Review of Triggermen

Introduction

Triggermen was a film that I had contemplated seeing at my local UGC but didn`t. The film`s short cinema run however gives a clue as to what might be expected; Neil Morrissey isn`t exactly a headlining name that has me panting out of breath running to my local cinema.

So you`re a hard up conman and decide on taking a chance of pulling a scam or two in another country. Only while you`re hanging around hotel lobbies looking for a chance, the briefcase you steal just happens to have cash and details of a hit to be made on some local crime boss. Now what? Just wing it and see if there`s more money at the end, after all what would a criminal be if he weren`t a tad greedy?

Neil Morrissey and Adrian Dunbar are the hapless bumbling pair that end up mistaken as hitmen Donnie Wahlberg and Michael Rapaport, when they unwittingly steal a briefcase meant for them. What ensues is our twosome passing themselves off as hitmen and trying to get the job done, while the original pair are trying to figure out where their briefcase is. Here we go, comedy or errors time.

Video

Presented with a 1.78:1 widescreen enhanced transfer, Triggermen looks surprisingly good. Colours look restrained but balanced and with the generous amount of lighting throughout the film you could be forgiven for thinking that it was a low budget British film, shot in Britain (it`s not though). It lacks the kind of gloss most Hollywood films achieve and if the film was looking for something grittier to match the genre, it lacks it. Still, there are no discernible problems with the transfer and it almost looks perfect. Detail is good though looks soft in some shots.

Audio

Presented with a plain old Dolby Digital 2.0 English soundtrack, you`d be forgiven for thinking that no matter what the film budget in this day and age ($12m in this case), it`s a false economy to have anything but 5.1 sound for a modern film. Still, there`s quite a bit of music in the film, which sounds good, and there is some ambient surround, but not a great deal. Dialogue sounds clear from the front, though subtitles would have helped pick out a few words attached to accents.

Features

Nothing. There are also no subtitles on this DVD.

Conclusion

After 90-minutes or so, was it as predicted? Not quite. I was expecting a dreary attempt at a con film, but I`ll give the film its dues, it held me from start to finish and that in itself isn`t easy to do with other films vying for attention. Triggermen is highly predictable from the start so you find yourself spooning the contents to a switched off mind, whiling away 92-minutes. It`s not a bad way to go though and I found myself moderately entertained. The story wraps up its loose ends by the end and Neil Morrissey rides off into the sunset. Pity we don`t get any low-down as to why these petty conmen are in the States in the first place.

Cast wise the only actor that doesn`t fit is Neil Morrissey as I don`t think he`s ever progressed beyond Boon and Men Behaving Badly. The rest of the cast make do with their under-developed parts however and you wonder how they got involved with making this film in the first place. The characters are the plain throwaway types, i.e. not memorable and there`s no spark or charisma present. We`re meant to root for the two leads in Morrissey and Dunbar, but I didn`t find their pairing in the slightest bit exciting. The film direction feels like it`s paint-by-numbers, which lacks the polish that can make an average film into something worthy of a Friday night rental. A bit of script work with some imagination behind the photography and direction could have made a difference.

As a comedy of errors go, being the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time, it`s okay to watch, but only if it happens to be on while you`re passing. Otherwise wait for that moment when you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time before seeing it. It took 18-months from the time it was finished to find distribution here in the UK, and since it wasn`t high on any cinema shopping list, I`ll take my cue from that. Triggermen, for all its faults, is the kind of film made for TV, not cinema, rental or for keeps.