minute the lead guy is a friendly Russian, the next, he is chaining people to toilets and shooting his way to god knows where. The story also makes no sense at all, and the acting is very dodgy at places. If you chained someone to a toilet, surely to god you would hear them ripping it off the wall and dragging it PAST you as they escape? WHAT WERE THEY THINKING WHEN THEY MADE THIS???????????????

A shooter and his spotter lie high in a church tower. When the green light comes he is unable to shoot and his spotter is order to kill him. Before she does, they are ambushed and escape across country. Years later the same two are unwittingly paired for another job and realise that those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. It starts well – better than expected, the only weakness of the first 20 minutes or so are some very poor computer graphics. However after that it slows right down and, even though I still expected something more from it – it never really delivered. To keep the story going while they set up their shot, we rope in a crazy security guard to keep the story doing something. When the action does finally come it doesn't convince and doesn't totally hang together. The problem is partly that nothing is explained for the whole film – not for tension but just for convenience. They work for an unnamed agency, their jobs have no motive, the flashback story is set in an unnamed country etc. Suddenly at the end we're expected to care about whats happening even if we don't know why it's happening. It's a shame because Lundgren is actually OK in this – I'm not a big fan but he's OK. Bellman is so-so, but she sounds like she's surpressing her voice and sounds weird. I couldn't place her the whole film – then I realised she's from the UK and is from the series Coupling. The director has done some OK action movies and did some cool shots with this. It's just a shame that most of it is so dull and without tension – even the nice ending is spoilt by what went before it. Overall good start, reasonable ending but the bit in between could, nay should, have been much better.

Okay, where do I begin… I have been known to enjoy a good 'so-bad-it's-good' movie from time to time and I am a fan of the 'classic' action movies of the eighties (and therefore all those muscle-bound hunks who starred in them). Therefore, based on my nostalgia for Dolph Lundgren's stints in such 'classics' (well, I thought so!) in 'He-Man, Dark Angel and Universal Soldier,' I thought I'd give 'Silent Trigger' a go. Now, normally this is the time I say something like 'You should know what you're getting with a film called 'Silent Trigger.' I know it's a B-movie. I know it's 'straight to DVD.' I know there's no real (current!) stars in it. I'm just expecting a bit of mindless action and vague entertainment for an hour and a half. I guess I got the latter. 'Silent Trigger' was certainly 'entertaining,' but possibly in the wrong kind of way. Whether it was due to the blatantly computer-generated attempts at major action set pieces, or just the ludicrousness of the script – it did hold my attention, sadly just to see how bad it gets. The plot (and I use that term loosely) begins with Dolph Lundgren failing to assassinate his target (did I mention he was an assassin? Well, he is) due to the inexperience of his partner, played by Gina Bellman and her forever-changing accent. The 'agency' (they don't really mention which) that they work for aren't happy and… and already it gets confusing. Skip forward a few years and the pair are reunited to carry out one more job from a vantage point that looks like the Nakatomi Plaza from 'Die Hard,' only not quite finished yet. However, it's not as straight forward as it sounds (and killing should be reasonably straight forward for a pair of professional assassins as it's kind of in their job description) as they come to blows with pair of security guards tasked with… er… defending (?) the under construction building. And that's sort of it really. It's two professional assassins versus two professional night security men. You may think that's a pretty one-sided battle, but you'd be wrong. I'm not sure whether the security staff are really good, or if the assassins are just bad. Either way there's a lot of 'cat and mouse' which takes place, leaving me a little unsure as who I'm supposed to be rooting for – the killers, or the nut jobs guarding the place. So, there's basically only four people in the cast and therefore what little action there is is sparse and hardly high-octane. So, in order to pad out the film's runtime there's more flashbacks which don't really make an awful lot of sense and all could have been left out of the story if truth be told. I like a good B-movie. Sadly, this just isn't really one of them. There's not really enough here to warrant recommending it. Yes, if you're a REAL die-hard fan of Dolph himself I guess you'll like it more than normal, but even he can do better (I take it you've seen the Expendables?). Just leave this one in the bargain basement of DVDs at your local petrol station where it belongs. Sorry, Dolph!

He is calm, silent and deadly. His bullet can hit you from distance of 2 kilometers. This time Dolph holds in his hands a new tool of destruction – a sniper. He works as political assassin, but he doesn't want to kill any more. They sent him to his last mission into the great designed building with a girl who is his assistant (Bellman). While they make preparations, we watch many flash-backs related to their common past and targets from many years ago. They don't know that whole this job is just a trap to eliminate them both. Director of "Highlander" and "Shadow", Russell Mulcahy, brought you another hit. Claustophobic, strong and dramatic, this film really makes you think. Dolph also provided you with fantastic action scenes that will take your breath away. Gina Bellman – always pleasant to look at. The film that is going to become an important part of your personal collection.

`Silent Trigger`is the best actioner Dolph Lundgren made in years and it looks absolutely fantastic for a B-movie.This feature owes a lot to dynamite direction of Aussie-shooter Russell Mulcahy who made a really significant contribution in this one. The whole movie relies entirely on Mulcahy`s direction that is still hip and vital.The script is average with lots of flaws in the middle of the movie but the writing overall does the trick.Plotting is trashy but the ending is twist-oriented and it really freshens up the whole concept.The script isn`t witty enough but those gaps could`ve been filled by bigger budget since the movie has only two capital A,action set-pieces.I wonder how Mulcahy got expelled from the Hollywood action mainstream since lots of hackers like Hyams or Dwight H.Little get to do mainstream movies even though they haven`t had a hit for years. This movie is the right way for Dolph to go because such action vehicles are hard to find in Hollywood these days.Lundgren`s martial art scenes are great since he is tall and bulky so his kicks really pack a punch.His face isn`t as pretty as Van Damme`s but he hits harder.Of course `Silent Trigger` ain`t no `Citizen Kane` but it sure does go way beyond anyone`s expectations from a movie that lays in the dust of the video-store back-shelf. Mulcahy`s visual work is great and he still has the zeal for the job. No Kevin Hooks or Peter Hyams can overthrow this wet of hip visual directing.Let me remind you that Mulcahy brought video clip aesthetics to the Hollywood mainstream at the time when David Fincher,Simon West and Domenic Sena used to dress in diapers.Sadly,he never had an idea of his own like Fincher but he still made groundbreaking videos for `Queen` and movies like `Highlander` or `Ricochet`.Let`s hope he finds his way back to the maistream.

Trailer—Silent Trigger

After reading the other reviews I can say what some may not like about this film makes it a hit for me. Great soundtrack and musical score. Awesome effects and stunts. This film swings back and forth from near stillness to total pandemonium. It is agreeably disconcerting. Predicting the next scene is impossible. A survival movie of 5 stars. I concur this film has a strange quality, even exotic. Everything about Silent Trigger is excellent, including the acting. I really liked the set design. You might like this movie less if you need a visible plot and an even pace (it's not here!). Silent Trigger would be good in a trio including, say, The Anderson Tapes (Sean Connery and Dyan Cannon) and The Peacemaker (George Clooney and Nicole Kidman), because of the contrast and similarities in all three films. At any rate it would seem to be a film that could use a balance, because it does have a slice factor. So my advice is to pair it with a few other films and round out your viewing.

The best part of this movie is it's set pieces. It definitely gives off a Die Hard 2 vibe. Dolph Lundgen does a great job in the game of cat and mouse between his character as well as Christopher Heyerdahl's creepy character. When the two are together the scenes are intense and a good time. U fortunately, the poor writing in this film keeps this film from being distinctive from other action films. Nevertheless, this is a great action film and if you were looking for something to watch you won't waste your time.