The retired covert operative is pulled back into the life for one last mission. That’s got to be in the top 5 action movie plots of all time, right? If you’ve followed this site or my reviews for any period of time, you’ll know that I’m a firm believer in the “execution is everything” theory. It does not matter a single bit that your basic plotline has been used repeatedly, the devils in the details as they say, and director Brad Turner fills those details with silenced shots from a hi-powered .45 caliber handgun in his new film Trigger Point.
Barry Pepper, easily one of the top character actors of his generation, plays retired special operator Nicolas Shaw. After a disastrous mission that ended with him captured, forced to break, and giving up the identities of other covert operators Shaw is now hiding out in small town USA. That is until his former cohort Elias Kane (played by another great character actor, Colm Feore) seeks his help, revealing that Kane’s daughter has been kidnapped. You see, Shaw’s the only one who knows the identity of mysterious kingpin Quinton. It’s not a simple kidnapping mission though, as Quinton has apparently dispatched assassin Fiona Shaw (Laura Vandervoort) to eliminate all of the operatives revealed by Shaw during his capture and “interrogation”. At least that’s Elias’s story, and the one that Shaw will have to trust as he launches his one-man war against those who seek to hurt.
Trigger Point is well worth a quiet night home, while it won’t be listed on any ‘Best of’ action movie lists it’s not something you’ll regret having watch. While I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the lack of resolution, with the ending being a transparent setup for a franchise…or at least a sequel, it’s on the strength of Barry Pepper that you’ll stick through and enjoy the watching Nicolas Shaw deliver that sweet, sweet justice down the barrel of his silenced hand cannon.