Margaux and I disagree strongly about The Trust.
Trevor: Okay, I know we’re in disagreement on this one, but I really enjoyed (most of) The Trust. From the ‘70s-style credits I was on board, and I was really sold on just how goddamn weird it was. Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood have great chemistry, and for me the best parts of the movie were the times they were just allowed to have oddball conversations. This is a throwaway Cage movie, to be sure, but I enjoyed it more than other throwaway movies of his like, say, The Runner or Pay the Ghost. (It’s probably tied with Stolen.)
Margaux: Well, if we’re judging The Trust in the throwaway genre of Cage movies, then, yeah The Trust is shot better and has a more interesting point of view than the movies you listed. But I’d argue Stolen is a lot funnier of a movie and that the actors didn’t have to work as hard to sell the plot. Sure, the tone of The Trust is…baffling, any movie that starts with Elijah Wood getting fucked is a CHOICE, and Las Vegas looked too much L.A., but the entire plot hinges on Cage’s character Stone, SON OF JERRY LEWIS, takes a second glance at a file most wouldn’t have even picked up in the first place.
Trevor: I actually liked that Vegas didn’t really look like Vegas, but it still felt like Vegas. I thought it was an interesting move to avoid any shots of the numerous famous landmarks dotting the city (except for the Stratosphere, which is unavoidable). You’re right, the tone was strange, but that’s precisely why it worked for me. Based on the Netflix poster, I was expecting something much more hard-boiled, so I found myself surprised at how often I was laughing out loud. For instance: Cage and his captain getting into an argument about a John Deere mower while a foot chase happened in the background, or Cage tricking Wood into eating a lemon slice with Tabasco on it. Any time you get a movie like this that takes such obvious pride in its dialogue, it gets compared to Tarantino, which is understandable, but to me The Trust was much more evocative of B-level Elmore Leonard.
Margaux: The John Deere conversation, mid-bust, was the first time I wrote down, “what’s the tone here?” It felt like a badly cribbed scene from Breaking Bad. The lemon/Tabasco trick, and every other “what-the-fuck?” quirk – Cage spraying his breath spray the wrong way, Ethan Suplee’s turn as Ethan Hawke in Training Day – irritated the shit out of me because I kept waiting for all these little things to add up to something and it didn’t. They don’t say anything about anybody, it felt like filler.
Trevor: Normally scenes like that would bug me too, but for some reason in The Trust they didn’t. I think it was all part of establishing this morally gray world. I will allow that I was jarred by the inconsistencies in filming styles; the shift to handheld cinematography in tense moments was always notable, and for that I blame the directors, first-timers Anthony and Ben Brewer, who also wrote the script. Not every directing team of brothers can be the Coens (in fact, none of them can), but I think the Brewers’ writing style shows real promise. I don’t know what it is about this movie! I like weird! I’m sorry, I really have nothing else to back this up.
Margaux: The way it’s shot and scored doesn’t always support the script, and maybe that’s why it didn’t quite land for me. Most of my notes are just questions because the motives were so muddy, and I don’t buy your “morally gray” bullshit. Sure, they’re pretty bad cops, but Stone and Waters are made out to be bad in a hapless way. Until, suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere, Cage starts bustin caps all over the place with no real indication that he could or would. I understand in real life human MO is random and not always thought through, but this is fucking movie and they had a hell of a lot of time to set something up. Every scene barely felt connected to the one before it or after it, the German phone call was so insanely random.
Trevor: Hey now, there’s no reason to call a different opinion bullshit. And they’re not necessarily bad cops, just corrupt ones.
Margaux: When were they actually “corrupt” except towards the middle end? Wood smokes pot, and has slept with sex workers. Cage’s Dad is Jerry Lewis, they live together, it’s as bleak as you’d expect. That doesn’t amount to corrupt.
Trevor: Cage, at least, we see explain the potential of an ashtray for DNA recovery, and demand that cocaine be immediately filed in evidence.
When he shot the gun dealer, I felt like that was a divisive moment, because, you’re right, we haven’t been given any inclination that Stone has that in him. I fell on a different side of the line. But it worked for me because the movie, and Stone, concealed a lot of his character from the audience and from Wood.
Margaux: Well, that’s not true either. We were led to believe that Cage’s Stone was some sort of eccentric, what with putting zinc sunscreen on only his nose for no reason and other assorted (and aforementioned) “quirks.” None of it screamed, “IMMA SHOOT THIS ARMS DEALERS SOON, K?” It was just convenient and would make his turn at the end of the second act make sense. But it wasn’t earned at all. That was probably the 14th time I wrote down, “seriously, what tone are we going for here???”
Trevor: And fair enough, “corrupt” is the wrong word. I can’t think of a better one right now, but I’m sure it’s out there. That English degree is paying for itself.
Let’s move on to a surprisingly long sequence: the safe cracking. How did that work for you? At first it was too slow for me, but it grew on me in the end.
Margaux: Ultimately it felt pointless, the vault itself was cool, I guess. But by the time they finally got there, I was pretty checked out. And I say it was pointless because Wood eventually puts everything back after they’ve looted it and it just played as this Red Herring for me. Like, what was the point of this movie?
Trevor: I won’t argue it had a grand point it was trying to illustrate. “Crime doesn’t pay” has been done to death, and as much as I enjoyed a lot of The Trust, it’s not going to keep me up at night with existential questions of morality and guilt.
Margaux: On a positive note, I will agree that Cage and Wood made a good on-screen duo, but wish The Trust was more like The Nice Guys instead of Training Day-lite. Stone’s inexplicable obsession with The Secret and “keeping a positive attitude” could’ve been a lot funnier if this movie knew it was a comedy at heart.
Trevor: That’s a good way to put it. At the end of the day, we can both agree that Cage and Wood are a lot of fun together. I hope they make another movie soon, and I hope it’s one we can both enjoy.
Margaux: We still have 4 more Cage-Mas movies, I’m sure we’ll agree on one of them. Still shook on your opinions on Face/Off.
Next up: Raising Arizona
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