The Trust

We recommend you watch this movie (on Netflix) to better understand this discussion (but we don’t recommend this movie, if that makes sense)

Saying The Trust is a Nicolas Cage movie is like saying basketball is a sport...it is. For those of you under a rock since 2005, Cage doesn't really make "good" movies anymore. According to IMDB the highest rated Cager (Cage movie) ever is Adaptation, and that was in 2002, and got a 7.7 from users (Kick Ass is not a Cager just as Kick Ass Two is not a Jim Carrey movie). After that you have to go to 1995 for Leaving Las Vegas, the movie he is most known for, to see good ratings. Anyway, when grading a Cager, the criteria for "good" is not the same as the criteria you would use when grading any other actors' movies. Cage is a good actor. A really good actor. In fact, he is so good that it is detrimental. He tries to do too much. Patience and Cage are two things that are never put together. Anyway, today Levi and I are breaking down The Trust and saying where it went wrong and how to fix it. 

 
 

Synopsis: The Trust is a movie that came out in 2016 starring Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood. Here is the plot synopsis courtesy of IMDB: "Waters and Stone are two nobody police officers who work in the evidence room of the Las Vegas Police Department. When Stone discovers an unusually high bail receipt in connection to a drug bust, the two friends set in motion a plan to find the source of the money".  This trailer will make this all make much more sense.

Spoiler (like you were going to watch this) breakdown: Cage and Wood break into a vault that they discover through spotty means (Cage goes undercover as a hotel room service person). To break in, they drill a hole through the floor of an apartment occupied by a tattooed man (whom Cage kills after being spit on) and a woman (whom Cage almost kills multiple times but doesn't).  They break in, and find out there are diamonds in the vault. Wood suddenly realizes he doesn't want a part of this (not sure why he waited till then to have this epiphany) and tries to convince Cage to leave the diamonds. Cage insists to take them, Wood shoots Cage in the neck. The two have a shoot out where neither seemingly get a clean shot off, and Cage ends up dead. Wood leaves with the girl. However, Wood had allowed the girl to call her friends earlier, so her friends find the van Wood is driving and shoot him. The end. 

 
 

James: Ok, we left out quite a bit of information there. My biggest qualm is that there is no reason for Cage's character to take the heel turn that he did. At first, he is an anally careful cop, but then all of a sudden, he is killing people left and right. Did you see enough to believe the turn? 

Levi: Absolutely not, it's hard to tell what Cage and the filmmakers were trying to get across. Was Stone just plain crazy, or just really hated being called names? ("Corny" is what I believe the gun dealer called him.) Or maybe Stone just didn't want to pay for the guns. My personal theory is Stone is tired of being pushed around, as he has been at work and by his father. Since he is working outside of the law he now has this unprecedented freedom, and now he is not going to take crap from anyone anymore (ergo the cold-blooded killing of the tattooed man, and wanting to kill everyone else). And he loves this new rush that this freedom brings, that was missing in his life before. That's why he is so obsessed with pulling off this job, because it will mean he can keep this freedom and not go back to his old, mundane life. 

James: OK, but what about Wood's character (Waters)? He never cared from the beginning about anything (unless you count prostitutes and smoking) and never questions the morality of robbing someone until he finds out they're diamonds. 

Levi: Wood is indeed supposed to be the guy we are to root for. He joins the job for the money at first but then he comes to the conclusion that this isn't worth it. Whether it's out of a sense of morality or survival is unclear, thought I would go with the latter. For some reason when he sees the room full of diamonds, he suddenly believes the job is no longer worth it (although from a monetary standpoint IT MOST CERTAINLY WAS!! $$$). Maybe he has seen too many B action movies, but he thinks diamonds mean this is some kingpin's stash and it's stupid to try and make off with the money. He is acting purely out of self-preservation. You could argue wanting to spare the woman's life gives him the moral high ground, but at the end he was going to drive and leave her IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NEVADA DESERT!! He didn't care about her, he didn't want her identifying him after the fact. The whole movie he was only interested in saving his own ass. 

 James: Wood's character, Waters, is similar to Wood's character in the show Wilfred. Doesn't care about anything, and is trying hard not to be Frodo. But Waters has some very Frodo moments. He trusts the girl to make a phone call (as Frodo trusts Golum non stop), he backs out at last minute (see Doom, Mt.) and the movie opens with him and a prostitute (likely in some extended unrated edition of LOTR somewhere). Poor Wood can't avoid Frodo. Alright, now it's time for us to change things. What would you have done differently as Waters? 

Levi: First of all, hey, I know stealing diamonds from drug lords isn't the safest thing to do---

 James:Do they ever establish who owns the diamonds? What if it's just a celebrity or something? What if it's Mike Tyson? Sorry, go on.

Levi: But stop standing around and staring at things and maybe you can get out of there by making sure nothing ties you to the crime! Also, Waters borrow $10,000 from a crazy ass cop who steals it from a meth/cupcake shop as protection money!! (Long story) YOU need money Frodo! Even if you're not comfortable with stealing the whole room of diamonds, you still need to pay the insane policemen back! Just steal about 10 Gs of diamonds and then your conscience is clear. Third, giving the girl a phone call was just plain stupid. YOU DIDN'T EVEN ASK WHO WAS THERE WHEN YOU DIALED THE NUMBER!! And finally after he killed Stone, which was probably going to happen regardless, I would not have taken the girl anywhere, JUST LEAVE! She had not seen his face, she had no idea who he was, just take a handful of diamonds and then give the police an anonymous tip and they would find the girl. Boom! No hit squad, no debt and no death. You would live to sail away with the elves. 

James: I guess Frodo never really recovered from that wound. Anyway, so on Cage's part he could have done a few things differently. First off, killing Wood right after Wood re-opens (OPEN IT OPEN IT OPEN IT) the door. Actually that's all he needed to do. Instead he had a grandiose vision of going to the Bahamas with Wood. Quick side note: How the hell did Cage pay for two tickets to the Bahama's when he couldn't put any of his own money towards the drill? I think he was richer than he led on to be. I digress, since he no longer cares about anything other than the diamonds, and he notices Wood is already debating leaving, he kills Wood and the girl, takes the diamonds, and goes with his dad to the Bahamas.  

Well, that's the most that has ever been written about this movie, and it's safe to say that record will hold. Wood should have GTFO with some diamonds, and Cage should have killed Wood and taken all the diamonds. Wow. Any last comments? 

Levi: Just that the ending of this movie made me physically angry. So many things could have prevented it, plus Cage's death was total BS. Up till the end it was just a confusing, mediocre heist film.  

James: But it was solid Cage movie, as far as they go. That does it for The Trust, maybe watch it if you're bored as hell and enjoy bad Cage movies. Otherwise, let us know any movie you want discussed. We watch bad movies, and make them...less bad.