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The Trust (2016) – Movie Review

18 May, 2016 — by Matt Owen0

the-trust-movie poster

I saw a trailer for Shane Black’s upcoming noir-com The Nice Guys the night before I sat down to watch Nicolas Cage’s latest thriller The Trust, and maybe this has influenced my perception of what The Trust is supposed to be.

Before I elaborate, do me a quick favour and check out the trailer for The Trust:

Still here? Groovy. Based on that trailer, I was expecting a slightly dark, possibly off-kilter buddy comedy, with two fairly hapless cops trying to pull off a heist. I expected a bit of gurning from Cage in his porno-tache, and a little bit of wide-eyed incredulousness from Elijah Wood. Tonally, Welcome to Collinwood sprung to mind.

But that’s not what I got at all.

I mean sure, it involves two hapless cops trying to carry out a heist. And Nicolas Cage certainly brings the ‘tache (gurning is, sadly, almost entirely absent) and a weirdly likeable, jokey performance that’s strangely at odds with his behaviour as the movie accelerates. Actually, accelerates is the wrong word. The first act breezes past as the pair figure out that there’s a big old vault hidden in an imprisoned drug dealer’s lair, and it’s just ripe for the picking. The set up is a lot of fun, with Wood providing slightly inept planning, which Cage studiously ignores, and the whole thing threatens to fall apart at any moment.

Nicholas Cage looking angry in The Trust
Alright, maybe there’s a bit of gurning.

And then the heist begins. There are two people in the supposedly empty apartment above the haul, adding a level of complication to proceedings. And here’s where the pace starts to drag. The whole thing suddenly shifts into a tense, pressure-cooker endurance test for the characters. Cage’s Captain Stone goes from ‘slightly off kilter uncle’ to ‘cold-hearted killer’ in an instant, shooting one of the hostages point blank at the first sign of trouble.

From here on in it’s a weirdly brutal thriller, as hostage number two tries to outsmart our heroes. Wood becomes increasingly paranoid, and when the final haul is revealed he freaks out completely with tragic results.

The Trust is all over the place, but oddly realistic. I can’t quite work out if directors Alex and Benjamin Brewer set out to make Training Day, or if it’s a case of 3000 Miles to Graceland, with perhaps a compromise which led to a toning down of the comedy in favour of drama.

There is actually a hilarious comedy lurking under the skin of The Trust, but overall it’s a not-that-engaging thriller that leaves you mostly confused. 2/5

Check out the rest of the latest cinema releases in our new movie reviews section including the hilariously bonkers UK thriller Bastille Day.

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