Trigger Man (2007) Reviews

• A dissenting view of "Trigger Man"

  lemon_magic2008-07-18

  I rented "Trigger Man" last night because I was looking for something a little different, a little out of the "mainstream", and I'm not sorry I did. Admittedly, you have to be in a certain mood to be appreciate this movie's minor pleasures. You have to be willing to sit back and let the movie unfold before you get to the "good part". I thought the minimalist digital film photography helped the beauty of the setting come across to the viewer, luring a person into a fairly bucolic mood before the abrupt shocking change of pace in the 2nd half. It's obvious that none of the previous reviewers were in that mood. "Trigger Man" has a certain feel that reminds me a lot of "Blair Witch Project", and also "Deliverance", and maybe a bit of "The Most Dangerous Game." It isn't as good as any of those films, of course, but it tries hard to build and sustain a mood (actually two moods), and it does a decent job of it. The viewer has to be willing to accept a certain "flatness" in the tone of the film, instead of the usual jump cuts and musical "stings" and plot gimmicks that directors usually employ to manipulate the emotions of the viewer. I was OK with that, since I've come to regard even master manipulators like Spielberg as heavy handed exploiters of my basic instincts. This movie eschews all that...and some people may resent the lack of nice, comforting cinematic and plotting clichés that reassure the audience that they are on familiar territory. Also in its favor is a nice, moody soundtrack with cleverly miked and treated strings instead the usual overworked synthesizers. Yes, the actors aren't very photogenic, yes the plot relies on a several unlikely coincidences and at least two logical flaws that are hard to overlook. But I enjoyed "Trigger Man" for what it was, and thought it worth the rental.

• I'd rather watch my neighbor's holidays video..

  Tanhausser_Gates2007-10-26

  This is barely a 5 even for an amateur film festival.. You can tell this is the result of a 'different' weekend of a bunch of pals. No realism, no continuity, no nothing.. Just "make sure you finish the film in a weekend time" kind of film. See.. There are a few things you don't do when there is sniper shooting at random people, for instance: You do not stand still in the clear making noises, specially at the same spot where someone else has been shot, and specially you do not scream and wave at them. So after some of that the "bad guys" just don't know where to go and run in front of the last survivor who is pointing a gun in the right direction at the right time, end of the film. I hope it was fun for those who made the movie at least.. Because watching it is no fun at all.

• The most boring movie I've ever seen

  jgack2008-07-12

  "Trigger Man" is definitely the most boring and silliest movie I've ever seen in my life. My aunt's holiday videos are more fascinating. The actors seem to be recruited at uglypeople.com. They do not have any talent to act in a convincing manner. They walk and walk and walk through the forest. There's more walking-around than in all three parts of "The Lord of the Rings" together. After the first hour, I began to read a Porsche brochure while watching "Trigger Man" along the way. Awful. A total waste of time and money. I'd give that movie 0 stars out of 10, since this is not possible, I have to give 1 star.

• A forgivable misstep if you look at what came after

  StevePulaski2015-03-23

  Anyone acquainted with contemporary horror likely knows of Ti West and knows what he's capable of putting together in terms of making horror films. He can take various setups and proceed to fill them with characters, atmosphere, and an impending sense of dread in order to effectively adhere to the basic principles of the horror genre. Trigger Man, made on a dirt-poor budget in 2007, concerning three men (Reggie Cunningham, Ray Sullivan, and Sean Reid), who embark on a hunting trip in Delaware where they soon become the target of a lethal sniper lurking in the woods, seems like the perfect premise for West to execute his suspense-driven ways. However, he focuses too much on inherently-inert suspense, which comes in the form of the hunters walking around a cluttered forest to the point of excess; West essentially traps himself within the confines of his own suspense that any form of payoff inevitably becomes a "too little, too late" circumstance. West does it all with Trigger Man, from being the film's writer, producer, director, editor, and cinematographer, and the film gives off the impression it was shot amongst pals during a weekend getaway. The continuity is all over the place, the camera-work is frequently unsteady, the editing feels sloppy, and the sense of dread is shockingly minimal. The film's glaring error, alongside the fact that the suspense comes in excess, is that West doesn't allow any sort of spacial element to take fold. We never really get the sense of, despite the vast open spaces around them, how trapped these characters are. We don't get the idea of the environment because we're so busy lingering on our empty characters with medium-length, unsteady shots, and with a film that takes place almost entirely in a woodsy setting, the environment is a key aspect. The forest is a lifeless character, complimented by the three leads, absent of any and all personality. There's a brilliant horror film fighting to reveal itself in Trigger Man, but as it stands, the film is too slight to recommend and too unremarkable to commend on the same level as other West films. This is an interesting effort, combining the most minimalistic levels of storytelling devices, narrative progression, and payoff to create a horror film stripped down to its bare basics of operation, but it's all too shaky and uniformly messy to praise when there are other efforts of the like that do so much better at conveying dread and suspense (the underrated Open Water, anyone?). The good thing is with West's strong filmography, this one will live on as a footnote and its long term impact clearly hasn't worked to stall what looks to be a long, fruitful career. Starring: Riley Cunningham, Ray Sullivan, and Sean Reid. Directed by: Ti West.

• The bad reviews are not exaggerating!

  dpetty012011-09-02

  When people say there is nothing but walking around for a good hour, this is not an exaggeration. In fact, it may be too generous, because for about five whole minutes the three hunters sit and do absolutely nothing. I thought the screen had frozen and so did the person I was watching it with. But no, they just weren't moving. And this is LONG before there is any "action" so it's not like the film is building tension. Unfortunately, when the action finally begins the viewer may have been literally lulled to sleep and it's blink-and-you-miss. The movie takes much too long to get going and when it does the characters just make stupid choices. It's an Idiot Plot. There is a lot of shaky cam and inexplicable cuts that make it impossible to know what is going on. I know this is going for the Blair Witch kind of feel, but the movie takes too long to do anything or build any tension so rather than feeling nervous at the shaky parts, you just tune out. The characters are non-entities. It felt like the actors weren't even giving an effort, and I can't really blame them. I remarked to my companion that this seemed like a first year film school student thing. An "A" for effort kind of thing for whoever made this. Nice try buddy, I'm sure you'll make a good movie next time.