There are two types of thrillers: the kind where you know from the get-go who the real baddy of the movie is (think the “Scream” movies), and then there’s the more clever thrillers where there is some surprising twists and turns, and everything is not as it seems…

But then we get a thriller like “Trespass”. Here we have an unhappily married couple, Kyle (Nicolas Cage) and Sarah (Nicole Kidman), with their party-loving teenage daughter, Avery (Liana Liberato). Things start to happen within the first ten minutes of the movie, and then it just gets more and more ridiculous.

The doorbell rings, they open and a bunch of wannabe robbers dressed as cops, of course, hold the couple at gunpoint. This might sound very much like “Panic Room” and the trailer sure makes that same impression, but alas it is everything but suspenseful.

Here, the robbers first demand Kyle to open the safe, where they believe he holds a large amount of cash. Then they tell some sob story about their mother needing a new kidney. When that turns out to be just a lie, they suddenly start demanding diamonds.

And yet, through it all, Kyle refuses to open the safe.

It becomes hard to take these robbers seriously because they are all bark and no bite. On top of that, Kyle, Sarah and Avery are such unlikeable characters that one really does not care much what happens to them. Between the events of the night, it is revealed that Sarah and one of the robbers, Jonah (Cam Gigandet), had an affair, although Sarah did not seem too into him.

The only remotely interesting character is Jonah. At first, he leads the audience to believe he is really the good “baddy” of the lot. At one point, he even becomes the most likeable character. But then he just turns out to be the worst sicko of them all…

The plot had potential, but it seems that the writers only had a vague idea but no detailed, captivating story in mind. It is basically 90 minutes of “open the safe” screams, whispers, begging and last chance demands and threats, but no action or even the slightest of suspense whatsoever.

The acting is also mediocre, with Kidman screaming annoying throughout the movie and Cage being his lifeless self and really works on the nerves with his stubbornness. If the movie continued after the incident this night, it’s probable that Kyle and Sarah would have filed for divorce anyways.

Verdict:

An unlikeable bunch of characters for whom the audience really could care less for, with an even duller plot line. “Trespass” attempted to be a clever thriller with smart twists and turns, but failed in executing it. All of this makes for a monotonous movie, which could have been so much more.