The Trust: Big Trouble in Sin City

Another deep dive into Netflix has yielded a surprising little gem that starts lighter and funnier than I expected, before sliding into a mess of lies and death. Cage and Wood have great chemistry, bolstered by the sharp patter in the script. It's a steady snowball of tragedy whose plot isn't quite shocking but has plenty of unexpected turns around each corner.

The Trust (2016)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Las Vegas police officer Stone (Nicolas Cage) stumbles across some strange paperwork, which leads him to look into a mysterious building. He soon starts to realize that there's some sort of vault inside and he talks another officer (Elijah Wood) into breaking in with him. Soon the two realize it's much bigger than they thought.

THE TRUST comes from directors Alex, Ben and Benjamin Brewer and for the most part it is an entertaining and somewhat captivating heist movie. That's not to say the film is perfect or even a good one but at the same time it's certainly worth watching as a Redbox rental or a free viewing like I did with Netflix. The film has some weak moments at the start and I'd argue some of the humor is flat but there's no question that the final forty-five minutes are very good.

As I said, the worst part of the movie was some of the strange and rather pointless black comedy at the start of the picture. At first I thought I was watching some sort of weak comedy because it was just rather annoying to say the least. Once you get to the heart of the movie, which is the actual heist, you look back at these early scenes and really have to wonder what the point of them were. Once the movie is over you've basically seen a good heist movie yet your brain remembers back to the start of the picture and it really doesn't make much sense.

I'd also say Wood's character changes throughout the film also didn't make much sense. I'm not going to go into spoilers but to say his character was a bit strange would be an understatement. With all of that said, there's no question that the final portion of this movie is very good. Once the two cops get their plan in motion we get a couple surprises along the way and I'd also argue that the drilling sequences were very well directed. Again, I'm not going to spoil how everything ends but there are some good twists that will remind you of the film noirs from the 1950s.

Both Cage and Wood are good in their roles and they certainly help keep you glued into the movie. Cage really stands out with a pretty laid back and entertaining performance, although there's one sequence where he goes ballistic like only he can. The supporting players are nice as well and we get a brief scene with Jerry Lewis. Yes, that Jerry Lewis. Technically speaking the music and cinematography are both very good and this helps THE TRUST as well.

Nicolas Cage is and always will be my favorite actor, his overall quirkiness and ability to play a complete different personality in every movie astounds me. In The Trust he is at his wackiest, this dark comedy thriller has him playing a deluded corrupt cop who has a plan to pull of a massive heist with his buddy cop played by Elijah Wood who has no idea of Cage's plan. Sounds like a great plot right? Despite this film getting below average reviews I still dived in and watched it, and I wasn't disappointed, this film managed to exceed the low expectations I went in with.

Surprisingly Cage and Wood had really good chemistry on screen together, the humor worked well when it was used and managed to get a few cheap laughs out of me. Cage has pumped out a lot of movies lately, most of which have been bad, but among the good ones that he has released such as 'Joe', this one I believe is up there with it. It managed to entertain right to the end.

The cinematography was pretty good, considering the budget was very low for the film. The acting was believable and had me engaged throughout the film. Whilst the film lost it's way in the last 20-30 minutes it still held it's self well as a solid B movie, with many different twists and turns thrown at the viewer it was very hard to predict how it was going to end.

The acting was on point for the entirety of the film with Cage and Elijah Wood both proving that they are still A grade actors. I believe that this one is another great entry into Cage's volatile filmography, it makes me happy to see that he still has faith in himself to bring out a good movie. If you are a fan of comedy/crime films, give this one a go!

I started watching this film and was really in to it cause I like Nicholas Cage and there was some great acting. It was a good movie up until the last 15 minutes. unbelievable how the writers screwed up this film at the end! I guess they where trying to do something different and maybe some people liked it but I was not happy at all and felt I just wasted my time. The reviews for this where not good and almost didn't watch it but of course I wanted to see it cause of Nicholas. If Nicholas wants get back on track he should not be involved in scripts like this. This movie has one the worst and endings I have ever seen and the end leaves more questions than answers. Don't bother watching!

I like this movie. It was smart, fun and kinda strange. But I like it. The best movie with Nicolas Cage in years.

I think a lot of people don't get what is happening. If you think about what happened in the movie, it will all fall into place. This movie will be underrated by many. I think I got it. This is a thinker.

I would recommend this to people who are a little tired of the same old super-hero movie type and who are looking for a movie that you will have on your mind for a while. A nice surprise from Nicolas Cage and Elija Wood.

8/10 for me on this movie