Trespass
starring Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Ben Mendelsohn, Cam Gigandet, Liana Liberato, Jordana Spiro and Dash Mihok
written by Karl Gajdusek
directed by Joel Schumacher
Rating: ♦♦◊◊◊
There was some good acting in this movie - all done by Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman. And that alone is why I don’t rate this movie a total zero. First of all, I knew in ten minutes, even before the story began to unfold exactly what the story would be.
Don’t bring a gun to a crime unless you’re going to use it.
Cage is a diamond merchant living in a big house with his small family. He has a wall safe in his home office, the house isolated on a big estate in the country, it’s way too big for his three-member family, and it is wired with all kinds of security systems. So right away I knew Trespass would be a home invasion movie in which thieves posing as police gain entrance, hold the family hostage and threaten them with pain and death unless they turn over their money, open their wall safe, etc. Following that is a feature-length movie stand-off with a defiant family. The house and its property are so large that the hostages don’t have time to flee and reach safety - which they tried to do disappointingly little. Predictably, as things fail to go according to plan the thieves’ unity dissolves into infighting until they eventually turn on each other. How many times has this story been made into a movie? Well, I guess it has to be re-made every so often for the sake of younger audiences.
Second, the story makes a good argument for the National Rifle Association’s stance on American gun ownership as a deterrent for crime - especially home invasion. Why don’t people learn? In threatening situations don’t cower. Fight back. If the chance comes to run away then do that. Don’t run around outside with no purpose until the bad guys pick you up again. And don’t run back after you get out. And if you have a chance to strike back then do it. Dummies!
Third, don’t bring a gun to a crime unless you’re going to use it. Failure to use it just compromises your hard air. I’m sick of films where the bad guys waste time threatening with their handguns. Or, they do that thing where the villain has to explain his plan to his victims before killing them. Give me a break!
As the situation deteriorates and the drug-addled psychosis of some of the gang becomes more evident I kept wondering, why don’t these people just die?! They get cut, they get beaten up, they get shot, they’re taking drugs, they’re covered in blood but they’re still running the house and trying to execute their plan even long after the plan is a complete bust.