Uncovering Curiosities: Adam Smith’s TRESPASS AGAINST US

Trespass Against Us sees Michael Fassbender give another high-powered performance and he again illustrates that he’s one of the best actors working in movies today. Ostensibly a drama, 2016’s Trespass Against Us also has a crime-thriller bubbling under the surface. Director Adam Smith ups the kinetic energy in some chase sequences, which are heightened by a pulsating score by The Chemical Brothers.

Fassbender plays Chad Cutler, a traveller living in a make-shift campsite with his young family and over-bearing father, Colby (Brendan Gleeson). Chad is a petty criminal caught in the shadow of his father’s intense power. He yearns to break-free and change but he’s unable to escape the life that surrounds him.

Adam Smith’s film is rich in characterisation, with Fassbender managing to be both a bit of a scoundrel and someone that you can root for. He makes for an interesting character and his natural charisma helps to bring out the lighter side of the Chad. Gleeson’s Colby is the antagonist of the piece and his powerful gravitas overshadows Fassbender on a physical level, making this very much a David and Goliath-style family drama. The pair share some intense scenes and they both bring tremendous skill to their moments together. They don’t do anything too flashy, just keeping a quiet reality to everything they do.Rory Kenner, Sean Harris and Lyndsey Marshall fill-out the supporting cast and they all manage to have a moment that makes their characters shine (Harris in particular gives a lot on a physical level)

Trespass Against Us is a small movie with a lot of big names. This might not get as much publicity as something like Assassin’s Creed – which was the last time Fassbender and Gleeson shared the screen, but it gives them much more to work with. It’s highly likely they did the aforementioned video game adaptation for the cash, just so they could make Trespass Against Us for the art.