When I saw the trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, Trap, I thought it bugged me that they revealed the twist front and center for our main character, thinking they had already ruined the experience of finding out what’s going on. However, that may be the intent. Who knows what anyone will expect when they buy a ticket to one of his films since we all know it’ll be an unpredictable ride that’ll intrigue us or question everything he’s trying to say. Nonetheless, you must admire Shyamalan for taking risks with his original ideas on screen and feeling the audience will have two minds about what they just witnessed. Having walked out of Trap, his second film distributed by Warner Bros. after Lady in the Water, the immediate thought process is knowing full well that this might be the filmmaker’s most immense guilty pleasure for what was meant to be one of his more suspenseful thrillers.
What’s the Story: Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett) and his 13-year-old daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) are attending the most anticipated concert to hit Philadelphia, that of pop superstar Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan), as a reward for getting good grades. Once they arrived at the venue, Cooper noticed a heavy presence of police officers and security, more than usual. It could be for the protection of the artist. He soon learns from a vendor at a T-shirt stand that this concert is all a trap to catch an infamous serial killer known as “The Butcher,” knowing that this person will be in attendance led by an FBI profiler (Hayley Mills). As it turns out, Cooper, a firefighter and a loving family man, is “The Butcher” and must find a way to escape the concert before getting caught.
From the plot alone, it was an easy sell, to what sounded like it could be Shyamalan’s most straightforward thrillers to date, with his cat-and-mouse approach and the twist revealed to us very early. Does it sound too far-fetched to be completely believable? Especially when most of the staff there shouldn’t know everything? Yes. With Harnett’s character, we’re focusing on his situation, which should’ve been just a regular, fun outing with his kid surrounded by thousands of screaming fans at this Eras Tour-like concert, which has him worried for his life in trying not to get caught. Not everybody who goes to a concert would probably think someone in the crowd has killed multiple people, but Shyamalan will have you guessing. I didn’t think so when I saw Blink-182 recently. Or did I? We got a claustrophobic setting for a large chunk of the film.
With Harnett taking on the lead role in a long time, I’m here for his career resurgence. I’ve always liked him as an actor, especially when he starred in Halloween: H20, The Faculty, and Black Hawk Down. Part of me thought his break from films would be permanent until we saw him as part of the incredible ensemble in last year’s Oppenheimer. His performance carries the film around specific struggles, leading you to believe he’s charming and crazy when you least expect it. Trap is challenging the audience to sympathize with Cooper when we know he cares for his kid from how likable he is at the beginning. Still, behind the creepy face is a dangerous, smart man, even though we don’t see his actions through flashbacks. He doesn’t want to tell her something about to happen, keeping her in the dark and letting her have the best day of her life. All you’re wondering is how he will get out when they eventually look for the right guy.
Honestly, the first half hooked me right away because it might feel strange to be in the perspective of a serial killer, but you start to not want his secret identity to have serious repercussions. The information he can acquire can only decrease the chances of getting him, sneaking around the venue at any opportunity. Almost everything inside the concert makes us feel like we’re part of the audience watching Saleka, Shyamalan’s real-life daughter, perform on stage. While there are mixed feelings about having everything shown from Cooper and sometimes Riley’s perspective from the floor, Shyamalan captures its full use through Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s cinematography. She also wrote the original songs for the soundtrack. Her music isn’t all bad here, but her acting can’t be said the same once she has more to do later on.
The film might lose people around the second or third act, not just because it’ll occasionally have those moments of dialogue that need to be more natural. That concert setting was already invested enough, but there was a point where it kept going, and the tension slowly lessened when the story decided to take a particular turn, leaving me to suspend disbelief. That may be what Shyamalan was going for with that shift, but it still didn’t click with me. By then, it was losing steam, feeling like it should’ve been 90 minutes at least.
The weirdest part of knowing it’s a thriller was when it had more comedic turns unexpectedly, which is why I can’t call it bad since it’s probably the most fun I’ve had with his movies in a while. Most of my audience was laughing, especially the woman sitting next to me, probably having too much of a good time with a few audible reactions as if this was the best movie she’d seen from him. Probably not true, but who knows? There was a cameo from an artist I didn’t know was in here who served no real purpose but made me laugh. And then, when it wrapped up, it didn’t leave me all satisfied, especially when it tried to push towards an emotional through-line that’s almost forced.
Overall, Do I think Trap is one of M. Night Shyamalan’s best and most clever films? Not really, but it is a stupid thriller that lands right in the middle. Despite the promising plot that loses the tension to be an edge-of-your-seat experience to pull everything off, you gotta hand to Josh Harnett’s performance to let this be considered a genuine guilty pleasure from the filmmaker. It’s another one of his films where it will be enjoyable to some, while others will think it’s another miss.
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