User reviews

I don't know why the idea of Nicholas Cage and Elijah Wood starring in a crime thriller together is funny to me, but it is. & for its first half, THE TRUST is funny. But what starts out as a silly neo-noir veers suddenly toward a darker realm as Cage's goofy Las Vegas police officer (echoes of his BAD LIEUTENANT role, but only echoes) reveals his cold-blooded determination to get at the contents of a secret vault at all costs, causing a rift to occur between him & Wood's softer character.

THE TRUST is a heist movie, & it's when the heist begins that the movie really starts to shine. It takes the heist in creative, unexpected & funny directions, & during these parts is an enjoyable & engrossing film. The film wraps up way too suddenly, & overall is quite forgettable, but for a good chunk in the middle it had a certain spark while these two ridiculous men dug themselves deeper into the hole they never wholly grasped they were getting themselves into in the first place. Cage is fun to watch, & though more restrained than usual, his wild energy crackles from him like static off a bedsheet. The dialogue & handling of situations is nicely offbeat, & the script remains ontrack the whole way.

THE TRUST is worth a watch if you like neo-noirs, heist movies, or Nick Cage doing his goofy thing. Or, like me, all of the above.

Cage has been on a dry run for the past few years. Not only has he been starring in mediocre-bad movies, but he hasn't had a chance to be as fun and eccentric as we know he can be. It's like he's been on downers for a while, and now with The Trust, he finally got off those meds. This is the Nicolas Cage we love - silly, unpredictable, and hilarious. His antics aren't overbearing either thanks to co-lead Elijah Wood, who is the stoner counterpart to Cage and loosely serves as the voice of reason. The plot of The Trust is that Cage and Wood are cops who couldn't care less about their jobs and wind up stumbling across a drug operation that leads them to a secret vault. Then they decide to rob the place.

It starts off as an off-beat comedy. Cage and Wood share a brilliant rapport making it easy to gloss over the film's shortcomings. Then in the third act things become strangely dark and the fun lackadaisical tone drifts away. But until then, The Trust is a pleasant surprise with more depth than you'd think. The film is loaded with issues - the clunky narrative and inconsistent tone - but for Cage fans who are jonesing for a fix, The Trust will surely fill that void and at the very least provide a few good laughs.

I saw the trailer for 'The Trust' a few weeks ago and I thought it looked interesting since I'm a fan of Nicolas Cage. He had a lot of bad movies recently but also a few good under-looked movies (Joe, Frozen Ground, Drive Angry). It's fair to say that 'The Trust' is a good entry in Nicolas Cage's volatile filmography.

The ending might be the weak point of the film, maybe don't go in with too much expectations, but Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood were really surprising. They had a couple of funny moments together, and they were definitely carrying this movie.

I love a movie with a cool soundtrack, and I thought the directors (Alex & Benjamin Brewer) did a nice job setting the tone for this Las Vegas caper movie with great music and funny scenes. Elijah Wood is playing a stoner cop and I thought it was a good role for him. The acting was really on point the entire movie.

The Bobo scene was hilarious, and the whole 'heist' takes different twists and turns.

Even though the first hour is the best part and it falls short in the last 30 minutes, I recommend giving 'The Trust' a try if you like crime/comedy movies, or if you're a fan of Nicolas Cage.

7.5/10

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.

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!

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.

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

As far as low-budget, small scale 2010s Nic Cage movies go, this was surprisingly solid.

It's the kind of heist movie you've probably seen a bunch of times before, but Elijah Wood and Nic Cage make for a good duo that elevate the material. Cage's character is wildly unpredictable and hard to read, but it works in the film's favour, as otherwise I think this would 100% drag during its sort of underwhelming second half.

But there's a shot near the end in a car that's really cool? So it's not like it fizzles out completely. And overall, I'm really just thankful this was a decent time and more than watchable, because as much as I love Cage, some of his other 2010s movies are tough to get through.

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!

Nicolas Cage can never be doubted. He may make bad movies & might keep making them, but when this guy decides to get into a character, there's NO Stopping him. In 'The Trust', Cage delivers a terrific performance & overpowers this mediocre film with his sheer madness.

'The Trust' Synopsis: A pair of cops investigating a drug invasion stumble upon a mysterious bank vault.

'The Trust' is interesting in parts, but the film needed to be sharper. Its wicked fun to see the cops doing something illegal & then turn violent, but Writer-Director Duo Ben Brewer & Adam Hirsch never allow them to soar. The Screenplay is unevenly written & arrests in limited does. Their Direction, however, is nicely done.

So its upto Cage & Elijah Wood to make things work. Cage is firebrand, enacting the manipulative & unpredictable cop with enviable madness. Wood, an underrated talent, stands on his own, even though Cage is in merciless scene-stealing mode here.

On the whole, 'The Trust' isn't as good as it could've been, but Cage keeps the proceedings alive with his act. Screw his critics, this man is still a bad-ass!

I can not stress how pointless of a watch this was. Wood and Cage should be ashamed of themselves for agreeing to make this movie after reading the script. The movie has no real climax except the viewers complete and utter disappointment.

I usually enjoy movies with Cage or Wood but this is a new low for the both of them and i don't think i would ever consider watching or spending any money on any movie either of them appear in after seeing this crappy piece of "art". The same feeling i had when i watched Will Smith in "Focus", never would i pay any money to watch a movie Smith is in after that.

The story line seemed to have some real potential but the writers slept half way through writing the script and i guess the producers just decided to go with an unfinished script.

I very much expected it to be a rather typical action drivel, but Brewer brothers actually have taken a more restrained approach, avoiding being over-the-top, trying to make a grounded crime drama, heist flick / cop flick, but not without some pulp. Even some little comedy. And, best of all, this adventure is led by the unprecedented dynamic duo of Cage and Wood.

Stone (Nicolas Cage) and Waters (Elijah Wood) are two cops with a hunch about a shady drug operation, they decide to go rogue and investigate, and find a bank vault with unknown intriguing contents... Thus a cop/heist flick was born. Who knew that Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood have such a terrific dynamic between them - both are very well cast. The character of Stone might as well been written with Cage in mind, man's always good with eccentric or oddball characters. It is the most satisfying part of "The Trust" - performances and their quirky characters interactions. Having said that, the character development is lacking, fault of the script. The story's not without flaws, blanks are left in what motivation propelled specific characters, who and what they were stealing from, etc., the ending's kind of nicely grim for my taste, but a general lackluster at the same time.

Even though part paint-by-the-numbers, part lets-just-have-fun, "The Trust" together makes an easily enjoyable heist flick, though largely reaching for drama rather than white-knuckle-thriller. Pacing's reasonably consistent from the very start, dialogue is always decent, plot's a little slow but not boring, and acting endures, there's enough to be engaged with. When we've gotten to the heist itself, it gets the most interesting, steadily going step by step, problems on the way, heavier drama and emotion setting in. Also, with the 9 mil budget, "The Trust" didn't have a lot of trouble to appear technically confident throughout.

Among some music videos, "The Trust" is the only feature film Alex and Benjamin Brewer have directed, and it is a cool one, one that features two great performances and some tried and proven heisty fun. Check it out for these ingredients. My rating: 6/10.

Nicolas Cage is both the butt of movie jokes and a respectable multirole meme, since he's played everything from cult films to shitty flicks (including ridiculous evangelist ones). Lately, he's been very good in stuff like "Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans" (2009) and "Joe" (2014) which was a great modern example of cinéma vérité. In this wonky production, his smarmy opportunist character is even likable, but unsuccessfully flanked by Wood's reluctant partner in crime; while the small-time heist scheme is enjoyable, the succession of events turns out as anti-climactic and disappointing, without much fun or any sort of accomplishment. There's a lack of a third party and a good female lead, besides a heavier dose of irony. The Jerry Lewis cameo was a random surprise, but good for him: I thought he was dead.

There seem to be a "few" people having problems with the ending. I did not. These people, the type used in focus groups by the major studios, help screw films over, expecting "by the numbers" endings.

This ending has more of a 70's tone. I enjoyed it.

The actors did a fantastic job, I was transported into their world remarkably quickly. I didn't see "Frodo".. I didn't see "kooky" over the top Nic Cage. Just 2 quirky cops embarking on a caper.

The pace, cinematography, direction, and soundtrack helped make this a fun Sunday afternoon watch.

I hope you arrive at this film in a similar frame of mind as I did. Despite the bad reviews I gave it a chance, and am glad I did. Great performance by both leads.

Without spoilers, the two things I didn't like were a lack of backstory on all of the characters and the overall point of the film. I'm sure there are theories in other people's reviews but I like to write my own review before reading others because it ends up being some of their opinion through my mouth. Anyways, the ending of the film just felt, not like a cliffhanger so much but just empty and not over. I guess there's a sense of it being just another thing. Hard to explain without spoilers. I did like Nicolas Cage in this film. I wouldn't have watched the film if it didn't have Elijah Wood in it because he picks good projects; Cage however, seems to grab up any and all movies now. For example, he has five 2017 projects in production currently, and it's November 27th 2016. I liked the story; it was unpredictable and entertaining. It however would have been better, as I just stated, if it was longer and had a better ending and background on the characters. The acting was good. Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood played characters they normally do, Cage being eccentric, and Wood being skittish. And all other actors were good as well. I love Ethan Suplee and his character has potential but was only in the story to help move it along. The directing, color, cinematography, etc.; all Editing of the film was good. It had some very cool shots, one of it being while Elijah Wood's character is standing under a street light against a fence. Why? Watch the movie to find out. Altogether, I watched the film on Netflix so it's basically free, but it's worth spending money to rent. Not the best film but it was entertaining. I would consider watching again in the future. Worth the watch.

Sergeant Waters (Elijah Wood) and his boss Lieutenant Stone (Nicolas Cage) work evidence collection in the general corruption of the Las Vegas Police Department. Stone is tired of the mild incompetence of the force. A secret drug stash inside a car engine leads to an excessive $200k bail receipt. Stone recruits Waters to find this petty criminal and the source of the cash. They discover a mysterious vault in the back of a grocery store.

It's a fun little crime drama black comedy. Wood and Cage work well together as a corrupt buddy cop duo. Cage is having a bit of fun at the expense of Wood. Trust is a hard thing to come by in this movie and that keeps the audience from fully rooting for them. It would have solidified their relationship if they're family or childhood friends. It never occurs to me why Waters would ever trust Stone in this caper. Nevertheless, there are some humorous darkness that makes this worthwhile. The last act is muddled which keeps this from being great.