Review: Trespass

Bill Paxton and William Sadler are a couple of Arkansas firemen who stumble upon a map leading to hidden loot in a supposedly abandoned building. When they go their, they find the gold alright, but they also realise the building is a meeting place for local gangsters, headed by smooth Ice-T, and seconded by volatile Ice Cube. When the gangsters are alerted to the firemen’s presence, a Mexican standoff begins with our greedy but none-too-bright firemen outmanned and outgunned and with no way out in sight. But then they find themselves a hostage, in Ice-T’s drug-addicted brother (De’voreux White) to use as leverage. Caught in the middle of all this is an elderly squatter (played by Art Evans) whilst the other gangsters are played by the likes of Glenn Plummer, a video camera-obsessed T.E. Russell (rarely showing his face on screen as a result), hulking Tiny Lister, Stoney Jackson, the underrated John Toles-Bey (where is he these days?), and immaculately dressed Bruce A. Young.

 

Not what you’d expect from a film written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale (the writer-director team behind the popular 80s time-travel comedy “Back to the Future”), but this 1992 urban crime/thriller has director Walter Hill all freakin’ over it. If you like Walter Hill movies (“The Warriors”, “48HRS”, “Streets of Fire”, “Extreme Prejudice”), you’ll like this one. It’s basically “The Treasure of Sierra Madre” but with greedy firefighters and violent gangbangers instead of Bogey and Walter Huston, and it’s better than that description probably makes it sound. Gale and Zemeckis apparently wrote it before “Back to the Future”, but as presented and stylised by Hill, this is absolutely early 90s hip-hop infused throughout (and not just because of the casting and soundtrack. The characters, swagger, and some of the plotting also plays into that).

 

The late, great Bill Paxton is in morally conflicted mode here, and his naïve character is well-matched with the more openly amoral William Sadler, who manages to go to seed an awful lot quicker and enthusiastically. They are both top-notch, with Sadler also packing a pistol the size of which might make Harry Callahan blush. Jesus. Character actor Art Evans is excellent as the homeless old coot caught in the middle of it all. He’s old and plays dumb, but he’s crafty and a survivor. His mouth might just be the end of him, however. Ice Cube and Ice-T may not be actors per se, at least not in 1992, but they are perfectly cast here. Ice Cube wears his permanent scowl but it’s appropriate for a gun-happy arsehole who gets more impatient as the film moves along. Bruce A. Young briefly makes an impression as the most well-dressed man in the film, stealing his every scene. That aqua-coloured suit is pimpin’! Ice-T it has to be said, is awfully tiny and skinny for a villainous gangster (He also sports a mullet, which is certainly a look. He rocks it a little more stylishly than I did at the time – I was only 12, though). However, through sheer force of personality he still manages to be intimidating somehow as the more intelligent and somewhat composed leader of a pack of thugs.

 

Yes, the African-Americans here are all gangbangers or bums, but if you think this is a racist film, you’re missing the point. Yes, there are negative racial stereotypes here, but it’s not about white heroes and black villains. It’s a film about the corruptive and corrosive power of greed, and trying to ‘get ahead’ as Paxton says at one point. There’s also a terrific pointed speech by Ice-T at one point about drugs, race, the law that is tragically ironic. As with a lot of rap-infused films it’s a little bit blaxploitation-esque (one character even gets called ‘Superfly’ at one point), so if you find blaxploitation films racist perhaps you’ll not enjoy this film so much. I thought it was pretty clever and entertaining. Like all of Hill’s films, this is very basic from a character and plot perspective (T.E. Russell sadly never escapes his character’s gimmick), and far more interested in themes, worldview, style, mood and atmosphere, etc. Gale and Zemeckis have supplied an economical script (you’d swear Hill had written it himself!) and the casting makes up the rest of the difference. Within five minutes you know who Paxton and Sadler are and what they’re all about. Paxton had an innate hick likeability about him as an actor that helps you sympathise somewhat with his character. This guy clearly means no harm, he’s just naïve and greedy. Paxton sells the naivety and nervousness perfectly. After all of the chess pieces are in place, Hill gets on with the show pretty much. It’s an effective piece of action-thriller entertainment on its chosen level, and with a rather cynical edge to its worldview. The choice of the rundown urban St. Louis building (in reality, the interiors were shot in Memphis) for the action is priceless. It’s essentially a siege film, and you want to see how these two greedy fools overcome insurmountable odds to get out of this situation alive. Hill manages to keep things from getting too bogged down with talk, as it’s a tense and entertaining yarn, if not a reinvention of the wheel. I bet those four and twelve-letter expletives were all improvised, I highly doubt Zemeckis and Gale put them all in the script! Typically excellent blues/rock score by the inimitable Ry Cooder (“Streets of Fire”, “The Long Riders”) over the opening credits in particular.

 

Here’s a good B-movie you might’ve missed, it’s nothing beyond that B-grade admittedly, but what would one expect from Walter Hill anyway? It’s what you sign up for, and you won’t be remotely disappointed. In the right mood this one might hit the spot perfectly fine, it’s kind of like an earlier, ‘urban hell’ action-thriller cousin to Paxton’s subsequent “A Simple Plan”.

 

Rating: B-