Trigger Warning parents guide: Jessica Alba stars in Netflix's violent gang thriller

If you’re looking for an action movie, you’ll want to turn to Netflix this weekend. Trigger Warning starring Jessica Alba is out, but it’s one not for the kids.

Jessica Alba plays Parker, a special forces commander who returns home after the death of her father. She thinks it’s just to get her father’s bar ready to sell, but she ends up uncovering a deeper conspiracy of gangs and gun-running.

As you would expect from an action movie, this one is packed with well-choreographed fight scenes. It could be one to put on when the younger kids are in bed, but your older kids may enjoy watching it with you.

Trigger Warning is officially rated TV-MA

The Netflix Original Movie is officially rated TV-MA in the United States. It gets a 16 rating in the Netherlands, which does suggest that this is something for older teens. Here’s a breakdown of the main points of what gives a movie the rating to see whether it’s deserved.

Sex & nudity: There is no sex and nudity in this movie. There is some suggestion of a relationship that could happen, but it goes nowhere due to the conspiracy going on in town.

Language: The worst you’ll here is the S-word. This movie doesn’t involve a lot of harsh language, with the focus being on the action and the violence.

Violence & gore: This is why the movie gets its TV-MA rating. There is a lot of violence from the very start of the movie. We see Parker’s vehicle blown up in the desert and she has to take down multiple enemies.

She then gets into multiple fights throughout the movie. There is a moment where she slashes a man’s throat, but this isn’t heavy on the visuals as we watch it all from behind, limiting the gore. She also shoots a man in the shoulder from the back. While we see the bullet wound, the camera doesn’t stay on the injury for too long.

There is a moment with a large fire. We watch as a man is thrown over a ledge and into the fire below. We can see the body engulfed in the flames, but nothing too squeamish is shown. We do also get a moment where Parker stabs another man in the neck. The camera does linger on this for a few seconds, but there isn’t a lot of blood shown.

Alcohol & drugs: Part of the movie is set in a bar, so there are scenes of people drinking. There surprisingly isn’t any drug use throughout the movie. It’s all focused on the conspiracy in the mines.

Overall verdict: Trigger Warning could be fun for the teens

This is one of those movies that doesn’t quite deserve its TV-MA rating. It’s something that I could see a lot of teens wanting to watch, especially if they’re fans of Jessica Alba from her Spy Kids days. The violence is rather surface-level when you consider the type of gore we’re not used to seeing in these types of movies, even in superhero movies! It's rather on the tame side for an action movie.