In the post-2010 Nicolas Cage canon, a film as modestly engaging as The Trust registers as just above average. The film stars Cage and Elijah Wood as bored Las Vegas policemen who notice frequent, suspicious deliveries to an out-of-the-way restaurant and, despite their inexperience and not knowing their exact target, plot a heist. The storytelling and pacing are a bit logy and untidy when they should be airtight, but the film is not without merit: the setting—the Las Vegas beneath "Las Vegas," a place of cramped apartments, greasy kitchens, and old warehouses—has a certain novelty, and the second act contains a few highly suspenseful heist-movie beats (the safe tumblers!). It also, for the record, contains what could be the year's most random casting: none other than 90-year-old Nutty Professor and telethon maestro Jerry Lewis briefly shows up twice as the Cage character's grumpy father, doing absolutely nothing of the Jerry Lewis variety.

C+

The Trust

This is a cool little film. The ending is disappointing. Surely in a heist movie you want the robbers to succeed. But here, Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood, both playing Las Vegas Police Officers, don't end up with the loot. But the planning, execution, and Cage's zany, oddball character (albeit toned down from 90s Cage) are more than enough to make The Trust a worthwhile watch and, in some way, a return to form for Cage.

B

The Trust is an excellent surprise from last year. The film connects on pretty much every level, script, directing, score, acting. The last is courtesy of especially Nic Cage in one of his best films to date, Wood is also well cast. The only knack I have to the film is the anti-climatic ending, but on the other hand it feels very fitting to the story. I'd be happy if there was another layer with some more unveiling of the bad guys to the film. Still, it's a great small-scale heist story which I enjoyed it a lot.

A-

Very surprised you love it so much, but glad you do. Nice to see another member not shy away from his own taste.