Trespass [Blu-Ray]

Trespass is a by-the-numbers home invasion picture, except that it's slightly below almost every other one ever made (it's no Funny Games, let's put it that way). Nicolas Cage plays a diamond dealer whose palatial home is invaded by masked thugs demanding money. Drama ensues between the gang of three thugs, one stripper girlfriend and Cage's family, played by Nicole Kidman (the mom/wife) and newcomer Liana Liberato as "the angsty teen." Sure, one could argue that cult hero Nicolas Cage is one of the most entertaining actors of our time, but in this film his penchant for wild-eyed, overwrought dramatics is seriously underused; he simply plays a mildly clever sad dad, and the effect is disappointing. Kidman is decent, as usual, but the film falls flat in a number of ways, like for example, the fact that key points of effective cinematic spectatorship – identification, emotional investment, suspenseful engagement – are completely missing. The film's quick trip to DVD isn't surprising. The Blu-Ray effect, at least, provides some entertainment by accentuating Cage's markedly bloated jowls and Kidman's now infamous, botoxed, expressionless forehead. Moreover, it's mildly thought provoking to watch a home invasion film through the aesthetic of excessive clarity that Blu-Ray provides. It gives the film a feeling of footage recorded by an amateur home camcorder, accentuating the obviously over-emphasized themes of elusive domestic tranquillity that the film pains itself to illustrate. Particularly entertaining are the special features, although not in a positive way. Shockingly short featurette "Trespass: Inside the Thriller" simply shows familiar scenes from the film being shot, with a camera-behind-the-real-camera view. The cast and crew interviews are especially hilarious due to the excessive chop job someone either carelessly did or was instructed to do. Interview subjects' sentences are cobbled together out of a few different phrases, with jarring jump cuts in between, which makes one wonder what they were really saying ("Nic Cage is a…" [cut] "…great guy to work with."). At one point, director Joel Schumacher goes on an eloquent rumination about how this film deals with class struggle in a society that encourages everyone to overreach. That sounds like a pretty interesting film and it's confusing and sad that Schumacher thinks it's the one he made; it isn't. Most revealing, and disconcerting, is seeing the "Making Of…" featurette, which demonstrates the massive amount of human and financial capital that went into this bloated and bland Hollywood extravaganza.