THE TRIGGER EFFECT
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1996 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Kyle MacLachlan, Elisabeth Shue, Dermot Mulroney. Screenplay: David Koepp. Director: David Koepp. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
There is nothing that will make a Hollywood marketing executive salivate like a current news story to which a new film can be linked, and if you remember the bounce THE CHINA SYNDROME got from the Three Mile Island accident of 1979, you'll understand why. When a seven-state power failure hit the American west on August 10th, the folks at Gramercy must have done the Mipos Dance of Joy -- five days later, I had press material for the blackout thriller THE TRIGGER EFFECT mentioning the August 10th failure. It's hard to resist that kind of "torn-from-today's-headlines" marketing, but I hope they don't make THE TRIGGER EFFECT look like a cheap knock-off by overdoing it, because it is nothing of the kind. This is a sharp and surprisingly effective thriller which makes up for a sluggish middle with an exceptional start and finish.
It is Friday in an unnamed California city, and a young married couple named Matt (Kyle MacLachlan) and Annie (Elisabeth Shue) are enjoying a night at the movies despite some talkative fellow audience members. The problems really begin when they get home. Their infant daughter has an ear infection, their housing contractors appear to be committing petty thefts, and to make matters worse, the power goes out. The first night, it's an inconvenience; the next day, it becomes dangerous. Along with the power, phones and radio stations are also out, causing rumors to run rampant, and stores -- those which remain open -- can only take cash. Along with their friend Joe (Dermot Mulroney), Matt and Annie try to wait out the blackout, but find themselves forced to act as the threads of civilization begin to unravel around them.
THE TRIGGER EFFECT opens with one of the niftiest single-take scenes of the year, following a chain of events in a mall which eventually introduces us to Matt and Annie. Beginning with a man on the receiving end of a spilled cup of coffee, rookie director David Koepp (screenwriter for JURASSIC PARK, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and others) shows people acting shocked at the rudeness of others, then proceeding to treat someone else just as rudely. It is a smart and subtle piece of film-making which underlines the main premise of THE TRIGGER EFFECT: how fragile a foundation it is on which civilization is based. It is amazing how much more obvious the ineptitude of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU becomes when compared to a film which takes a very similar theme -- what separates us from animals -- and does it so much better.
It's a great concept for an information age thriller, with both a nod to and an updating of the classic "Twilight Zone" episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," but Koepp loses track of his story for a while to focus on relationship troubles between Matt and Annie. He tries to connect those troubles to the film's central themes -- Annie has a problem respecting the mild-mannered Matt until he steals medicine for the baby -- and he is successful for a little while. Elisabeth Shue does smart work as a sexy mother and wife with a bit of a wild streak, and Kyle MacLachlan is a solid hero as the relentlessly civil Matt, but they are distracted along with Koepp by the introduction of Mulroney and a romantic triangle. Whatever point Koepp might have been trying to make about the attraction of "animal behavior" gets muddled in the house-bound middle third of THE TRIGGER EFFECT.
Fortunately, Koepp pulls it all together for a nerve-wracking conclusion as Matt, Annie and Joe hit the road in an attempt to get out of town. Just two days removed from a normal life, the world around them dissolves into paranoia and a relentless pursuit of survival, and a climax featuring two superb showdowns: one involving an edgy stranger (Bill Simitrovich) who claims to want nothing more than a ride, the other involving Matt's attempt to break into a house to steal car keys. Koepp is not a genius at creating shaded characters (remember, he _did_ write JURASSIC PARK and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE), but he demonstrates an impressive talent for building tension and for pacing a thriller to keep his audience involved. It is also noteworthy that Koepp never makes a point of explaining what caused the blackout, because that would have been sending the wrong message about what mattered about this story. THE TRIGGER EFFECT is a disturbing and all-too-real tale which makes the ironic observation that we have come to depend on technology for our humanity, and if a little creative marketing will bring people out to see it, then so be it.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 itchy triggers: 7.
Scott Renshaw Stanford University http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~srenshaw
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