‘Trap’ is Slick and Entertaining; a Fun Time [Review]

You know what actually sucks? Movie trailers. I get it. They generate buzz and excitement and play an enormous part in the financial success of the product. With Trap, the newest M. Night Shyamalan flick, I couldn’t help but think about how much I really didn’t want to know what I had already seen in the trailer leading up to actually watching the movie. To start, Trap is a slick thriller about a dad and daughter, played by Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donoghue, who attend a pop concert which as it turns out, is a trap set by law enforcement for the notorious local serial killer, the Butcher. The twist, which we already know, is that Josh Hartnett’s character Cooper is the Butcher. For the most part, the audience is going into Trap having an idea of what to expect. As is the case with a lot of Shyamalan’s recent work, Trap is mostly contained with just a few settings and a limited scope. M. Night has always been especially good with contained thrillers and excels at building tension that leads to satisfying payoff. Which is why even though I enjoyed Trap, I was surprised at the lack of explosiveness. Even though the filmmaking and performances were excellent, and I do appreciate the almost subdued energy, Trap could have been so much more exciting than it ended up being. Let’s get into it… 

I am admittedly a lifelong M. Night Shyamalan die-hard fan. Whenever you are at a bar, or a family gathering, or a work function, there is always that person who you don’t want to get stuck in a conversation with. Whether it be politics or the weather or self-aggrandizing, you just know you won’t get a word in edgewise and you have to sit there, nod along and take it. I’m that guy, but instead of all that stuff it’s with “M. Night Shyamalan is somehow underrated and underappreciated ” takes. I can go on and on until your ears bleed and the party’s over. I think it’s important to appreciate M. Night’s career as a true auteur who has one of the most singular visions in the industry. I hate to minimize the importance of the entire cast and crew by attributing everything that works about a movie to one person, but with that credit, comes the blame. M. Night’s career has been so up-and-down, a true rollercoaster ride, but he seems to have recently settled into his comfort zone of mid-budget genre filmmaking. His box office appeal has been on a downward trend with his last couple movies, Old and Knock at the Cabin, but his creative ambition has maintained throughout his career, thank god…

Trap is another high concept idea from Shyamalan, who is the king of turning high concept (easily communicable) premises into twisty-and-turny stories that are mostly unpredictable and unique. I’m not sure if there are that many filmmakers out there who are more consistent with delivering commercially viable and interesting PG-13 genre movies that people of all ages can enjoy. There are definitely exceptions, as some of his work is grisly and sometimes also confusing, but for the most part, all of M. Night’s work has plenty of lighthearted soul that make his movies more accessible to different viewers. This is a big reason why Shyamalan has such box office success throughout his career but can also lead to some of the work to be a big swing-and-a-miss, as it might seem silly and nonsensical. An issue that has followed him around his career has been the pre-conceived audience notion that there will be a twist ending coming at the end. Of course, that comes with the genre territory, but this notion can harm the perception of his work, and sometimes when M. Night gets very ambitious with the material; it runs the risk of completely missing with the audience. Trap is no Sixth Sense, The Village or even The Visit. Trap is a completely different lane for M. Night as it is a much more straight-line thriller. That’s not to say that there aren’t any plot twists, but overall, Trap is very simple in its concept and execution…

Like I just mentioned, the plot of Trap is very straight-line and simple. Cooper, played by Josh Hartnett, brings his daughter Riley, played by Ariel Donoghue, to a pop concert where Cooper quickly becomes paranoid and learns of the concert actually being a trap set by law enforcement to catch him. The fictional Lady Raven is the musical act on display, and Lady Raven is played by Saleka Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night. Along with Lady Raven, we see performances from Parker Wayne, played by Russ, and the Thinker, played by Kid Cudi. Cooper learns of this ploy from the very gullible Jamie, played by Jonathan Langdon, who sells T-shirts at the show and basically lays everything out for Cooper, without realizing, that allows Cooper to counteract the trap being laid out for him. The FBI profiler who set the whole trap up, Dr. Grant, played by Hayley Mills, gets closer and closer to her target, both literally and figuratively throughout the movie. With a few hiccups and Hijinx along the way, and enough songs performed to qualify Trap as a concert film, Cooper proves his savviness as he attempts to sabotage his way out of this tricky situation. The more we learn about Cooper’s violent and mysterious nature, as well as the dynamic between him and his family, everything comes into focus by the end. To avoid spoilers, I won’t say what happens, but I will say just when you think it’s all over, it’s not…

Josh Hartnett’s performance as Cooper is one of the best of his career. He brings a menacing nature to the character while also being the lovable, affable goofball dad. Hartnett and Donoghue have great chemistry as a dad and daughter duo that is very palpable and believable throughout the entirety of the movie. There are so many subtle decisions that Hartnett makes, like smiling in moments where you think he should be sweating. Giving line readings that completely throw you off with how weirdly they are delivered. And keeping a poker face throughout where you genuinely can’t tell if Cooper is enjoying the situation or dying inside. When it comes to casting, I find the Hartnett casting to be the best possible outcome for this character in this movie. Hartnett has had one of the strangest Hollywood superstar career arcs, especially for his generation. Even though Hartnett began his career playing heartthrob roles in independent, as well as blockbuster movies, with enormous success, he transitioned into more genre and lesser-known character work in smaller movies as his career progressed. If you were to make a list of the biggest up-and-coming movie stars in the world in 2005, even in a crowded field, Hartnett would be near the top of that list. It didn’t pan out that way, but not because it just didn’t happen for him. He seemed to just not care, and not want it. That could be an incorrect and inaccurate representation of what actually happened, but I find it so mind-numbingly weird that Josh Hartnett didn’t end up being one of the biggest movie stars in the world in the 2010s. As of late, he has had a major resurgence. With a key role in Oppenheimer and after teaming up with Guy Ritchie for a few movies, Hartnett is back on the silver screen, starring in movies that have wide theatrical releases. Hartnett in Trap proved he has so much range as an actor, but also proves he still clearly has the ability to carry a movie as a leading man…

The rest of the performances in Trap were completely serviceable and got the job done, they just all simply didn’t have a lot to do, as the whole movie is so Hartnett centric. Donoghue was charming and convincing as a Lady Raven super fan and enthusiastic teenager. From her excitement to being around Lady Raven and gobbling up every performance to the sheer concern and confusion while her dad is parading around the arena and fucking around, I found Donoghue to be a great casting as the Riley character. Of all of the other performances, and we’ll get to Lady Raven of course, but Allison Pill, who played Cooper’s wife and Riley’s mom, was phenomenal in her limited screen time. Pill has a unique unpredictability but also a sweet and unassuming nature in all of her performances that works really well for her role in Trap…

Lady Raven, played by Saleka Shyamalan, is a fantastic musical performer. Much better than I had expected going in. She commands the stage, making her believable as a big pop star, but also has a great voice that makes the character all the more believable. But this isn’t a concert film, at least I don’t think? Trap is a genre thriller. And when the time came for Saleka to act in a genre thriller, the wheels came off a little bit. Lady Raven becomes very involved in the plot of Trap, and when she does, it’s really not as good as the rest of the movie. The segment in which Lady Raven is off the stage and directly and personally involved in the story has some tense moments, but it really drags the movie down and the momentum screeches to a halt in part because she is not a seasoned actress who can carry the weight that was required in some of the scenes. Saleka was in no way Sofia Coppola in The Godfather: Part III bad, on the contrary, she was totally fine and believable to an extent, especially on stage, but in my opinion, there was just a little too much Lady Raven, both on the stage and off. Of course, this will be the case, I imagine that Trap was an amazing opportunity for M. Night to give his daughter the center stage in a movie, and she is clearly good enough to make it as a popular musical act, but this was a thriller, and the Lady Raven character should have been much more in the background as a looming specter more so than a direct participant…

I am most excited to talk about the filmmaking style of Trap. M. Night, in my opinion, is a true master when it comes to storytelling in the most visually simplistic yet exciting way possible. Whether you love his work or hate it, most likely your qualms with his work will be with the occasional… gulp… stupid writing and nonsensical story arcs, which I wholeheartedly disagree with, but is a common criticism amongst the reception to some of his work. The Happening, Lady in the Water and After Earth being the frequent targets of those critiques. But even in those movies, and especially amongst his well-received work, I believe the most impressive aspect of them all is the brilliant camera work and deep understanding of pace and timing. Yes, of course, the fun twists are the most memorable, he is a great screenwriter, but he has no weaknesses when it comes to conceptualizing a scene, blocking it, and executing on it in the most exciting and visually stunning way possible. And it’s never over the top. He always keeps the scope and focus very grounded with the characters which emphasizes the great performances that he seems to consistently get from his actors. With a few exceptions of course. M. Night Shyamalan and Mark Wahlberg weren’t exactly John Carpenter and Kurt Russell or Scorsese and De Niro in terms of chemistry resulting in on screen success. Maybe it’s that Philadelphia and Boston just aren’t compatible. But I’ll defend The Happening until the day I die. Us Happening-Heads are few and far between, like Siberian tigers…

Anyways, Trap is another example of M. Night’s visual storytelling expertise. I’ll use a few non-specific examples to shine a light on this. First, the coverage of the concert itself, and everything on the periphery of the show in the arena. The amount of coverage of the show itself, as well as everything happening in the concourses, backstages, concessions and employee break rooms of the arena was vast, but the focus was always from the perspective of Cooper. The arena was huge, but felt like it was shrinking on Cooper, as well as the audience, as the story kept progressing. The POV was so contained with Cooper but everything around him felt so much bigger in scope. He was trapped in the world’s biggest and most populated cage with teeny bop music playing. The enormity of the arena and the amount of people required to make it look authentic could have caused the movie to fold on itself, but it didn’t. The audience always has a good feel for where they are and where the trouble is for Cooper because of the consistently good coverage…

My next example occurs occasionally throughout the movie but mostly comes to fruition in the climax. Serial killers always have their demons, well, the truly scary ones don’t seem to have any specific demons, but Cooper is an example of a guy with his own demons. His biggest being the looming presence of his mother, unclear if she is actually dead or alive, but who appears throughout Trap as a supernatural entity with Cooper hallucinating her being in his presence, sort of like Pamela Vorhees but without the direct motivation to kill. The conclusion of the Cooper and his mother saga is the best scene in the movie in my opinion and confirms the pure insanity of the Cooper character, while also being a showcase for M. Night’s ability to create a compelling sequence with many layers to it. The way that scene is shot and performed is disturbing and a more-than-satisfying conclusion to that specific storyline. Even with these high points in the movie, I really felt that it lacked the explosiveness that could have made it a certified classic, which leads me to my issues with Trap…

I simply wanted more out of this movie. I couldn’t help but think it was missing like two or three heart-pounding, almost-getting-caught sequences that were there for the taking, but just weren’t taken. The concert could have served as a point of reference for Cooper to know exactly how much time he has left before they finally weed him out, but that wasn’t really utilized nearly enough. A good example of this being the compromising developing picture in No Way Out with Kevin Costner. For those who aren’t familiar, Kevin Costner is trapped in the Pentagon in No Way Out with incriminating evidence, a picture, being slowly developed on a computer screen throughout most of the movie, essentially putting him on the clock to move around and escape the situation at hand. Once the picture fully develops, time’s up, and he’s caught. Even though there were the occasional walls-caving-in moments, more of it could have been very useful in Trap, giving the audience an additional level of anxiety. There were plenty of moments where Cooper was bold and able to maneuver his way around slyly and self-assuredly, but I really wanted another beat or two where he almost gets caught at the concert by whoever. Law enforcement, Dr. Grant herself, staff, whoever. It was almost too easy for Cooper, which is probably the point, and builds the character as a super villain serial killer who can’t be stopped, but something like a chase or another dodgy situation or two could have been a positive addition to the movie, simply for excitement. Dr. Grant was essentially playing the Dr. Loomis part but without any context or payoff, like it had been done so well in the Halloween movies. And of course, I touched on this already, but there was way too much Lady Raven. That character should have been much more of a looming presence in the background than an active participant in the hunt for the Butcher. Although Lady Raven was essential in moving the plot along in a sort of logical direction, it was just a little bit too much involvement in the action. The nauseating conclusion to the Lady Raven character’s arc was a low point in a movie that just did not need anything like that. With that said, this was a Team Shyamalan effort, which I can respect, especially with pretty much everything else working just fine…

Overall, I had a great time at Trap. I thought it was a solid effort for M. Night. Not his absolute best stuff, but he still has more than enough in the tank to make exciting movies. I’m very interested to see how the box office pans out for Trap, as it is definitely his most accessible movie in quite some time. But I’m curious if the frequency of M. Night movies releasing in theaters, which is almost an annual thing at this point, has any impact on the box office success of his movies going forward. It’s admirable what he is doing, as he only seems interested in making movies that will have a wide theatrical release, which isn’t as common nowadays as you might even think. M. Night is in a very small club of filmmakers who write, direct and produce work solely to be released wide internationally. Even going as far as self-financing with the help of a studio, taking on double the risk. That list is even smaller, and honestly, might just be him. In an era where risk is mitigated, M. Night should be praised for his ambitious and aggressive approach to the process, but also the personal risk he takes on when making these movies. M. Night was born to do this, so my hope is that his movies keep making substantial box office money to keep this train on the tracks. I’m not ready to get off anytime soon…

Wicked Horror Rating: 7.5/10

From Blinding Edge Pictures & Warner Bros., Trap is playing exclusively in theaters as of August 2nd, 2024.

Epilogue: 

One final thing. Trailers. I understand it for movies that need to build the hype and get people excited about the product. But in this particular instance, it was not necessary to have a trailer that included what it had included. Not to say I’m pissed off because we pretty much know the Butcher is Josh Hartnett going in, but it annoys me because it really didn’t need it. If I worked in marketing at Warner Bros. who distributed Trap, I would make sure the trailer is as confusing and misleading as possible. Even if it has to be twenty seconds or less. I don’t give a damn about CinemaCon or theaters filling up two minutes of pre-screening time or the social media response. Shyamalan and Hartnett alone are more than enough to sell a movie, and if nobody knew anything going into Trap, sort of like Longlegs for example, I guaran-fuckin-tee the reception would be much more positive and the box office results would be better than it probably will end up being. Trap is a very simple but incredibly cool movie that deserved a little more mystique in the marketing campaign to build excitement in an alternative way. But that’s neither here nor there. Trap is good, go see it…