Trespass is the latest film from well-known director and producer Joel Schumacher, a guy with his fair share of gems (well, pretty much just Tigerland) and duds (Batman & Robin, Phone Booth). Unfortunately, Trespass falls squarely in the latter category.
Nicolas Cage plays Kyle, a wealthy businessman whose diamond trade may or may not be under-the-table work. His wife (Kidman) and daughter (Liana Liberato of David Schwimmer's Trust) live with him in a mansion out in the middle of the woods. None of this is super important, though, since the bad guys are on-screen within the first ten minutes. And that's when things really start to go wrong.
Cam Gigandet (Twilight, Easy A) spends most of his screen time power-walking back and forth, punching inanimate objects, cursing under his breath and generally looking uncomfortable in his own shoes. I never really bought his performance. The same goes for Mendelsohn, who was fantastic in last year's Animal Kingdom. Gigandet and Mendelsohn aren't really to blame for this mess, though. They do what they can with meatless roles. Cage gives the performance just about everything he's got, and even in his worst moments, he's tearin' it up. But he can't save this one alone.
The writing is stale and recycled, the twists boring and uninspired and one of the central relationships between characters is totally ridiculous. Schumacher tries to get gritty and dark here, but the violence feels tame and superficial. I couldn't stop laughing when a main character is engulfed in flames on-screen. There's just nothing behind it. There's no subtext, no message, no reason behind any of the directorial decisions being made here.
Schumacher's come a long way since he launched Colin Farrell's career with the knockout that was Tigerland. Unfortunately, he seems a little worse for the wear. Skip on Trespass unless you've worn out your Hostage DVD.
