Walter Hill is the director behind one of the most suspenseful thrillers of all time – 1981's SOUTHERN COMFORT, in which a group of greenhorn troops are stalked and murdered by unseen Cajuns deep in the American backwoods. Since then, Hill has made a number of movies, some of them appealing, some of them blockbusters, some of them virtually forgotten about today – and TRESPASS is one of the latter. Watching it today, I couldn't help but notice how incredibly dated it is, in that cheap-looking, superficial early '90s way. Far too much of the film is taken up with macho posturing between the likes of Ice-T and Ice Cube as each strives to outdo the other in terms of laughable swearing and huge egos. With the black gangsters fighting, shooting up and bickering throughout the movie, the actual plot gets forgotten about at times.
Which isn't surprising, as it's a weak one at best. In essence, a couple of treasure hunters are trapped in a room with a stash of gold and a murderous gang outside. Where do we go from here? Well, it could be a set-up for some fine claustrophobic heroics recalling the likes of DIE HARD (an obvious inspiration), but instead the film plods along until an (admittedly) fiery climax. Hill's direction is limited, the script is poor and some interesting developments on an artistic level (like having one character taping events with his video camera, around seven years before THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT popularised the technique) get left by the wayside.
The most interesting thing about this little movie is the cast. Bill Paxton is okay as the journeyman hero, but William Sadler is the real delight, cast as a good guy for one of the rare times in his career (in fact, DEMON KNIGHT is the only other time I can recall). Even though he's ostensibly one of the heroes, Sadler still has a ball playing a borderline psychopath who'll stop at nothing – including kidnapping and murder – to get his hands on the grubby loot. Sadler's co-star from DIE HARD 2, Art Evans, also has a great role as a street bum caught up in the violence, while eagle-eyed viewers will note minor roles for Tommy 'Tiny' Lister (THE DARK KNIGHT) as a heavy and De'voreaux White (Bruce's driver in DIE HARD) as a thug.
Which isn't surprising, as it's a weak one at best. In essence, a couple of treasure hunters are trapped in a room with a stash of gold and a murderous gang outside. Where do we go from here? Well, it could be a set-up for some fine claustrophobic heroics recalling the likes of DIE HARD (an obvious inspiration), but instead the film plods along until an (admittedly) fiery climax. Hill's direction is limited, the script is poor and some interesting developments on an artistic level (like having one character taping events with his video camera, around seven years before THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT popularised the technique) get left by the wayside.
The most interesting thing about this little movie is the cast. Bill Paxton is okay as the journeyman hero, but William Sadler is the real delight, cast as a good guy for one of the rare times in his career (in fact, DEMON KNIGHT is the only other time I can recall). Even though he's ostensibly one of the heroes, Sadler still has a ball playing a borderline psychopath who'll stop at nothing – including kidnapping and murder – to get his hands on the grubby loot. Sadler's co-star from DIE HARD 2, Art Evans, also has a great role as a street bum caught up in the violence, while eagle-eyed viewers will note minor roles for Tommy 'Tiny' Lister (THE DARK KNIGHT) as a heavy and De'voreaux White (Bruce's driver in DIE HARD) as a thug.