The Trust - Condensed 'Breaking Bad' (Nicolas Cage style)

Every time Nicolas Cage releases a new film I take a deep breath, hoping he'll recapture his former glory.  Most times I should know better as the majority of his recent output seem to be 'straight-to-DVD' affairs made only for him to pay off whichever divorcee he's battling in the courts.  However, 'The Trust' is actually pretty good.  Certainly worth a watch.

Cage 'buddies' with Elijah Wood as a couple of - slightly corrupt - Las Vegas police officers who figure they can retire early by robbing one hell of a big safe.  Okay, so they're VERY corrupt, but they're still our (anti) heroes.

The film's a bit of a mish-mash and, like I said, it's worth a watch for the most part.  The first half is more of a 'buddy cop' affair and the banter between our two leads is highly watchable indeed.  In fact, it's probably the film's highlight.  Now, you may have noticed that I mentioned the awesome 'Breaking Bad' in the title - a long-running TV show about a mild-mannered Chemistry teacher who slowly descends into darkness by dabbling in the drug trade.  The reason I saw similarities with 'The Trust' was that this film also as an older lead and a younger lead, slowly starting to leave the fringes of 'decency' and delving deeper into criminal activities.  The major difference is that in 'Breaking Bad' the older man was the sensible one, whereas his younger business partner is a total unpredictable flake.  In 'The Trust' it's the other way round.  Many of the best gags are perforated by Elijah Wood's expression of total disbelief at Cage's bizarre antics.

So, it's good.  The characters are funny and the dialogue is sharp.  And yet it's nowhere near a classic (which is a shame, as it really could have been a proper 'cult classic').  Whereas 'Breaking Bad' had the luxury of having five seasons of TV shows to show the gradual change in its characters, 'The Trust' tries to achieve this in an hour and a half.  About halfway through the film one incident happens which kind of major changes not only one character, but also the tone of the film.  From being quite a light-hearted little tale, it suddenly becomes much darker.

That's my major gripe, plus I can see some people objecting to the ending, but I'm not about to give away any spoilers for that one.  Overall, if you're a fan of Cage (or Elijah Wood, to be fair - he makes a great 'straight man' to Cage's craziness!) you should enjoy this.  It's a bit all over the place, but the banter is fun and there may be a few moments that you definitely won't see coming.  Good effort Nic - more of these please.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that