When I am playing CALL OF DUTY multiplayer I can almost always point out who the snipers are in the lobby. When I see a guy with a gamer tag that has a word like SNIPE, LONE, WOLF, NINJA, SWORD, ALPHA, RECON, IAMAGAYASSSNIPER in it I just know they are setting up camp somewhere lying on the ground in a heavily dark corner complimenting themselves on just how badass they are because they are going to have the best Kill/Death ratio in the lobby. They like to pretend that somewhere in this world there is someone who is not a child molester (this time) that gives a darn. CALL OF DUTY has given snipers a bad name. Thankfully Ol' Dolph is here to show how badass snipers really are.SILENT TRIGGER (directed by Russell Mulcahy, the guy who did HIGHLANDER, lol) is a strange film indeed. It is not your typical action film. Dolph Lundgren plays a sniper working for something called 'The Agency'. It is a vague organization that I can only assume exists to perform assassinations on political targets. At the beginning of the film we are treated to a flashback where Dolph does not pull the trigger on a political target and his female spotter Clegg is ordered to kill him. A helicopter shows up with a group of local militia (I assume) preventing her from killing Lundgren. The question is would she have done it in the first place. As the movie goes on we are treated to more flashbacks expanding from the beginning showing us Dolph's and Clegg's escape and parting when Dolph finds out that she has been ordered to kill him.
The main story takes place in a large skyscraper under construction where Dolph is setting up for another assassination. Here is what I don't understand. Years have passed since the incident where he couldn't pull the trigger yet Dolph is still working for the same agency. Why is he still with them and why haven't they killed him yet? I don't get it. I must have missed something. Apparently Dolph is recreating the same incident with Clegg returning unaware that her partner is Dolph. He wants to know if she would have killed him and at the same time get revenge on the guy who ordered his death. That is the story.
What is really weird about this film is how the tone of the film changes from an action movie to a haunting psychological horror movie. The empty building is spooked with foreboding music highlighted with the boom of thunder and drowned in falling rain. There are two overnight watchmen who guard the building. Now usually in most action movies these characters last about ten seconds on screen either by getting themselves perished by the baddies or they just don't show them anymore because they aren't important. In SILENT TRIGGER they become two of the central characters of the film. Basically there are only four main characters Dolph, Clegg and two night watchmen. Very strange. One of the night watchmen is a real bastard and tries to rape Clegg. At one point he starts doing drugs and starts to see C.G.I. spiders everywhere. Weird. Actually what is really weird is he has small spiders tattooed all over his body. He kind of becomes the main antagonist for awhile. None that is what you are expecting.
There are only about three action moments in the film. I don't really count the fight with Lundgren and the crazy security guard but you can if you want to. Actionwise this is a decent film. The beginning with Dolph on a tower gunning down baddies with his sniper rifle is awesome and at the end he shoots a guy with it from point blank range. Very bloody. The blood effects are pretty good but there is a cartoon helicopter straight out of a SYFY Original Movie that crashes into a tower with really weak cartoon explosions. Hey, at least they use practical blood effects. Nowadays they would color that stuff in with an electronic computing device.
SILENT TRIGGER is a unique action movie experience. I liked it alot and if you are a fan of Dolph's then you should too. Dolph Lundgren makes camping noobs look like total badasses........Nah, they still suck but I ain't telling Dolph that. Be my guest.
Jason
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