Bullet Points: Trigger Point (2021)

After Liam Neeson and Keanu revived their respective careers by coming out of retirement and whooping ass every actor over 45 has jumped on board with the gimmick. The latest attempt at John Wick-ing the box office is from Barry Pepper. That may come as a surprise to some of you (myself included) but I am certainly curious as to what BP has up his black sleeves. I mean, I am just assuming that he wears nothing but black. To be honest, if I see a guy who is in his 40’s or 50’s, in good physical condition, and wears nothing but black I just assume he is a former hitman. I haven’t been proven wrong yet.

Synopsis: Follows Nicolas Shaw, a retired U.S. special operative who becomes part of an elite “invisible” team that quietly takes out the worst villains around the world.

• The death toll: The film opens with a series of “hits”. Are they other former agents? Could they be the annoying folks at the PTA meeting? Maybe they are all named Sarah Connor? Whatever the case, we see multiple people meeting their end via the silenced pistol.
• The simple life: Barry Pepper is Lewis (not really, his name is Nicolas Shaw), a simple man living the simple life in a small town. He eats the same thing at the diner and listens to the hot waitress talk about her problems. He buys books from the tiny local bookstore and generally goes around be the perfect little mysterious man in town. What they don’t know is that Lewis is some sort of former covert agent who is in hiding. His house is like a fortress and I want to live there badly. He’s got cameras and motion sensors everywhere around the compound and even a drone that he sends up to check the premises. When I saw the gun shed in Arnold’s Commando I knew that was a life goal. Now I’m pretty sure that Barry Pepper has one-upped Arnie, himself!

• Getting answers: Everything seems to be going swell until a random dude shows up asking about Nicolas Shaw. It’s a moment that he had been waiting for since he fled to this town and you could definitely say that he was prepared for it. We get to see a brand new torture method that I’ve never seen (noted) and we follow along as Shaw starts putting more pieces together about what is going on. One interesting thing is that Shaw has a bit of selective amnesia going on so even he is in the dark about some details just as we, the audience are.
• Bang bang: An action blog needs to talk about action and while Trigger Point isn’t John Wick in terms of the amount of chaos, when it’s time for Shaw to throw down he does so with an efficiency that would make Keanu proud. A pretty awesome selection of shootouts and we even get to see that drone return. To say that I was impressed by the action scenes would be and understatement.

• The plot thickens: Covert ops/spy movies are bound to have some twists and turns. Trigger Point is no Memento but it does its best in the short runtime to throw the audience for a loop or two. I don’t think most of you will be left amazed by the revelations toward the end of the film but I also don’t think that it’s necessary for you to enjoy the movie.
• A quaint little town: My wife loves that show Gilmore Girls and I’ve seen far too many episodes of it myself. If I wasn’t already so badass I would have revoked my Man Card years ago for this one. But, it has given me a slightly new perspective on the quaint little town that the talkative girls live in and now I know what it would look like if an ex-covert agent hid there and then was involved in a shootout in the streets. When it comes to the quiet little town to hide in, Trigger Point giveth and Trigger Point taketh away.

The Verdict: Trigger Point was far better than I ever expected. No more than 6 hours ago RTG sent me the trailer and one question, “wanna cover this for tomorrow?” A simple query and an obvious answer (I do like me some Barry Pepper), but one that still had lots of questions about whether I would be wasting my time or not with this flick. I am happy to say that not only did I NOT waste my time, but that I had a fantastic time watching Trigger Point. It’s James Bond without the cool gadgets and 60 years of history, but it takes time to introduce you to Barry Pepper’s Nicolas Shaw and actually gives you a reason to like him. Imagine that? A movie where you actually care whether the hero lives or dies? The action scenes were crisp and the short runtime meant that no scene ever overstayed its welcome. Thriller/action spy movies have always been cool but I never would have thought to ask for one starring Barry Pepper. Now I just want more. Find Trigger Point streaming starting April 16!