Not even bad in a good way

Excellent but underrated film

Best movie ever!

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Arkansas firefighters Vince (Bill Paxton) and Don (William Sadler) find a treasure map to stolen church gold hidden in an abandoned building in east St. Louis. They are surprised by the resident Bradlee (Art Evans) and take him prisoner. Then the local gang with King James (Ice-T) and Savon (Ice Cube) run across the situation. Vince and Don manages to capture King James' brother Lucky and an extended stand off ensues.These are some stereotypical characters. Walter Hill is making a B-movie but it is kinda fun. Bill Paxton is a bit too whiny. The performances are generally really broad. Ice-T and Ice Cube are doing their best gangster strut. It's got some action but not a terribly deep movie.

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

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

I enjoyed this movie very much.Bill Paxton does a great job as an ordinary guy suddenly finding himself way out of his depth. It's a role he's played in many movies from 'Aliens' onwards.Here he plays a fireman who has found a treasure map. He and his sceptical buddy set sail in his station-wagon to where X usually marks the spot. However; this particular island is a disused factory set in a run-down inner-city sea. When they arrive, the treasure isn't so easily found, and in the course of their search they come up against another problem. There's a band of real pirates.A local bunch of black gangsters are apparently in the habit of using the place to deal with problems. This time, they're murdering a traitor. It's their territory. Our heroes have trespassed.Caught in the act by our firefighting treasure-hunters, the gangsters don't mean to let them escape. Thus begins a siege of sorts.The movie is a taut, well-acted and equally well-scripted thriller. Set exclusively in a decrepit old building, it is intensely claustrophobic. Things deteriorate rapidly when the gangsters realise that their adversaries have at least one gun, and send for some heavy artillery. one can really feel the sense of dread and isolation of our two misguided prospectors. Because they are not just isolated by geography (it's an unfamiliar, derelict lot across the state line) they are also isolated both culturally and racially. These are just two white basically decent blue-collar schmucks confronted by a black gang who clearly are not decent at all. Their lives, like those of all gangs, are exclusively Darwinian.Their manoeuvring is like a game of chess. The gang is also riven with dissent as an ambitious lieutenant sees an opportunity to oust his leader for being - as he sees it - too soft.It isn't a feelgood movie by any means. I think a lot of its unpopularity is down to the racial subtext. Black youth is depicted as the worst Caucasian stereotype, inherently corrupted and savage. It's easy to read ethnic outrage at such a blatantly white overview, whilst at the same time Klansmen the nation over could nod their heads and mutter 'ain't that the truth'. The politically-correct would almost certainly have you be a racist if you enjoyed this movie today.Moralising aside, it's well worth a look. Ice-Cube and Ice-T were already successful rappers when this movie was made so they were hardly cash-strapped. They could easily have turned their parts down. But their strong personas and excellent delivery convey a powerful, authentic stamp. It's got all the ingredients of an off-beat thriller like 'Deliverence' or 'Southern Comfort', that plays upon cultural preconceptions coming all too horribly true.I'm partial to a little gangsta-rap (though I couldn't subsist exclusively upon it as some who drive by my window appear to do), and there's an excellent mix of suitable tracks to help reinforce the sense of threat. Whether you're ethnically challenged or not; give it a go, it's a real blast.