Trigger movie review: A sincere Atharvaa is the only saving grace in this tiring cat-and-mouse action drama

2/5

Story: A young undercover cop is torn between cracking a child trafficking case and the well-being of his Alzheimer's-stricken father who was a former cop. He devises unusual methods to solve the notorious case, but his emotional nature makes things difficult for him. However, an unexpected incident that happens in his family comes to his aid. But the kingpin of the child trafficking network is too smart to fall for his plans. How is he going to stop the dreaded gang?

Review: There have been numerous movies made in Kollywood with child trafficking as its central plot. Most of them have ended up as unengaging fares, and Sam Anton's Trigger is the latest to join the list. The film is a good example of how a screenplay for around 140 minutes could be developed with a serious theme getting explored only on the surface level.

It revolves around Prabhakaran aka Prabha (Atharvaa), a young emotional cop, who doesn't think twice when it comes to saving people's lives. His emotional impulsiveness lands him in a soup despite repeated warning from his senior officer (Azhagam Perumal).

Prabha, who is quite concerned about his Alzheimer's-stricken father Satyamoorthy (Arun Pandian), has been asked to join as an undercover cop after he messes up a secret operation. He is assigned a child trafficking case which has been keeping police on toes.

Little did he know that he is set to lock horns with a dreaded criminal (Rahul Dev Shetty) who has a history of committing countless crimes in a span of three decades. Prabha has a few unique plans to nab the master brain behind child trafficking, but is that enough?

Trigger has a few decent ideas which look good on paper, but unexciting when watched on screen, thanks to the uninspiring execution. The plot chosen by the filmmaker has ample scope to create tension and evoke curiosity in many scenes. But what we get are half-baked sequences which lack novelty and soul.

The action scenes composed by Dhilip Subbarayan, especially the one in the climax, though a bit stretched, is interesting to watch, but the lack of an intriguing scene design that is supposed to complement stunts spoil the overall effort.

The hero-villain conflict, which is also connected to the former's father character, could have been developed into a riveting emotional ride as well. But only little effort has gone into sculpting them into compelling sequences.

The characters essayed by Azhagam Perumal, Seetha, Vinodini, Tanya Ravichandran and Munishkanth are generic, and unsurprisingly, their acts do not leave any impact. However, Chinni Jayanth's role as a dedicated cop and an emotional father is quite effective. A fight sequence which features him is one of the few impressive scenes in the movie.

Atharvaa fits the bill for a character which requires suave, pace and sincerity. But his portrayal of the role reminds us of some of his previous outings. The background score from Ghibran disappoints, but when there are only a handful of engaging moments, there is only a little he can do.  

The underwritten antagonist character tests patience at times; he is terrifying by all means and the filmmaker succeeds in developing a basic structure to his role. But the ineffective execution makes his role look weak, which leads to the whole cat-and-mouse game ending up as a tiring watch.

Verdict: Despite sufficient opportunities in hand to make an engaging action drama with ample dose of relatable emotions, makers couldn't cash in on it. The movie ends up as forgettable fare.

Trigger is streaming on aha Tamil.