The Trust

The Trust casts Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood as Jim Stone and David Waters, a pair of evidence-room police officers who embark on a dangerous heist after learning of a mysterious vault – with the movie, naturally, detailing the various problems that naturally ensue. It’s a well-worn premise that’s initially employed to watchable effect by Alex and Benjamin Brower, with the filmmakers employing a breezy, fast-paced opening stretch that’s heightened by admittedly stellar work from both Wood and Cage. (The latter’s irresistibly relaxed performance stands as an obvious highlight throughout.) It’s distressing to note, then, that The Trust begins a slow-but-steady decline into irrelevance once it passes a certain point, as the narrative shifts into a stagy, filmed-play-like midsection that transpires mostly within the confines of a dimly-lit apartment. The viewer’s interest in the protagonists’ exploits dwindles steadily during the movie’s second half, naturally, and it’s clear, too, that the grim, downbeat conclusion ultimately feels at odds with the comparatively lighthearted first act. (It goes without saying that the finale, then, is hardly able to pack the emotional punch that the Brower siblings were presumably aiming for.) There is, in the end, a lot to like and enjoy contained within The Trust, but it’s predominantly outweighed (and essentially negated) by an unfocused narrative that grows more and more tiresome as it progresses.

** out of ****