Triggermen

I rented this one the other day and was pleasantly surprised. It's unfortunate it didn't get better distribution; it would have made a great short-term summer release.

In general, the flick is nicely-paced, the storyline is interesting enough to hold your attention, and the characters are for the most part fun to watch. The interplay between Wahlberg and Rapaport doesn't always hit the mark, but it works more often than not. Morrissey and Dunbar work well together; they have the same argument a number of different times, but it doesn't really get tedious. Postlethwaite is his usual impeccable self. The biggest revelation to me, though, was Forlani. IMO, she either plays the "sympathetic woman always on the verge of crying," or the "strong, independent, sexy love interest." This role is thankfully one of the latter. I must say she looks the best I've ever seen her look in this flick, to the point where she went up a few notches on my hotness scale.

The other reviews cover the plot well enough, so I'll wrap up by recommending this to anyone looking for an amusing, easy-to-digest gangster flick. The surprisingly hot Claire Forlani is the icing on the cake.

John Bradshaw's "Triggermen" deserved a bigger audience. Judging by the comments submitted to this forum, it must have been a film that went directly to DVD, because obviously it was abandoned to its fate by the distributors. Mr. Bradshaw shows he can produce films that keep the viewer entertained and because he gets good performances from his cast. The film was written by Tony Johnson.

The main interest for watching "Triggermen" was to see Adrian Dunbar and Neil Morressey, who are excellent actors. They play a pair of English low lives who have come to Chicago in search of easy schemes, but they haven't been lucky. That is, until Pete, stumbles upon an case that contains money and a photograph of someone who has to be eliminated. His solution is to take advantage of the situation, move with Andy from the seedy place they are staying into the posh hotel that has been reserved for the would be killer.

This pair gets much more than what they bargained for. Little do they know they have double crossed the real pair of executioners. The film is a comedy of errors that delivers a lot because of the mistaken identities. Since one knows who is who, there is no suspense because one realizes where the film is going.

Pete Postlewaite, one of the best English character actors, appears as the retiring mafia don, Ben Cutler, who is staying in the hotel with his lovely daughter. Claire Forlini is a gorgeous woman to look at, and as Emma, the daughter, she becomes the object of love for one of the real assassins, Terry, who falls in love with her. These other duo, played by Donnie Wahlberg and Michael Rapaport, are good in most of their scenes together.

Let's hope John Bradshaw will be back soon with another film where he will be recognized for his obvious talent.

Among the films screened early on at the American Film Market 2002 in Feb., was "The Triggermen", a pleasant reminder that even with a relatively small budget, a movie can succeed if generously laced with invention and humor.

Two Brits lacking funds, Pete (Neil Morrissey) and Andy (Adrian Dunbar), are mistaken for two killers hired to bump off Ben Cutler (Pete Postlewaite) a Mob chieftain. The laughs come fast and often as one complication lands on top of another. Things are not helped when one of the so-called killers falls in love with Cutler's daughter, played by Claire Forlani.

Despite a few rough edges, director John Bradshaw brings in a likable movie I think should be high on most moviegoers have-to-see list.

This film seems as if it tried to be a clever comedy/hardcore gangster film along the lines of Snatch, Lock Stock, and some other good ones. Unfortunately, the cast was unimpressive, the story was unoriginal, and the dialogue was not snappy in the least. It just tried to follow a common formula and did nothing new. Furthermore, the things it did, it did poorly. No one would care about these characters, no one can sympathize with much of what went on, with the possible exception of Wahlberg's character.

You can't just take a bunch of character actors and throw them into a film and expect it to work. Some of the actors are incredibly competent, but with such limited material to work with, I suppose failure was inevitable.

I don't know if anyone else has used this plot before but I think it is one of those gem ideas that can go anywhere. As I started to watch this, my fascination with the premise of the piece grew and grew. The various characters comfortably held my attention as I continued to wonder how it was going to work out. What more can you ask of a movie.

Wahlberg was excellent, but then he always is (Sgt. Lipton in Band of Brothers, how hard was it to stand out in a huge ensemble of guys of military service age, but he did more than fine). Watching Pete Postlethwaite's face is like reading a library full of quality novels all in a glance. He is perfect in the role. I wish Rappaport had a little more to do in this one. Neil Morrissey and Adrian Dunbar were perfectly matched as low-rent crooks stumbling into a little more than they could handle. I am going to see where else I can find Claire Forlani's work, she was very, very likable in this. At the end I finally realized how little time was spent outside the hotel but that was okay with me.

I would recommend this movie to any friend.