“The Trust” is a decent heist film but part of the enjoyment of watching a heist film is its characters and the rush of pulling off that ultimate heist. But for this film, the characters were not all that appealing and in essence, made the film average and nothing more
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TITLE: The Trust
FILM RELEASE: 2016
DURATION: 92 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:85:1), English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Subtitles: English, English SDH and Spanish
COMPANY: Lionsgate
RATED: R (Violence and Some Language, Some Sexuality/Nudity and Drug Use)
Release Date: August 2, 2016
Directed by Alex Brewer, Benjamin Brewer
Written by Benjamin Brewer, Adam Hirsch
Produced by Molly Hassell, Braxton Pope
Co-Producer: Stephanie Pon, Glen Trotiner
Executive-Producer: Charles Auty, Lee Broada, Bill Bromiley, Ted Cawrey, Megan Forde, Arianne Fraser, John Jencks, Julie Kroll, Jason Carter Miller, Delphine Perrier, Jeff Rice, Ness Saban, Simon Williams, Henry Winterstern
Associate Producer: Alexa Seligman, Jay Taylor
Cinematography by Sean Porter
Music by Reza Safinia
Edited by Laura Connelly
Casting by J.C. Cantu
Production Design by Scott Kuzio
Art Direction by Molly Bailey
Set Decoration by Malorie Folino
Costume Design by Mona May
Starring:
Nicolas Cage as Stone
Elijah Wood as Waters
Sky Ferreira as Woman
Eric Heister as Big Irish Guy
Alexandria Lee as Nina
Ethan Suplee as Detective
Kenna James as Captain Harris
Steven Williams as Cliff
Jerry Lewis as Stone’s Father
Oscar® winner Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood star as Vegas cops who stumble upon the location of a hidden vault belonging to local drug dealers. Immediately, they devise a master plan to make off with the mad stacks of cash they are sure are stored within. But what they find inside puts their lives in grave danger in this action-packed, twist-filled crime-thriller.
From directors, Alex Brewer and brother Benjamin Brewer (“Beneath Contempt”) comes their crime film, “The Trust”.
Written by Benjamin Brewer and Adam Hirsch, “The Trust” stars Nicolas Cage (“National Treasure”, “Leaving Las Vegas”, “Moonstruck”) and Elijah Wood (“Green Street Hooligans”, “The Lord of the Rings” films, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”), Sky Ferreira (“The Green Inferno”), Jerry Lewis (“The Nutty Professor”, “The King of Comedy”, “The Bellboy”), Kevin Wisman (“Flipped”) and Steven Williams (“21 Jump Street”, “The Blues Brothers”).
And now the film will be released on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Entertainment.
“The Trust” begins with Sgt. David Waters (portrayed by Elijah Wood) and Lt. Jim Stone (portrayed by Nicolas Cage), both who worked for the Evidence Management unit of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
But for these two police officers, they both have grown bored with their jobs and are upset that they both are struggling to survive financially.
When Jim starts to do undercover work on a drug dealer, he notices that all their merchandise is being moved to a building and never moved out.
So, the plan by both men to steal the merchandise is hatched, as David acquires blueprints to the building and the two get all the necessary tools to steal the merchandise.
But not all goes as planned when the men break into the building.
VIDEO:
“The Trust” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1 aspect ratio). The film looks vibrant in outdoor Las Vegas day scenes and close ups are full of detail. Skintones look natural. I didn’t notice any banding or artifacts during my viewing of the film. For the most part, picture quality for the film is great!
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“The Trust” is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. The soundtrack is primarily dialogue and music driven with ambiance used for the surround channels. There are surround usage during the more action-driven sequences (towards the end of the film). But the dialogue and music are both are crystal clear.
Subtitles are in English, English SDH and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Trust” comes with the following special features:
- Filmmakers Commentary – Featuring an audio commentary by Directors Alex and Benjamin Brewer
- The Dynamics of a Duo: Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood – (5:38) The cast and crew discuss working on the film and putting two mismatched duo to make a more realistic film.
- The Visuals of Vegas – (5:26) The cast and crew talk about filming in Las Vegas.
EXTRAS:
“The Trust” comes with a slipcover an UltraViolet Digital HD code.
For those who are curious about seeing actors Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood together in a heist drama, will no doubt find the appeal of this film to be rather interesting.
It is no doubt an unusual collaboration that I can’t imagine ever seeing happen, but then again, seeing Elijah Wood as a police sergeant is something I never imagined seeing in a film.
But police films involving total opposites are nothing new. While we often see it happen in comedies, “The Trust” is definitely not a comedy.
The film revolves around two bored police officers who work in the Evidence Management unit of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
And these two decide to spice things up by turning to corrupted officers wanting to infiltrate a location where hardcore drug syndicates are hiding out at and bringing mysterious things into this location.
But as Sgt. David Waters (portrayed by Elijah Wood) and Lt. Jim Stone (portrayed by Nicolas Cage) get further into their crime, Waters becomes more hesitant that they walked into something much worse than he had expected.
It doesn’t help much that Stone is rather gung-ho and not caring about the risks, like his partner and then it causes even more problems when Stone starts to go further by killing people. Thus causing the conundrum between both police officers and you can tell that things are not going to end well between the two.
While not completely predictable, I do give credit to Alex and Benjamin Brewer for taking risks and wanting to try something different by pairing these two actors and in essence, trying to create something real.
The problem with the film is that neither character are interesting to grasp your attention.
One can watch a film such as “Oceans 11” or other similar heist films and gravitate towards the characters because the plot allows for one to be captivated by the character and the heist.
The characters for “The Trust”, I could care less about. The heist is what I cared about more and seeing how these two would pull things off, despite the tension of discord between both police officers.
As for the Blu-ray release, picture and lossless audio is very good, while special features delves into the creators and cast discussing the film. An audio commentary is also included.
Overall, “The Trust” is a decent heist film but part of the enjoyment of watching a heist film is its characters and the rush of pulling off that ultimate heist. But for this film, the characters were not all that appealing and in essence, made the film average and nothing more.
