Movie Review: Trap
M. Night Shyamalan has built a successful box office reputation by being a gimmicky filmmaker. The Sixth Sense and Split director’s integration of unique, thriller-esque stories capped off with wild, often unpredictable twists has kept audiences flocking to movie theaters for a quarter-century. Yet, if you’ve ever wondered what a more straight-forward Shyamalan film would look like, he finally delivers a “what you see is what you get” effort with his latest thriller, Trap.
After returning to the big screen for last year’s Best Picture winner, Oppenheimer, Josh Hartnett followed that up with a cameo in season three of the Emmy-winning Hulu series, The Bear. Hartnett’s resurgence continues as he stars as Cooper, a run-of-the-mill dad trying to enjoy a fun evening with his daughter Riley (played by newcomer Ariel Donahue) at the pop star, Lady Raven’s (played by Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka), concert. However, Cooper carries a dark secret. He’s a serial killer known as “The Butcher”, and the concert is sting operation set up by the FBI to catch him.
While you’d expect something like the main character being the killer that police have been hunting all along playing out as one of Shyamalan’s signature twist endings, the writer-director tips his hand almost immediately in the film. Instead, Trap trades a gimmicky “gotcha” finale for a more straight-forward thriller tale. Sadly, some familiar issues that have plagued past works of his rear their ugly heads once again. The film’s dialogue is unnatural, its characters are hollow, and Cooper’s various means of avoiding capture by the authorities are insanely unbelievable. If anything, Trap feels more like a showcase for Shyamalan’s daughter’s singing and acting career than any semblance of a taut thriller.
Despite its many obvious deficiencies, M. Night’s latest effort does boast some committed performances. Josh Hartnett plays a sadistic sociopath quite well and The Newsroom’s Allison Pill delivers an impactful performance in the third act as Cooper’s wife. Saleka Shyamalan’s role as pop sensation, Lady Raven, begins as more of a background character, yet she evolves into a much bigger player in the film. While her acting chops aren’t seasoned, as she has some highs and lows, her singing is actually quite impressive and one of the finer aspects of Trap.
M. Night Shyamalan doesn’t always give us the most notable films, he’s generally survived in the industry for so long in large part because of his intriguing plots and unexpected twists. Here, Trap gives us neither. Instead, the film culminates as a half-hearted and bland snoozer that’s clearly intended to propel his daughter’s career more than his own. Let’s all hope that next time around, M. Night will return to hist twist-filled ways.
GRADE: 2.5/5
