Review of Trigger Man (2007) by John K — 04 Jun 2008

The film has a complete disregard for any narrative coherence (ie. it has no plot). Instead, the film simply shows the mundane existence of a group of friends in a rather matter-the-fact tone - when they go hunting, they're just going for the heck of it, just as it would be in life... there is no loftier motivation or anything, it's just how life would be for a group of down-on-their-luck people.

The first half of the film simply shows the men wandering in the woods, having fun, joking... not doing anything in particular... which acts as a reflection of what these people are doing with their own l live - nothing in particular.

This meandering aimlessness of the first half may infuriate viewers since nothing of any particular interest happens (and admittedly, I was progressively losing interest as well), but fortunately at the half-way point the film changes drastically into a survival thriller when an unknown gunman begins to pick each man off one by one.

Even though the film get injected with a needed does of adrenaline at this point, the film still maintains it's disregard for narrative - no explanation is given as to why a gunman is targeting them, it just happens. In addition, the film ends abruptly which may catch viewers off guard and leave them hanging, but in retrospect it is the perfect place to end the film... nothing more could have been said.

In conclusion, the film is primarily inconsequential as it ends up not really saying anything, but the film does have a genuine raw energy and palpable suspense in the later half, and the disregard for conventional filmmaking also makes it feel refreshing, but it doesn't make as good of an impact as one would like.