Solid Rock Trust starts with purpose and forward momentum: this in itself marks it out from a lot of rather more nebulous fare doing the rounds these days. We start a few minutes out from a significant bank heist, and we start as we mean to go on. Something big is happening, and it’s being coordinated by Maddie (Koko Marshall) who, whilst not physically present at the site of the heist, is running the show at a distance. She speaks to the key players by phone: there’s Rowan, with whom she has some history; Carmen, who is none too impressed at the hierarchy of this thing; Nills, an Aussie with a much more relaxed attitude, and then a guy called Boomer – who is new to this, and nervous. And here’s a thing: Maddie is using a different accent to speak to each of them. A cautious approach is clearly necessary.
Maddie has access to the bank’s CCTV system, its security doors and other core systems besides, but she needs the group members to perform their roles so that she can extend her reach even further: this isn’t your standard job. There is a genuine sense of immediacy here, and this is an interesting approach, not to mention a brave one: establishing that the main thrust of the action is taking place elsewhere, off screen, then leaving the lead actor to sustain the tension is novel, or at least unusual. Other heist movies have displaced its actors to a different location (Reservoir Dogs comes to mind, at least in this respect) and similarly, lead actors have delivered a lot of the plot developments via phone conversations (again, you could name Run Lola Run, in this key respect) but Solid Rock Trust marries these two elements, and does so very well, making something all its own.
As the cracks begin to show, and then as the plan begins to fracture entirely, there’s a moment – at around the thirty minute mark – where you may find yourself asking: what is going to sustain us for another hour or more? Well, as it turns out, the time flies by, and it does so with no significant lulls or misfires. Here’s how.
Solid Rock Trust has a snappy, consistent script which is perfectly suited to the film’s running time and its tone, carefully and steadily building the plot, with all of its incipient power struggles, character flaws and themes. But it maintains a light touch, with only a few moments of strained credibility which, on balance, harm the film none. There’s humour in here, too, which successfully shifts things away, momentarily, from building tension. Kudos to writer and director Rick Ives for a great about-face, too, cutting straight through an expected outcome with a rather different one; that scene alone displays all the hallmarks of confident writing, the kind that retains a sense of fun about building a narrative. Varied, engaging camerawork also helps enormously.
But the film really belongs to Koko Marshall, who first establishes, and then holds our interest as the only actor on screen: it’s a big ask, and the whole film would have gracelessly collapsed, had the casting been wrong or the performance not up to muster. She’s superb though, plausible and likeable with a back story which subtly filters through the tense, changeable, spiralling situation. There are other performers here, in a ‘play for the radio’ sense, but it works: they too, both respond to, and drive the rapidly unfolding situations.
Crime dramas and heist movies are not the standard sorts of projects reviewed on this site, but it’s good to take a gamble, and my word, this particular film is a breath of fresh air – a much-appreciated one, at that. It’s a film which makes an artform of its bold approaches and decisions and it comes together productively, getting the key elements just right. In essence, there’s a great deal to appreciate in this clever, pithy and well-handled drama. It doesn’t take a fortune, it takes talent and enthusiasm, and this film is full of both.
Solid Rock Trust (2022) is available now. For more information on how to watch the film, please click here.