Heaven knows why I fall for this picture. But I do, hook, line, and sinker. The deadpan delivery from Lundgren and Bellman makes this a truly post ironic classic. Gina Bellman is difficult to watch, being from the UK I'm acquainted with her later (emetic) sitcom work, and seeing her try to hold down a serious role is very funny. She's clearly very sensual though, so she has to be let off.
It's also pretty intriguing on an existential level to see the sniper Waxman (Lundgren) pondering what his duty is and whether he can ever be redeemed. But asides from all the post irony and existentialism it's downright atmospheric. Mulcahy found some pretty extraordinary landscapes to film. The title scene, is of a man running through some sort of estuary set to a nice bluesy piece of jazz. What it has to do with the plot is anybody's guess, but it was brilliant. Most of the film is set in the penthouse of a skyscraper (the Algonquin) at night time during heavy thunder and rain. It's a great looking piece of architecture, and very atmospheric. The rest of the film is shown in flashbacks of Waxman and his spotter's exfiltration following an abortive assassination attempt.
The Algonquin is described in this movie as 'a piece of techno-crap', it's an unfurbished incomplete neo-Gothic skyscraper that no-one seems to be bothered to finish. It's an uninhabited shell that makes a great eagles nest for sniping. It's all quite amusing, quite why the powers that be want a VIP in an armoured limo travelling at high speed to be assassinated so publicly, so flagrantly, and so spectacularly by a sniper using armour-piercing explosive rounds from an incredibly difficult one-mile away shooting position, is anybody's guess. Just for your interest my friends I have looked into why Mulcahy has named the skyscraper 'The Algonquin'. It seems the literal translation of the root of this word (whose definition is an Indian tribe) comes from the Micmac meaning "at the place of spearing fish and eels". How pretentious is that? Good though.
In true B-movie tradition we have a freak, Christopher Heyerdahl, as the night-shift security guard in the Algonquin. His body is tattooed with his 'buddies' a load of spiders who seem to urge him to commit wanton acts of sexual violence, especially after he's snorted a bit of white. He's really very creepy indeed.
The few action scenes in the movie are quite effective, but action fans may find the longueurs in between to be unpalatable. This one is more for the B-movie mavens.
Plot-whores don't really like this movie because it is a bit discontinuous, for example why on earth is Waxman given a second chance after his first failure to complete his assignment? But Silent Trigger is perhaps the most entertaining movie I have ever watched, and I could see it again and again. For the true connoisseurs of tripe from this period it is an interesting debate whether or not to prefer Van Damme or Lundgren, in my opinion this film marks Lundgren out as the top banana. Can you imagine how excited I was at the tender age of 12 to find out that they were appearing in the same movie (Universal Soldier). Food for thought my friends.
