66
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineA tightly scripted cautionary tale about what happens when the lights go down in Southern California, hiding behind a generic action-thriller title.
- 78Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovKoepp's film examines the interconnections between man and the electronic society, and the terrors that are unleashed once those connections are severed, and does so in a wholly original and unnerving manner.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumUntil he wraps things up much too neatly and idealistically, Koepp puts together a sturdy and efficient thriller.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleA sleek, intelligent thriller.
- 70Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasDespite conflicted circumstances, the cast is capable, but there's a feeling of loose ends, an overall lack of cohesiveness to this good-looking film. The Trigger Effect is on-target when it comes to the ills of modern society but is charged with ambivalence as to what makes a hero.
- 70The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinDirected with a spare look and exceptional crispness and precision, The Trigger Effect ultimately falls back on the familiar, especially in its banal ideas of how Matt and Annie are changed by their experience. But during the three-day emergency that it describes, this cleverly made film sustains a spooky intensity and an insinuating, utterly confident style.
- 63ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliTo the extent that The Trigger Effect is intended as a tense, somewhat nerve-wracking thriller, it's adequate, and certainly better than the formula-driven likes of The Hand that Rocks the Cradle.
- 60VarietyKen EisnerVarietyKen EisnerDavid Koepp's writing-helming bow is a bleak, highly stylized view of modern civilization. While The Trigger Effect maintains a potent mood of postmodern dread, even its proponents will be wondering what all the queasy fuss was about.
- 60Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonThe Trigger Effect enjoys bursts of energy as people confront each other in low-budget groups of twos and threes, but it never becomes the subtly powerful experience Koepp was clearly after.
- 50Baltimore SunStephen HunterBaltimore SunStephen HunterOnce the movie settles down to story, it turns out to play like an extended Twilight Zone episode that merely reiterates the theme of the first few minutes: that man is fundamentally a beast and he must struggle endlessly against his own worst instincts and that each victory over those instincts is merely provisional.