For some reason the missus got the bug to watch The Trigger Effect, the 1996 feature directorial debut of screenwriter David Koepp who at this point had hits like Jurassic Park, Death Becomes Her, Carlito's Way and the first Mission: Impossible movie on his resume. Not streaming free on any services at this writing, it was a trip to the high seas for a HD copy as I wasn't in the mood for my DVD.
Opening with a long tracking shot through a Los Angeles mall showing people suffering various indignities and rude behavior, it settles on our lead couple, Matthew and Annie (Kyle MacLachlan and Elizabeth Shue), who are having a hard time watching their movie due to a pair of loud-talking black moviegoers including Raymond (Richard T. Jones). Their attempts to shush the talkers goes about as well as you'd expect, so they leave the theater to go home to their infant daughter (who's with a sitter, duh) and suffering from an earache which is making her cry constantly.
In the night there is a city-wide power which triggers a rapid breakdown in society. Matthew's attempts to get medicine for the baby are thwarted due to phone lines being down and the pharmacist refuses to dispense it without the script leading Matthew to steal the medicine. Adding to the stress between the couple is the arrival of their friend Joe (Dermot Mulroney) who stays with them. Matthew's not too happy about his arrival and there are hints of Annie's wild past and some relationship with Joe alluded to.
When a burglar robs the house and ends up shot by a neighbor, things really go farther off the rails leading the trio to decide to make a road trip to her parents' place in Colorado. This leads to further peril as they again cross paths with Raymond at a diner (though they don't seem to recognize each other) and another traveler accosting patrons asking for some gas, Gary (Michael Rooker doing his Michel Rooker thing). Not a lot of trust at the end of the world, is there?
If this all seems familiar, it's because it's a similar premise as 2023's Netflix Original Leave The World Behind where I criticized:
But the biggest problem is that pretty much the entire scenario was told in two whole fewer hours in a 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" (S1E22) which is about a cul-de-sac which experiences a power and communication outage and after a kid says he read in a comic book that aliens may be behind the event and that they send advance scouts who look human to blend into the neighborhood, everyone immediately goes DEFCON 1 and suspects each other with disastrous consequences. It's a very memorable episode and it only takes 25 minutes to tell its tale. (It's on Amazon Freevee if you'd like to watch it.)
According to the Wikipedia page for The Trigger Effect, Koepp was partially inspired by this episode as well due to his uncle, actor Claude Akin, starring in it. (Shouldn't Rod Serling be getting a royalty?) As a result the instant rush to anarchy requires a bit of a leap this time. But that's not to say the premise is too much of a stretch. Just look at how people lose their minds if they can't log into FaceSpace or what happened recently with the CrowdStrike computer bug which grounded most air traffic and kept Delta down for days.
However, it should be noted that when it was filmed in 1995, the Internet as we know and take for granted barely existed. The World Wide Web was invented in 1989 and the software was released to the public domain in 1993. At the time of filming there were perhaps 20,000 web sites. The collapse of society depicted is strictly analog, but also presumes that everyone will pretty much become their worst selves.
This would be more effective if not for Koepp's flimsy characters & decision to allude to much more than he explains. There's time for hinting, but also needs to a point where things are explained. I don't go for the "it's up to the audience to decide what it all means" posturing. (Looking at you, Anatomy of a Fall.) The reliance on coincidence becomes reality-breaking by the end with a pat kumbayah resolution.
Performances are OK considering the one-note characters everyone is stuck playing. Shue was following acclaimed turn in Leaving Las Vegas which broke her previous frothy ingenue image from movies like Adventures in Babysitting and the Back to the Future sequels, but was also her career peak because she never really appeared in anything substantial after 2000's Hollow Man. Doubt that? She's been in 20(!) features since then - name two of them. Name one. No, her role in the first season of The Boys in 2019 doesn't count.
There's a visceral potency to the premise of what happens to a society when the lights go out, but for some reason no one really seems to be getting it right. The Trigger Effect is just a middling stab at it.
Score: 5/10. Catch it on cable/streaming. (Not currently on any services, but available to rent/buy.)
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