Trigger Movie Review

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The film is about a dismissed cop who along with his team of dismissed colleagues embark on an undercover mission to bring down the network of child kidnappers while dealing with his retired policeman father who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Actor Atharvaa Murali who was last seen on screens in the action drama Kuruthi Aattam is back on screens with his action thriller film Trigger. Actress Tanya Ravichandran played the female lead in the movie. Director Sam Anton has written and directed the flick. So, how has the action thriller film Trigger come out? Will it be a successful venture and bring back actor Atharvaa Murali to the winning zone again? To know that let us get into the movie review.

 

Trigger opens in the year 1993 to an ambush on the commissioner’s office concocted and orchestrated by Michael (Rahul Dev Shetty), head of an illegal organization. He gets arrested but continues to run his network from prison. The scene then cuts to 2021, where we are introduced to Prabhakaran (Atharvaa Murali), a cop whose upright attitude gets him suspended. His father Sathya Moorthy (Arun Pandian), who has Alzheimer’s, also worked for the police department but had to quit under disputable circumstances. Prabhakaran is handpicked and deployed on a clandestine operation by the commissioner to weed out corrupt officers within the department. His brother Karthi (Five Star Krishna) and sister-in-law (Vinodhini Vaidyanathan) are planning to adopt a child named Nisha (Baby Dhikshitha Diwakar). The kid gets abducted. Prabhakaran locates the kidnapper, who goes by the name Aadhi (Vikram Anand), to a warehouse where he beats him up, and rescues Nisha. 

Prabhakaran figures out Aadhi is just a hired hand of a network. He uses him as a decoy, and puts his team on surveillance to get to the head of the network. Learning about Prabhakaran’s scheme, the head kills Aadhi and escapes. Prabhakaran starts to investigate the case deeper. He unearths a trajectory that relates the kidnapping with the ambush on the commissioner’s office in 1993. Surprisingly for Prabhakaran, but not so surprising for us, he learns that the case was handled by his father, and that it was this case that got him suspended. Further investigation reveals that Michael was involved in a human trafficking racket with a cleverly devised modus operandi. Did Michael have a hand in Sathya Moorthy’s suspension, if so, how did Michael manage to get away, is there a mole in the police department, will Prabhakaran be able to bring Michael to justice, and clear his father’s name, is what makes the rest of the movie. 

Trigger bites more than it can munch. To be fair, director Sam Anton starts off on a promising path. A staggering event, suspended cops on a refreshing mission. Just when we are about to get hooked, director Sam Anton deviates from the very groundwork he laid, and starts to build a new pathway involving a kidnap case. A case that moves all over the place without actually going anywhere. From time to time the mandatory pointless romantic portions intrude the already largely sidetracked proceedings. On top of it, the plot is marred with too many plot holes. If at all we shake hands with the director on a deal to overlook every loophole, it is hard to stomach the effortless convenience in the plot. A villain nearly after 2 decades accidently enters the family of a cop that he had sinned so that he can get punished by his son. Perhaps, karma is the underlying nucleus of the movie. 

Unfortunately, director Sam Anton banks too heavily on the action blocks of the film, which by the way are simply superb, and in that over confident he has gotten lethargic with his writing. At no point, we could have an emotional connection with what is happening on screen. Every action is a mere event that moves from point a to b without any real emotions throwing tad details. On paper, the film has a lot of space for emotional aspects. For instance, the equation that Sathya Moorthy shared with his son prior to his condition could have been elaborated a little, or the development of romance between Prabhakaran and Janani. These portions pass flatly. Director Sam Anton seems to have had high hopes on the reveals he had in stores to paint the end. But it literally makes zero difference. 

Actor Atharvaa Murali is a fitting catch to play a cop role. His muscular physique further compliments him in the part. He has got under the skin of his character, and sells Prabhakaran convincingly. Actress Tanya Ravichandran in a typical Tamil cinema heroine part which merely serves to pack the romantic facet. However, she lives up to her role. Veteran actor Arun Pandian makes his presence felt even in a limited screen time. Actor Rahul Dev Shetty is menacing as antagonist. Actors Munishkanth, Chinni Jayanth, and Aranthangi Nisha, provide the much necessary occasional comical relief. Actor Pradeep Benetto serves the purpose for being on screen. Actor Azhagam Perumal is functional. Actors Anbu Thaasan, Five Star Krishna, Vinodhini Vaidyanathan, Seetha, Baby Dhikshitha Diwakar, Vikram Anand, and Sampath Ram have all chipped in and done their part well. The rest of the cast has delivered what was asked of them. 

On the technical front, music director Ghibran is not at his best. His tracks are uninspiring. Even his background score is not impressive but just about supports the flow. Cinematographer Krishnan Vasant has done a fine job covering the drama. His frames are rightly stationed to capture the well-choreographed action pieces. Editor Ruben has put his scissors at the right spots to weed out the flaws in the visuals. 

On the whole, director Sam Anton’s effortless writing does great injustice to the effort’s actor Atharvaa Murali has put in to perform high octane action blocks of Trigger.