Trespass
1992
Cast: Bill Paxton, Ice-T, William Sadler, Ice Cube, Art Evans, De'Voreaux White, Tommy Lister Jr., Stoney Jackson
Genre: Action
U.S Box Office Gross: over $13 million
Plot: A pair of firemen searching for loot find themselves in a standoff with a gang of drug dealers
'Doesn't Hold Up, Despite A Solid Cast'
Written by Bob Dale and surprisingly Robert Zemeckis, director of Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forrest Gump, and not to be confused with the Nicole Kidman and Nicholas Cage thriller of the same title, Trespass tells the story of two Redneck firefighters, Vince (Bill Paxton - Aliens, True Lies, Predator 2) and Don (William Sadler - Hard To Kill, Die Hard 2, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey) who are given a bundle that includes a Gold cross, an old newspaper article and a treasure map to the stolen loot. As they go in search of this loot, they find an abandoned warehouse whereby a bunch of crooks/gangstas, led by Ice- T's King James, kill a guy, which Paxton's Vince witnesses. After getting hold of the gang leader's brother, the firefighters find themselves caught up in a crossfire against the gangsters, of whom include Savon (Ice Cube) who knows nothing about the gold, but rather they just want to kill anyone who stands in their way and to rescue their younger brother, Lucky (De'voreaux White).
Alums from Die Hard in De'voreaux White as a gang member and Art Evans as a homeless guy both feature, and whilst this is supposed to be an action thriller and a modern take on The Treasure of the Serra Madre, there is an absence of characterisation for a film that tries to and attempts to focus on the rivalry between the two firefighters and the gang members, whilst clocking in at under 90 mins. The ideas and themes never quite gel as a result of a cumbersome plot. Walter Hill was hired for his expertise in the action movie, action- thriller genre; however, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale's underdeveloping characters and padded-out narrative outweighed any potential Trespass might have had, whilst Hill, himself, isn't quite able to infuse the film with enough good and excitable action to maintain the pace of Trespass's run-time.
The film is adequately-made, performances are fine for the most part, but the lack of likeable & sympathetic characters meant I did not truly care about the ending or the aftermath of this movie; that and Trespass never gets going. The white characters represented by Paxton and Sadler are supposed to be the leads and yet one would be forgiven into thinking they are the heroes when in actuality, they are greedy and are as less empathetic and as cynical, and the Black characters through Ice T, Ice Cube, Art Evans and De'voreaux's roles as violent gangbangers, sadly fare no better.
Having bombed at the box office back in 1992, it's not that it hasn't aged well, but Trespass doesn't hold up through today's viewing as it fizzles away. The pot-boiler thriller elements are underplayed, the story itself is uneventful and drone-worthy and alas, what should have been two firefighters engaging with and fighting it out with the crooks, becomes a rather tedious showing & fails to live up as a cat-&-mouse style thriller as all of this is sidelined. There is a little twist towards the end that would have been the ice breaker this film truly needed, but it all came too little too late and with that, Trespass amounted to zilch.
Final Verdict:
Trespass underwent a last-minute name change and was delayed due to the L.A riots and its ending was hastily rewritten after a disastrous test screening. Yet neither solutions worked as Trespass was dumped in cinemas on Christmas day of 1992 & later tanking in U.S movie theaters and as such was quickly buried.
I didn't hate or loathed it, but I will say I was massively disappointed with it; plus it is also sadly forgettable and thus shown that this stand-off didn't truly pay off.
Overall:
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