Warning: this Jessica Alba action film is totally forgettable

But, sadly, that film is not the one we've gotten.

The latest Netflix action film marks star and producer Jessica Alba's first movie in five years.

Alba seems like a delightful person, with an adorable family and a thriving business venture - unfortunately though, when you look over her filmography, there's actually not many movies of quality.

With the exception of her work with Robert Rodriguez on Sin City and Machete, and maybe the Fantastic Four films if you're into that goofiness, nearly every other film she's been in is largely forgettable.

Trigger Warning continues this unfortunate trend.

Alba plays Parker, a special forces-type soldier who returns to her small New Mexico home town after receiving news her father died in a mysterious abandoned mine collapse.

But once she starts looking into his death, Parker finds that the pieces don't all line up and there's a lot more going on in her little town than she thought.

If this film was attacked with the finesse of something like L.A. Confidential or Cop Land, slowly revealing layers of conspiracy and corruption, it might have been good.

But under the direction of Mouly Surya (in the Indonesian director's first American film) from a script by John Brancato (The Net, Terminator Salvation), Josh Olson (A History of Violence) and Halley Wegryn Gross (Westworld), Trigger Warning ends up feeling entirely generic with dull dialogue, little character-building and plot points that are not properly explored.

Much of the unsavoury goings-on in town seem to revolve around the Swann family - father Ezekiel (Anthony Michael Hall), a senator, and his two adult sons Jesse (Mark Webber, Aussie Teresa Palmer's husband), the sheriff, and Elvis (Jake Weary), the town screw-up.

While Ezekiel and Elvis are obviously villainous, outwardly racist and generally terrible people to be around, Jesse is Parker's old flame, more reserved and seemingly with more of a heart than his kin.

The stand-out character though is Mike, largely because actor Gabriel Basso imbues him with some personality. The rough-around-the-edges employee of Parker's late father, Mike is just a average, relatively good dude who's willing to lend a hand.

At the very least, seeing Basso will encourage viewers to kick off a re-watch of his quite enjoyable Netflix series The Night Agent.

Adding to Trigger Warning's woes are fights that look like they never progressed past the stunt choreographers' test footage in pre-production, some obvious use of ADR and glaring plot holes (like the 'suicide note' that was deemed fake - surely Parker would recognise if the note was not written in her father's handwriting?).

The film ultimately descends into a climactic showdown with bad guys that have barely been explored, meaning any viewers that have managed to stick around this long have very little interest in what actually happens to them.

On the positive side, some of the sunset cinematography is quite lovely. There are also a few brief shots of Parker in a black dress with long flowing hair at her father's funeral that seem like they should belong in a biting, violent revenge film - a mere teaser of what could have been.

With the likes of Lift, Damsel, Atlas and the Rebel Moon films, action-based originals on Netflix have left a lot to be desired this year. It seems the days of Sweet Girl, Kate or even Extraction are well behind us.

Hopefully Basso can redeem himself with the second season of The Night Agent, which is currently in production.