Michael Fassbender stars as an illiterate son of a local thug boss in Trespass Against Us.
If palling around with a group of wastrel criminal types whose idea of fun is burning their possessions while running around shirtless chasing rabbits, then Trespass Against Us is the film for you. For everyone else, though, at least there's Michael Fassbender, who gives a typically excellent performance in this otherwise forgettable crime drama. As the illiterate son of a local thug boss (Brendan Gleeson, whose loins somehow spawned Fassbender's beautiful mug, just as in this past December's Assassin's Creed), the erstwhile Magneto offers a sharp, focused turn – though it's one that's easy to spotlight, given that there's not much else remarkable about Adam Smith's tale of dishonour among thieves. It would be nice to say the drama redeems itself with a scene of Fassbender absconding with the cutest puppy ever captured on film, but even that cannot save almost two hours' worth of narrative dithering and four-letter conversations.
Barry Hertz