Dead Trigger is one terrible movie and one added to the list of bad video game adaptations. The acting is pretty bad but worse, just a mess of a production as a whole; no wonder this sat on the shelf for a couple of years.
Dead Trigger
(2019)
Genre(s): Horror, Action, Thriller
Lionsgate | R – 92 min. – $21.99 | July 2, 2019
Date Published: 07/09/2019 | Author: The Movieman
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Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 0.5/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Loosely based on the video game, Dead Trigger takes place in the year 2025, a mysterious virus has killed billions of people around the world and created scores of zombies. The government has created a virtual reality game that simulates the outbreak, then recruits the game’s best zombie killers to combat the real-life horde, so pretty much like Ender’s Game. Led by Captain Kyle Walker (DOLPH LUNDGREN) to Terminal City, the virus’s point of origin, the players’ mission is simple: find the team of scientists working on a cure. But wiping out the city’s undead will test every skill they possess.
Quick Hit Review: Deadly Trigger is bad. Shockingly awful, I’d say. It’s no real wonder that a movie filmed back in 2016 would take a few years, where the film’s original director walked due to “creative differences” and the game’s company distanced itself, and be unleashed upon the American public. I do wonder if Saban Films even bothered watching what I just did. Where to start. The production values were downright poor, the zombie extras were amateurish at best (hell, the ones on the Walking Dead Mythbusters special were better), the acting was absolutely pretty bad for the most part, save maybe for Autumn Reeser who does her best in a limited capacity, but even Dolph Lundgren, having his fair share of duds, didn’t seem to give a damn (can’t really blame him), but the rest of the “Dead Trigger” team (more like Power Rangers meets Starship Troopers with a little Suicide Squad thrown in) were blank slates possessing absolutely zero charisma. I also should mention the ridiculous dye job they did to Lundgren’s hair. Wow. You’re fooling anyone Drago.
The plot also doesn’t make a lick of sense. While the military certainly has been desimated, the film doesn’t give a good reason why a few teenaged gamers can be trained with real life weapons to hunt down zombies. Surely the government could’ve mustered up several from each branch, take a week of training and then go inside Terminal City. As I mentioned, the film’s original director, Mike Cuff, exited the project with the generic creative differences, with screenwriter Scott Windhauser stepping and, from what I read, changed so much that it bears little resemblance to Cuff’s original vision. Oh, and Windhauser’s only other credit was writing The Hurricane Heist, a fairly poor disaster-crime movie in its own right, so I guess it shouldn’t be surprising Dead Trigger (also titled Dead Trigger: Unkilled) didn’t turn out so well… In the end, I hated this movie. It’s not the worst I’ve ever seen but it’s down there with the worst. The best I can say is, I did chuckle at one shot when a character, played by Isaiah Washington (remember him?) throws a zombie dummy over the edge to save one of the Triggers.
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SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy slip cover and a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. No features were included. |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Lionsgate releases Dead Trigger onto Blu-ray presented with a 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. For the most part it is a good looking picture, though being in HD, you do tend to notice some of the… let’s just say limited… budget. Detail is sharp and well defined and colors are mostly bright while black levels aren’t incredibly stark but still looked fine. |
AUDIO – 3.25/5 |
| The movie comes with a standard DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which produced clear dialogue via the center channel while the front and rear channels were on the limited side and only showed off some really bad sound effects (like the cocking of a gun) and ambient noises are a little too low key. |
OVERALL – 1.0/5 |
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Dead Trigger is one terrible movie and one added to the list of bad video game adaptations. The acting is pretty bad but worse, just a mess of a production as a whole; no wonder this sat on the shelf for a couple of years. The Blu-ray comes with good video, okay audio and, unsurprisingly, no bonus features. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.