Customer Reviews

Trigger Effect [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

What can you say about movies that seemingly fly under the radar of most folks' awareness?? I think most people missed out on this one from the late '90s.

This was filmed as David Koepp's calling card into feature films as a director (having already written "Carlito's Way" and "Jurrasic Park," among other terrific films) and it is very light on action and very character driven... obviously budget gets in the way of major action set pieces, but that should never be an obstacle to good characters and plausible writing... Koepp handles all those chores adeptly and keeps a very good pace going... While his characters decide what to do when the blackout hits (and then lingers for days, and days, and days and...) you never feel as if their actions are out-of-line with reality and what people might do under the very same conditions.

This is a taut thriller, but hardly of the depth of Hitchcock's work. Instead, the film is an elaborate "Twilight Zone" episode (and gives its nods to Rod Serling's classic anthology show in both visual and verbal gags... the characters literally live at the corner of Maple and Willoughby streets (a gag on the episodes "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" (a direct antecedent to "The Trigger Effect") and "Last Stop, Willoughby" (which has nothing at all to do with this film, but is still a nice touch for those who feel this film is a direct lift from "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street") and is filmed in very sparse and minimalist ways to highlight the tension and agitation of the characters.

The key scene in this film comes fairly early, when all bets for civilized society are called off... this scene, when Matt (Kyle MacLachlan) attempts to get amoxicilin for his little infant girl (ear infection, very painful and made excruciating in the prior scene with Elizabeth Shue's character holding the crying girl during heatwave-like conditions inside the home). The pharmacist will not let him have it... plain and simple. The electricity does not work, the phones are also screwed and the doctor cannot verfiy the prescription... therefore, no medicine no matter how much pleading and cajoling Matt can attempt with the larger man behind the counter... as the scene progresses it turns ugly, a microcosm of just how frayed our civil attitudes have become in this day of technology handling just about everything for us. It's tense, it's upsetting, and it works very, very well without one punch thrown or one drop of blood spilled, a credit to Koepp's burgeoning (at the time) directorial skills.

The film kind of falls apart about 3/4's of the way through... it tries to wrap things up a little too neatly, but in the end, it's a satisfying film for those that like their thrillers with an apocalyptic edge (the film reminded me, just a bit, of the nuclear war thrillers of the 1980's including "The Day After," "Testament" and "Threads"... especially "Threads").

It's not corny, but it's not a masterpiece either... instead it's a competently written film with a first-time director (who wrote it) who pulls off the thrills on a tight budget. Worth a rental, if not a buy (especially at a price of under $10).

THE TRIGGER EFFECT offers a somber view of what happens when a major force in our every day life---electrical power---is lost, and how we react to it. The expected looting, the raising in price of things such as guns, the importance of a doctor's prescription. One of the most chilling scenes is when Kyle McLachlan tries to get some amoxicillin for his infant daughter and the pharmacist won't give it to him without a prescription. The pharmacist (played by veteran character actor William Lucking) ends up telling McLachlan he "doesn't like him." Kyle is forced later to steal the medicine. Elisabeth Shue plays his wife, and Dermot Mulroney his friend, Joe. Michael Rooker has a strong cameo as a psychotic man who shoots Joe and steals the family's vehicle. Richard T. Jones who weaves in and out of the movie offers some sublime support in a pivotal key role.
This is a dark, disturbing film and it feels lethargic; yet its pacing and broodiness underscore the fact that society's underpinnings are fragile indeed.

I really enjoyed this movie. The acting is very good by the
three main characters. The plot is the power goes out in a busy
city for no reason at all. It shows the panic and hysteria
which goes on in a particular neighborhood without getting too
violent. The story centers around Elizabeth Shue and her husband
and another male friend. yhere is tension between the three main
characters, their neighborhood, and the city itself. This movie
shows what panic can do to ordinary people and the good and bad
it brings out in characters when faced with situations which
occur when they come in contact with the unknown. Buy this movie
you will like it especially if you like the three main actors
in the movie

Trigger effect is the directorial debut of writer David Koepp who proves himself as talented a director as he's a writer. His first film is a bizzare piece of suspense\thriller that grabs the viewer through till the finale. Intriguing , stylish and visually beautiful and filled with great performances from MacLachaln and Shue this a unique movie experience.

Maybe I am on the wrong wavelength here but the film reminded me somewhat of Pay it Forward, i.e. the way people treat each other can have a profound influence on the world around us. Without giving too much away of the plot of The Trigger Effect it seemed to suggest that while everyone was treating each other badly (from a minor insult, to racial prejudice, to shooting someone dead) the entire world ended up on the path to destruction. But as soon as someone did something good, the trigger effect takes over and the world became a better place.
Interesting scenario. A bit simplistically portrayed in my view but an interesting look at what could happen when our society starts to fall apart.

I've always kept the "The Trigger Effect" in the back of my memory after watching it on TV years ago, so when I was talking to my friend about the "breaking point" when people stop behaving in a civilized manner and become basically selfish savages, i told her about this movie and decided to purchase it; and needless to say, I wasn't dissapointed.

Despite the high quality cinematography and acting, this movie is not for everyone, specially for all those who are looking for cheap thrills with zombies and unknown creatures from outer space..
This is basically a thinking man's thriller, in the vein of the timeless Twilight Zone TV series, as some of the reviewers here have pointed out.

What makes this movie so effective is that it is based on solid reality ground!
All of the events and actions on the "Trigger Effect" are entirely plausible and i am sure sure people who have lived through catastrophic events and wars can relate to them.

Without giving away the plot, let's say this movie basically explores the continuous breakdown in "civilized" human relations between citizens and friends, when our daily conforts dissappear due to a catastrophic event, and fear, chaos, looting, murder follows, and normal people like you and I, are forced to resort to violence and force to ensure our family's survival.

Another event displayed in the movie that rings a bell more than 10 years later (May 2008) is the shortage of gasoline that leaves drivers stranded in the middle of nowhere, and nobody is willing to stop and help them for fear of being assaulted.
I am sure all those who've lived through the oil shortages of the 70s can relate, and now that the prices of gasoline have sky-rocketed in the last few months, one has to wonder if we are due for a replay of what happened more than 30 years ago.

The main point this movie makes is that our current civilized world as we know it, stands on a few pillars that could collapse in a matter of hours or days due catastrophic events, and this event would basically trigger a breakdown of our civilization as we know it, and questions how truly "considerate" and "civilized" we all really are!

"The Trigger Effect" is an honest but painful look at the unstable house of cards our society is built upon. The suburbs are full of anesthetized Americans who think they are safe. This movie cuts through the fallacy of safety we all live under. The illusion of security from police protection, government oversight, some money in the bank or a gun under the mattress are shown to be an insubstantial chimera obscuring the underlying harshness of reality. "The Trigger Effect" uses a power failure to graphically demonstrate the inevitable results of the failure of one card in our fragile social system. Not a pleasant movie, but an important one. If you're looking for a linear plot or a strong story line look elsewhere. Recommended viewing for all suburbanites.

This movie offers one possible perspective of what could plausably happen if a major metropolitan area lost power for an extended period. While surprising how fast people lost it in the movie, I believe the actions taken and the scenes portrayed unfortunately mirror society's rush to irratic behavior. In the Just-In-Time society we all live in, one small crinkle could have dire effects. Elizabeth Shue looks great in the movie, and plays the role of the disillusioned house wife well. Could this movie mirror the possible effects of a Y2K type scenario? The question begs an answer, to which this movie replies quite loudly.. A good rent for the weekend.

I think this movie is a good, overall account of a potential Y2K disaster and nothing more. It came out a few years ago when no one was paying attention to Y2K and is not supposed to be a prediction of it, it just happens to do it anyway! It does seem kind of "Mad Max" -ish, which holds your attention, but the story is corny. However, the redeeming quality of the movie is that it's a good depiction of what might happen with the Y2K scenario: mass power outages, lack of communications, urban decay, personal safety, etc. See it soon, stock your medicine, load your shotgun, and get some cash in small bills....

The idea isn't bad at all. Something like that (major blackout, severed supply chains, chaos, looting and shooting) can and most likely will happen again one day (take New Orleans for example). The performance is also quite good (one can actually see regular folks transiting from minor confusion to desperation in a matter of hours). Worth being watched once but rent it if you can since it's not one of those movies that you'd want to make a part of your collection.