Trespass (Joel Schumacher, 2011)

Nicolas Cage is awesome. Unfortunately the number of roles in bad movies he has been playing are more and more exceeding the good ones. Luckily in some of the better titles (Raising Arizona, Wild at Heart, Leaving Las Vegas, Adaptation) he was brilliant. Cage is kind of an eccentric individual, which forces him to act in whatever crap is offered to him, to cover for his expensive lifestyle. Would he have chosen his roles more carefully, I am sure he could have been one of the leading actors of his generation. Somehow I still enjoy his acting in all of the 439567 terrible movies he starred in. It is like you can tell that he doesn’t take his job serious, like he is 'under' acting, if such is possible.

I am sorry to inform you that Trespass for sure ranks as the 'crap' I am referring to.

The story: Cage plays Kyle Miller, a 'family' man who sells diamonds for a living. He lives in a massive house with his wife (Nicole Kidman) and his rebellious (duh) teenage daughter Avery. Their quiet and peaceful life is abruptly disturbed when trespassers enter their house and take Kyle and his wife hostage. Their daughter sneaked out of the house to go to a party and is therefore the 'missing' hostage. Does it sound cliché already? It gets better!

The criminals are not at all the calm and rational types that might be useful in this kind of ‘profession'. The main hostage-taker brought his younger brother, who has, excuse me for spoiling, an special interest in Miller’s wife and didn’t take his medication. The antagonist was also smart enough to add his junkie girlfriend to the team. Last but not least there is a 2 meter high violent ‘bodyguard’ who has a special agenda himself. Are you surprised if I tell you that the team will have internal conflicts in a heartbeat and that one of them double-crossed the other? Add a handful of unlikely twists and turns and you have your movie.

Kyle Miller tries really hard not to be the standard hostage and doesn’t have a hard time to trick the trespassers with his negotiations. Nicole Kidman’s mainly screams like the helpless and concerned wife is expected to. When their daughter comes home, things obviously are getting even more exciting! 

Director Joel Schumacher is not a stranger if it comes to making crap. Do you remember his version of the Batman franchise? Luckily there are a handful of good movies he made. I personally really liked Phone Booth but his best one is probably Falling Down, where Michael Douglas loses it on a very hot day. Despite these good works his oeuvre ironically seems to have a lot in common with Cage his career (they worked together before on 8MM).

For those who don’t mind an uninspiring, dull and predictable story Trespass might be a treat, but I suggest you skip this one.

3/10