User reviews

i was flicking thru tv channels when i came upon this film playing a few years back, im a big bill paxton fan so sat down and watched it, im glad i did as its great. basically it boils down to 2 fireman (paxton and sandler)getting hold of a map that shows a trove of gold which is buried in a warehouse on wasteland. they go to find it at and get interupted by a gang fued in the same warehouse they are in. the gang (ice-t, ice cube among others) find out why they are there and a standoff ensues leading to gunfire and carnage.....SWEET!

good acting throughout from all concerned (including lesser known stars). it is a simple idea for a film played out very well with lots of tension and bursts of violence.

it features a good rap soundtrack by the stars in the film too (considering im a metal fan and dont like much rap thats kinda shows its not too bad hehe)

well worth watching, i've just got to find it on dvd now hehe

I thought this movie was very well done and didn't recieve the attention it deserves. I saw it a long time ago and have asked my video store to get it in stock on DVD so I can again rent it. I can't even find it for purchase through Columbia House! Great movie!

I saw this film recently on cable and found myself more intrigued by it than I thought I would be. I hadn't heard anything about this movie so I really didn't know what to expect. It ended up being much better than I expected and, while not a great film, it is certainly one I wouldn't mind watching again. I recognized the elements of "Treasure of Sierra Madre" without having any information about the film. I've since learned that it was indeed echoing Huston's film.

I had no problem with the actors and actually found some of the conflicts on both sides interesting. Even some of the "bad guys" were struggling to deal with decisions they didn't necessarily agree with. I didn't really see the characters as all bad or all good. Each had their own demons that they brought with them and they were all susceptible to the lure of gold.

Trespass is directed by Walter Hill and written by Bob gale and Robert Zemeckis. It stars Bill Paxton, Ice-T, William Sadler and Ice Cube. Music is by Ry Cooder and cinematography by Lloyd Ahern II. Plot finds Sadler and Paxton as two fireman who learn of stolen treasure hidden in a disused building in East St. Louis. Upon arriving there they begin their search but are interrupted when a gang led by Ice-T's King James decides to use the building to execute an enemy. A stand off ensues....

It was held back from release under its original title of "The Looters" due to the L.A. riots in the summer of 92. Where under its new title it was released at Christmas and promptly bombed at the box office. A shame since it's a taut and claustrophobic thriller crafted with knowing skill by Walter Hill. Clearly an urban take on The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, with dashes of Rio Bravo thrown in for good measure, film makes the most of the premise without using pointless filler and by not being afraid to up the racial hatred aspects of the stand off. Hill's construction of the action is first rate and smooth, and the cast are firing on all cylinders to make the material work in what is practically a one location picture. 7/10

This is a movie perhaps more in the vein of a silly '80's genre flick, that is heavy on the fun and action but not really on its story.

In this case however it's a good thing that the movie doesn't have a too complicated story in it. It's actually being one of the movie its strengths that the movie has a simple story to it, that doesn't ever make things needlessly complicated or hard and annoying to follow.

The story is mostly being kept simple by the fact that most of the movie is taking place at just one location; an old abandoned factory. And the movie doesn't need an awful lot more than that, to simply create a good and fun action flick with. It uses its settings well and handles its concept in a good and original way. The movie is still filled with plenty of surprises, in terms of that you just never really know what will happen next or how the movie shall eventually end.

It never really makes this a boring or tiresome movie to watch. There is always something happening and there is plenty of variety to it all, even though it has restrained settings and a quite simple and straightforward story in it. All reasons why this movie is definitely way better than just the average genre attempt. And that's a real fact!

Walter Hill has never been a director of any truly great movies (except for "The Warriors" perhaps, though I still had plenty of problems with that movie) but he always was a guy that knew how to handle '80's type of action in his movies, perhaps also thanks to it that he had worked with many other great directors from that time period, as a writer and producer. And the movie truly benefits from this. It never becomes a big or spectacular action flick but it still really feels like a big action movie, probably because the movie never stands still.

The acting is a bit of a mixed bag but then again what action movie does have impressive and flawless actors and acting in it. It's always nice to see Bill Paxton in a leading role and he actually pulls all of the action stuff quite well as well. I have a bigger problem with the gangsters and villains in this movie. I never have been all that impressed with Ice-T's acting and Ice Cube also isn't always too convincing with his acting. But oh well, guess that in some way their acting and the characters that they play add somewhat to the nostalgia- and cheesy fun value of this movie.

Definitely a good and also entertaining enough movie to watch.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Walter Hill's Trespass could raise a pulse in a quiet graveyard, it's so relentless. It's one of those single location, breathless siege thrillers where two unlucky dudes, this time Bill Paxton and William Sadler, are barricaded in some unfortunate building while hordes of inner city criminals try to smoke them out. Billy and Willy are two firemen in the wrongest of places at the wrongest of times, led to a dilapidated St. Louis warehouse in search of a hidden cache of stolen gold. When one of them stumbles into a gangland assassination, the two are immediately branded as witnesses and hinted like dogs by boss King James (a snarling Ice-T), his lieutenant Savon (Ice Cube) and armies of their men. That's pretty much the premise, and simple as it is, action maestro Hill turns it into a ballistic bloodbath that barely slows down for a second once it gets going. Paxton and Sadler are soon at each other's throats in a feverish haze of adrenaline, whilst the two Ices argue amongst themselves about tactical logistics. Yelling, shooting, running, borderline parkour, cat and mouse games, beloved 90's action tropes and fight scenes that almost wind the audience as much as the characters. This is a lean cut of a film, concerned only with thrilling the pants off the viewer, hurtling by at a locomotive's pace without rest until that final shell casing hits the pavement.

Trespass had the potential to be a much better movie, but the studio decided to get two gangsta rappers to star in this movie, which was why it failed. Ice-T could not act to save his life and Ice Cube seems to have somre sort of a speech impediment. Combine this with stereotypical lines for both the white AND black "actors" really make this movie hard to watch. Creative camerawork helps this movie along and the idea is a good one. Too bad they decided to make the two white guys a bunch of sniveling wimps and the black guys too predictable. Walter Hill has done much better work, namely The Warriors and Southern Comfort.

A bizarre mix of creative talents went in to making this movie. Not the kind of thing that happens too often these days. A script from Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, direction by Walter Hill and his usual gang (strong editing from Freeman Davies, cool photography from Lloyd Ahern and score by Ry Cooder), Bill Paxton and William Sadler as the 'heroes' and Ice T and Ice Cube as the bad guys. It makes for a truly original movie.

Much like Judgment Night, Trespass is about two worlds colliding after bystanders witness a gangland execution. Two firemen on a treasure hunt in a huge, long abandoned East St. Louis factory. This happens to be the same territory as King James (Ice T) and his cohorts. They off some unwise punk by chucking him thru the glass roof and are pretty mortified upon discovering Bill Paxton and William Sadler are watching them. Ice T's crippled brother is taken hostage by Sadler and they seal themselves in old apartment. Several other bad guys show up and totally box them in.

What follows is a succession of stand-offs and shoot outs as Paxton and Sadler fight among themselves, T and Cube argue over who should be running the show, loyalties are challenged and each group begins to split into different factions. Stuck in the crossfire is poor old Bradlee, the innocent hobo caught in the middle as his apartment is besieged.

There are no clear-cut 'good guys' and 'bad guys' in Trespass. Just a bunch of guys who all came to the wrong place at the wrong time.

Originally called 'Looters' and scheduled for release during Summer 1992 the release date was changed to Winter and the title changed to 'Trespass'. Why? The LA riots were happening and Universal felt that there was enough racial tension in the media already. While I agree there is deliberate racism in this film it's nowhere near as bad as the morbidly extreme racism in such recent movies like Bad Boys II.

This new release by Universal is much better than the pathetic (and now OOP) release by Goodtimes. Gone is the snapper case. In its place is a sturdy keepcase and a nice bundle of extras. First of all there are some deleted scenes, a Behind the Scenes of Trespass featurette, the Ice-T/Ice Cube Trespass music video (it's the highly censored 'radio' edit) and a trailer. It is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 2.0 sound.

You should definitely get this as it's not the standard of film Hollywood studios produce these days. IE made by talented people.

This is a nasty movie - very nasty. It's extremely profane and doesn't feature a nice guy in the bunch, just a bunch of extremely low-life profane people.

Bill Paxton, William Sadler, Ice Cube, Ice T and whatever other stupid rappers name you can think of cuss and shoot each other in an abandoned warehouse for much of the film. There is no one to root for and Paxton's character is the only one who has at least a shred of conscience. Also, this is a Walter Hill-directed film so you know you're going to get a lot of violence. I also didn't care for the rap soundtrack, although it wasn't overbearing or too loud.

Having said all that, the film did keep my attention, to say the least. I have to admit: this was a very interesting story. If you're in a violent, testy, irritable, hostile mood and you want a movie to go with it, this is it! Not really recommended but better than I've described it above. Just b ready to have your ears assaulted.

I have only ever seen this film at about 2-00 in the morning on late night T.V. but what a great show it was. Good action and adventure and a decent enough story for a low budget action flick. This was yet another average selling Bill Paxton film that was really good. For an actor that was outside the a-list, nearly every film he made was worth the watching and this is no exception. Definitely worth watching on T.V. although I don't know if it is the sort of film that you would pay to buy a copy of but if you come home after a night out and are looking for a film to watch to keep you going through the night, you could do worse than watch this.

Very good film. Nowadays this film would be rated 15 in the UK. Good action and story. Maybe one of the best Bill Paxton performances also. Fun ending

This is an example of why the majority of action films are the same. Generic and boring, there's really nothing worth watching here. A complete waste of the then barely-tapped talents of Ice-T and Ice Cube, who've each proven many times over that they are capable of acting, and acting well. Don't bother with this one, go see New Jack City, Ricochet or watch New York Undercover for Ice-T, or Boyz n the Hood, Higher Learning or Friday for Ice Cube and see the real deal. Ice-T's horribly cliched dialogue alone makes this film grate at the teeth, and I'm still wondering what the heck Bill Paxton was doing in this film? And why the heck does he always play the exact same character? From Aliens onward, every film I've seen with Bill Paxton has him playing the exact same irritating character, and at least in Aliens his character died, which made it somewhat gratifying...

Overall, this is second-rate action trash. There are countless better films to see, and if you really want to see this one, watch Judgement Night, which is practically a carbon copy but has better acting and a better script. The only thing that made this at all worth watching was a decent hand on the camera - the cinematography was almost refreshing, which comes close to making up for the horrible film itself - but not quite. 4/10.

The main focus of this movie is the set-up of various action sequences, the debating over what to do in the characters' situations, and – what Walter Hill has always been especially good at – the overall machismo. Most of "Trespass" is a drawn-out standoff between the bad guys in a remote, long-abandoned warehouse and the grossly outnumbered good guys in a tightly-sealed room with the bad leader's brother as a hostage. David Fincher may have wanted to watch this movie and taken notes, since "Panic Room" has got absolutely nothing on this movie. The action begins very quickly and doesn't let up until the fiery, casualty-counting conclusion, making the film's 101min length seem like not even half that. "Trespass" is ripe with Hill's inimitable style and pace, combining with Ry Cooder's score and Lloyd Ahern's sepia-toned cinematography to create a sense of desolation and high tension for the setting.

Add to this an excellent cast of genre and character actors for a very captivating film. Bill Paxton and William Sadler ("Die Hard II") turn in intense performances as the lone protagonists, especially Sadler whose career unfortunately never reached the level it should have. Ice-T is in one of his more effective roles as King James, the gangsta leader. Ice Cube also stands out as the upstart, rebellious follower of James, Savon; his "king of the streets" speech is the monologue highlight of the movie. Art Evans (also from "Die Hard II") is perfect as the wise old angry homeless man, who reluctantly helps out Paxton and Sadler despite their initial treatment of him. And the criminal elements include noticeable performances from De'voreaux White as the unfortunate hostage 'Lucky'; Tiny 'Zeus' Lister Jr. as the musclebound henchman 'Cletus'; and the underused Stoney Jackson as the overly-suave crony 'Wickey'.

This was the last of a string of box office disappointments (including "Johnny Handsome" and "Another 48 Hrs.") that Hollywood allowed Walter Hill to make before relegating him to the role of mainstream hack. "Trespass" was released with little fanfare, having its release date postponed from summertime to after Christmas as a result of the 'crisis' that was the LA riots. Besides its original title of "Looters", "Trespass" also includes the recurring theme of seeing events via videocamera (which would have been a troubling reminder of the Rodney King and Reginald Denny beatings), not to mention a heavy, uncompromising racist slant not too common in modern-day action movies.

Though not Hill's best, it is far from his worst. A must-see for fans of stylized action. 8/10

For some reason, I've always lumped TRESPASS in with JUDGMENT NIGHT - a woeful misapprehension, to be sure. This movie shares more in common with the first two DIE HARD movies (and not just in the casting department). It greatly benefits from Walter Hill's tense direction and it's also refreshingly unpredictable; the twists weren't apparent, and it's a pretty good nail-biter as a result. Art Evans was a casting highlight, and brought a nice dose of humor to such a no-nonsense affair. And I love that the guys responsible for BACK TO THE FUTURE wrote this movie.

7/10

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.

This is a film independent film makers should take a look at if action films are of any interest to them. Not for the seen-it-all, heard-it-all plot and profane dialogue, but for Walter Hill's staging and execution of the action. The film has a terrific pace to it and the camera always shows an interesting angle. The locations are at a minimum, very cost efficient and capably creating a claustrophobic atmosphere. Very well done. Good, moody music score, again, by the great Ry Cooder.

I really had no idea what to expect going into Trespass having never heard of it before catching it on TV - but having seen Bill Paxton's name flash up on screen, and having that followed up by The Warrior's director Walter Hill ensured that I would be watching it anyway. And I'm really glad I stuck with it because Trespass is a brilliantly entertaining modern day blaxploitation thriller with a heavy helping of strong violence and morally destitute macho characters. The plot is not particularly important, but certainly interesting nonetheless. We follow two Arkansas firemen who, having found out that a valuable stash of gold may be hidden in a factory in East St Louis, set off to claim it. However, upon arriving at the factory; they are soon joined by a group of black gangsters and end up witnessing one of them being killed. Naturally, the gangsters want the witnesses dead; but when the fireman manage to hole up in one of the factory's rooms; a standoff between the two groups ensues.

The film is not completely devoid of themes or a point. Naturally the central point is the idea of blacks vs. whites, which adds in an element of controversy, and also we've got themes relating to greed emanating from the idea of the trespassers being in the factory to chase gold. These two do make the film slightly more interesting; although clearly the main focus of the film is on the violence and entertainment stemming from the violence, and that's what really ensures Trespass is successful. Director Walter Hill creates a thoroughly nasty atmosphere; helped along by the fact that not a single character has much more than a shred of decency. The acting is very good, with Bill Paxton providing the only thing like a hero and doing really well with the role. He gets good backup from William Sadler along with a handful of rappers including Ice T and Ice Cube. The film is engrossing for the duration and is not short on action. The way that much of it is focused in just one place ensures that we are able to get into the lead character's plight; even if we don't particularly like them. I was a bit worried that the soundtrack might be saturated with rap; but the director manages to keep this to a minimum which is definitely to the film's credit. Overall, Trespass is a very well done little thriller and one that I certainly wouldn't hesitate to recommend!

You know what, I'm not even going to go into what this movie was about because I don't want to waste anymore time on it than I already have. It was a dumb movie full of dumb characters.

The entire movie amounted to a 90 minute standoff between East St. Louis gangsters and some Arkansas hicks over gold and a drug addict. The situation was absurd and the fact the Arkansans got themselves into the situation was absurd. I don't know what the message was if any: don't be a gang banger, don't be greedy, don't go to East St. Louis, I don't know. I know what I took from it: don't ever watch again.