I was curious to watch "Trespass" because of the interesting casting of Nic Cage and Nic Kidman. I was a bit wary about Nic Cage, as his films lately have been a bit on the hammy side. Despite his leery reputation though, it is a wonder that he continues to get a lot of work, but good for him. Another curiosity about this film was the name of Joel Schumacher as director. His was a big name in directing box-office hits in the 80s and 90s. The last of film of his I had seen was when he directed Gerard Butler as "Phantom of the Opera."

"Trespass" turned out to be a film about a family whose beautiful suburban house was intruded upon by a gang of desperate amateur robbers. The robbers were quite violent and brutal the way they treated diamond trader Kyle Miller (Nic Cage),his glamorous wife Sarah (Nic Kidman) and their rebellious young daughter Avery (Liana Liberato). Things got a little more complicated when it was revealed that one of the robbers Jonah (Cam Gigandet) had a psychotic crush on Sarah.

The performances were over the top and unconvincing, both of the victims and the intruders. Nicole Kidman reminded me of her debut performance in "Dead Calm" as the victim of a psycho guy in love with her. However, she definitely loses her subtlety as well as any sexual tension as a victim here. Nicolas Cage was typically florid in his acting. You don't know where from his business background he got his extreme gung-ho bravado in facing these robbers! It was good to see Liana Liberato again after her memorably disturbing debut film "Trust." She had her good moments here. Cam Gigandet was appropriately creepy as the deluded Romeo. Jonah's brother and gang ringleader Elias was well-played by Ben Mendelsohn, whom I just realized was one of the sons in another crime family in "Animal Kingdom."

This was probably one of the noisiest movies set in a single house that I have seen. Everyone was always hysterically screaming and shouting at the top of their lungs. Despite the brutality of the robbers, it was a wonder how the victims also had the guts to stand up to them. The Millers were daringly answering and fighting back in spite of the guns brandished by the bad men in their faces! I must say this whole thing was highly improbable and unrealistic. Watch this at your own risk. Strictly for fans of the two Nics.

I watched Trespass almost out of morbid curiosity. This film sets the record for fastest theatre to video transition (18 days),it has a well known director, two very well known stars, a decent premise...what happened to this movie that caused it to only make twenty four thousand dollars on a thirty five million dollar budget? I had never seen even one trailer or advertisement for it but it does rent well at the local video store. The film isn't perfect by any means...there is a lot of over-acting, a lot of under-acting, an over simplified premise, a forced twist and mystery but it also has a decent thrill factor, good stars, and a short run time so it doesn't drag and the pace moves along well.

Nicholas Cage and Nicole Kidman look like they are being forced into this film so they're not giving the best performances of their career. Cage is known for being in some pretty bad flicks but he could have done a lot more with this character. Its also not his typical character as this one has a little more weakness left to expose but I liked that about it. Kidman's main job is to look doe eyed and scream a lot and get thrown around so she pulls that off alright without ever adding anything else to the mix. Liana Liberato might be the saving grace on this cast as she does a really solid job as the young daughter in the film. She's believable and does over and under do it at any time. She almost carries the weight of the rest of the cast. Cam Gigandet also does a decent job as the psychotic and hopelessly in love home invader. Gigandet has shown up in a lot of projects lately but he usually does a good job and he is also one of the better performers in the movie. Ben Mendelsohn, and Dash Mihok round out the cast and do okay as the leaders of the thieves. Both of them do some over-acting several times and it becomes almost humorous. All of them do a better job than Jordana Spiro who is a waste of space in the film and pointless to the entire story other than to have a cracked out female thief on board.

Some might say director Joel Schumacher has had his time in the sun and now into his seventies its time to retire...well this film doesn't help his cause because it feels really slapped together like no time was spent on considering character development or story. And the thing is...the concept and the ideas are all very good but the way that it is laid out and delivered is just not good. The film was mildly entertaining but it could have been so much better had there been better direction and performances by the two key stars who are both worthy and well acclaimed actors. I still would like to know the story behind this film because I feel like it was a favour to someone or some sort of unfulfilled contract on their part so they just did it because they had to. If this were a Sunday Night NBC movie...it would be worthy...but for what it is...skip it unless you're realllly bored or an enormous Nicholas Cage/Nicole Kidman fan. 6.5/10

The real estate agent Kyle Miller (Nicolas Cage),his wife Sarah (Nicole Kidman) and their teenage daughter Avery (Liana Liberato) live in a fancy dream house. Out of the blue, four violent hooded thieves break in their house and hold the family hostage expecting to get money and diamonds from the safe, in a tragic night of terror.

The Spaniard-French "Secuestrados" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1629377/) is a brutal and bleak combination of "The Desperate Hours" and "Funny Games". I am a big fan of Joel Schumacher and Nicolas Cage, but unfortunately I have to recognize that they both are decadent.

"Trespass" is an awful and dull remake of "Secuestrados". Instead of the brutally graphic and realistic home invasion with the family man needing to withdraw money from the family bank accounts of the European film, this remake shows annoying screaming and crying with the usual unrealistic exaggeration and lame heroism of the American movies, with diamonds and a huge amount. My vote is one (awful).

Title (Brazil): "Reféns" ("Hostages")