Movie Review: ‘Trauma Center’

Review by B. Parker

Deep down in its misguided heart, Trauma Center isn’t very interested in its own story. Nicky Whelan’s character is hit by a stray bullet when two crooked cops (played by Texas Battle and Tito Ortiz) gun down another cop to cover up their dirty deeds. But the round that struck her is embedded in her leg, and because the ballistics will identify our terrible twosome, they must find her in the hospital and retrieve the bullet. It’s a bit silly, especially if you stop and think about all the other evidence they must have left at the scene, but it’s an action movie, so check your brain at the door.

Where it gets more than a little dicey is in the inclusion of Bruce Willis, obligatory good cop. Despite investigating two deaths and supposedly protecting Whelan (the only witness to one of those murders), he barely exists in the film. That’s not entirely a bad thing, given the state of his acting. I’ve not been following the man’s career arc or anything like that, but watching his performance made me think he didn’t want to be there. He delivers lines devoid of emotion and, in a few instances, appeared to talk over other actor’s lines. It almost verges into accidentally comedic levels of faux-dramatic, but he isn’t present enough for that happen. Point is, the man on the poster is almost a non-entity, so if he’s still riding your goodwill from Die Hard, don’t get too excited.

That leaves the trio of Whelan, Battle, and Ortiz to carry the film. It’s mostly cat and mouse through isolated parts of the darkened, noisy hospital, with the usual tropes that follow suite. Whelan stumbles around bleeding for a bit until Ortiz and Battle bumble into her. They menace her for a while until she escapes and the cycle repeats until it draws to a merciful, predictable close.

Trauma Center as a whole is a very by-the-numbers action thriller, so it’s hard to rip into it for being bland. What I would like to point out, though, is the subplot with Whelan’s younger sister. She ends up in the same hospital before the plot takes off proper, then the movie just sort of forgets about her until it’s time to needlessly raise the stakes. There was an attempt to explore the fractured relationship between the sisters to give the movie a little more depth, but it never seems to matter. Everyone in this movie, regardless of their acting ability, is more akin to props being moved about, simply connecting plot points because someone has to. There’s no audience investment and the action is surprisingly tame for this day and age.

What you’re left with are the bare bones of a simple story played out on screen by actors of some note and one screen legend who all know better than to give the thin script more than it deserves. While far from exciting or engaging, Trauma Center is pretty inoffensive as far as action movies go, but that doesn’t mean it’s worth your time or money.

Trauma Center arriving in select theaters and everywhere On Demand on Friday, December 6 from Lionsgate.