Trespass Against Us - directed by Adam Smith
Michael Fassbender is reason enough for me to see a film but add in Brendan Gleeson and it becomes a must see.
Fassbender seems to me to have the most diverse career of any actor I can think of.
He spreads his roles across first time filmmakers, blockbusters, big name directors and passion projects - sometimes (but sadly rarely) three of the four at once.
For every X-men movie, "Assassin's Creed", "Prometheus" or "The Counselor" he has a "Centurion" a "Slow West" or a "Light Between Oceans".
He seems to pick movies very, very well and even if the end result is less than great you can be sure his work will be.
"Trespass Against Us" is another one of the smaller film and it is a project directed by a first time feature director.
Here Fassbender and Gleeson play Father and Son criminals.
They live in caravans out in the rural English countryside and speak with strong accents that are often very difficult to understand.
In fact the whole set up may remind you of Brad Pitt and his family in Guy Ritchie's excellent film "Snatch".
Fassbender is Chad - a thief married to Kelly ('Kel') and with two young children - Tyson ('Ty') and Mini.
Gleeson plays Colby ('Col') a man who exerts an enormous influence on all around him - specially Chad and Tyson.
He tells his grandchildren to ignore what they learn in school and advises them that the world is flat, always has been and ever shall be.
His thoughts on evolution are similarly unaffected by scientific discovery.
At one point he claims that the Police are responsible for the crucifixion of Christ!
It is clear that the distorted views of this man have been disastrously influential on Chad who is a career criminal well known to the local Police.
When we first see this motley crew of misfits they are packed into a Subaru wagon in pursuit of a rabbit.
Tyson is seated upon Chad's knee in the driver seat and appears to be driving.
An injured man is in the back of the car demanding that they stop.
It is a fitting introduction to the way things work with these guys.
They do what they want and to hell with the law and the consequences.
For me this is a problem that any movie about criminals either has to overcome early or I lose all sympathy for the protagonist.
After all by definition criminals are outside of society and care little for others.
While this film is only partially successful at doing this the presence of Fassbender and the fact that Chad doesn't do anything too bad in terms of public harm with his crimes goes a decent way towards keeping me on the characters side.
Not so with Gleeson's Col or the very unusual Gordon played by Sean Harris.
Both are the sort of out of control wild cards that you just know are likely to screw up the lives of all around them at any moment.
The stakes then are the future of Chad, his wife and his children.
All really, really need to get away from Col's destructive ignorance and desire to exert control over all around him.
The issue that I had then was how long it took Chad to come to this conclusion and how unconvincing his journey towards it was.
The event that finally makes him wise up seems to occur far too far into the running time and makes for a hugely unsatisfying conclusion.
It feel incomplete - as if time and/or money ran out and the finale was wrapped up quickly.
This may be the main thing that prevents "Trespass Against Us" being anything more than a merely decent movie.
The other is the associated symptom that there are far too many setups that go nowhere.
Col twice threatens Kelly by commenting that a dog that plays with a cat too long always gets scratched.
This is in response to her very reasonable refusal to allow the man to give her children shockingly bad life advice.
Both Col and Gordon have the appearance of being positioned for a flashpoint moment - an explosive point where they clash with Chad or Kelly or even the Police.
This just never arrives and left me wondering what the point of all of this is.
Still - there is a lot to like about "Trespass Against Us".
The car chases are very well done with some nicely shot and edited sequences throughout.
I liked the surprisingly (to me at least) moody score from The Chemical Brothers.
There is not one damned thing wrong with the performances.
Fassbender, Gleeson, Rory Kinnear as a cop, Marshall as Kelly and Sean Harris as the out and out weird Gordon are all terrific.
Occasionally the dialogue really sparks too with a highlight being Col's absurdly reached conclusion that 'Hell hath no fury like a caged Super Goat' (don't ask!)
But the performances deserve a better script around them.
The idea that crime is generational deserves better exploration and I was disappointed that this film seems either disinterested in going there or maybe just not terribly good at it.
The characters are just not strongly enough realised and that is all on the script.
"Trespass Against Us" is yet another example of Fassbender's talent but it is ultimately destined to be relegated to the interesting failure section of his resume.
RATING: 76 / 100
CONCLUSION: Great performances cannot compensate for thematic weaknesses and poor pacing in the script. This movie seems to promise a lot with its set up but fizzles out leaving most unresolved.
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Lyndsey Marshal, Georgie Smith, Rory Kinnear, Sean Harris, Killian Scott, Tony Way, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Kacie Anderson, Gerard Kearns, Peter Wight, Ezra Khan, George Russeo, Yvonne D'Alpra
Screenplay: Alastair Siddons
Music Score by: The Chemical Brothers
Cinematography: Eduard Grau
Edited by: Kristina Hetherington & Jake Roberts
Running Time: 99 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R13 - Violence, brief nudity & profanity
Running Time: 99 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R13 - Violence, brief nudity & profanity
Michael Fassbender is reason enough for me to see a film but add in Brendan Gleeson and it becomes a must see.
Fassbender seems to me to have the most diverse career of any actor I can think of.
He spreads his roles across first time filmmakers, blockbusters, big name directors and passion projects - sometimes (but sadly rarely) three of the four at once.
For every X-men movie, "Assassin's Creed", "Prometheus" or "The Counselor" he has a "Centurion" a "Slow West" or a "Light Between Oceans".
He seems to pick movies very, very well and even if the end result is less than great you can be sure his work will be.
"Trespass Against Us" is another one of the smaller film and it is a project directed by a first time feature director.
Here Fassbender and Gleeson play Father and Son criminals.
They live in caravans out in the rural English countryside and speak with strong accents that are often very difficult to understand.
In fact the whole set up may remind you of Brad Pitt and his family in Guy Ritchie's excellent film "Snatch".
Fassbender is Chad - a thief married to Kelly ('Kel') and with two young children - Tyson ('Ty') and Mini.
Gleeson plays Colby ('Col') a man who exerts an enormous influence on all around him - specially Chad and Tyson.
He tells his grandchildren to ignore what they learn in school and advises them that the world is flat, always has been and ever shall be.
His thoughts on evolution are similarly unaffected by scientific discovery.
At one point he claims that the Police are responsible for the crucifixion of Christ!
It is clear that the distorted views of this man have been disastrously influential on Chad who is a career criminal well known to the local Police.
 |
| Michael Fassbender as Chad and Brendan Gleeson as Col... the sins of the Father |
Tyson is seated upon Chad's knee in the driver seat and appears to be driving.
An injured man is in the back of the car demanding that they stop.
It is a fitting introduction to the way things work with these guys.
They do what they want and to hell with the law and the consequences.
For me this is a problem that any movie about criminals either has to overcome early or I lose all sympathy for the protagonist.
After all by definition criminals are outside of society and care little for others.
While this film is only partially successful at doing this the presence of Fassbender and the fact that Chad doesn't do anything too bad in terms of public harm with his crimes goes a decent way towards keeping me on the characters side.
Not so with Gleeson's Col or the very unusual Gordon played by Sean Harris.
Both are the sort of out of control wild cards that you just know are likely to screw up the lives of all around them at any moment.
The stakes then are the future of Chad, his wife and his children.
All really, really need to get away from Col's destructive ignorance and desire to exert control over all around him.
 |
| Family and the influences from previous generations are at the heart of the film |
The event that finally makes him wise up seems to occur far too far into the running time and makes for a hugely unsatisfying conclusion.
It feel incomplete - as if time and/or money ran out and the finale was wrapped up quickly.
This may be the main thing that prevents "Trespass Against Us" being anything more than a merely decent movie.
The other is the associated symptom that there are far too many setups that go nowhere.
Col twice threatens Kelly by commenting that a dog that plays with a cat too long always gets scratched.
This is in response to her very reasonable refusal to allow the man to give her children shockingly bad life advice.
Both Col and Gordon have the appearance of being positioned for a flashpoint moment - an explosive point where they clash with Chad or Kelly or even the Police.
This just never arrives and left me wondering what the point of all of this is.
 |
| There are moments of humour and several action scenes but this is far from the light affair it may appear |
The car chases are very well done with some nicely shot and edited sequences throughout.
I liked the surprisingly (to me at least) moody score from The Chemical Brothers.
There is not one damned thing wrong with the performances.
Fassbender, Gleeson, Rory Kinnear as a cop, Marshall as Kelly and Sean Harris as the out and out weird Gordon are all terrific.
Occasionally the dialogue really sparks too with a highlight being Col's absurdly reached conclusion that 'Hell hath no fury like a caged Super Goat' (don't ask!)
But the performances deserve a better script around them.
The idea that crime is generational deserves better exploration and I was disappointed that this film seems either disinterested in going there or maybe just not terribly good at it.
The characters are just not strongly enough realised and that is all on the script.
"Trespass Against Us" is yet another example of Fassbender's talent but it is ultimately destined to be relegated to the interesting failure section of his resume.
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