No way out. Scoring amazing grades as a kid usually gets rewarded. Getting to go to a concert for one of the world’s biggest singing artists is quite the gift. For Cooper (Josh Hartnett), he’s landed tickets to one Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan) for his daughter, Riley (Ariel Donoghue). Father/daughter time, how cute. In 2024 nowhere is truly safe, but Cooper begins to note a heavy amount of police presence in every area of the arena, which puts him on edge. Are the attendees at risk? Yes and no.
Law enforcement was handed a tip as it relates to the pursuit of a man known as “The Butcher.” It is very likely he is at this concert. With a name like that, it leaves no doubt he’s a vicious human being. Turns out this entire concert is a Trap to apprehend this serial killer…who’s real name happens to be Cooper. With every exit and escape route blocked off, he’ll need to get creative to stay one step ahead of the law. The hunter is now the hunted.
In some circles, Trap is being hailed as a return to form for director M. Night Shyamalan, which is an interesting statement. While he will likely never approach his commercial and critical peak of 1999-2004 again, the director who has made his name off of twisty thrillers has put forth some entertaining ones since 2015, like The Visit, two-thirds of Split, and last year’s Knock at the Cabin. With Trap, his latest feels like less of a complete feature and more of a parental progeny passion project.
Trap was partly born out of the idea of Shyamalan wanting to create a movie under the structure of a concert, with his daughter at the forefront of it. By that metric, he succeeds in crafting a movie which in some ways is a concert first, narrative second, syncing much of the songs to the set-pieces. The narrative itself serves up a sandbox style for Hartnett to channel his Agent 47 impulses as he evades identification. During the actual concert is when Trap—as music heavy as it is (and pretty good music by Saleka overall)—is at its most dynamic, with brisk pacing, extreme close up camera shots, and intentional humor. M. Night is often derided for his clumsy dialogue, but for this setup, it isn’t so bad and even fits like a glove.
Concert first, narrative second. Truthfully, this isn’t as much of an issue during the first half of Trap’s runtime, because the plot is 1A to the concert’s 1B. Even as points within the story are coincidental happenstance, reliant on questionable (at best) character decisions, and/or require sizable suspension of disbelief (story takes place in present day and camera locations are spotlighted on screen…there’s no way the suspect should be moving around this easily), it is easy to overlook them because the film carries a propulsive, kind of hilarious energy that’s seemingly building to something. Until it doesn’t. It’s a sad feeling when one can pinpoint the exact moment when the air within the film’s proverbial balloon is let out, but in Trap (avoiding specific spoilers), this moment happens when the events on screen become less contained and the script asks way too much out of one specific individual.
As a singer, M. Night’s eldest daughter is a vocal and stage presence. However, as an actress, it’s harder to buy into Saleka as a screen presence. Particularly in her first role as she is put in a position to be a crucial figure and there’s just no gravitas behind her lines or behavior to make the character believable. Hartnett is operating across the spectrum, pinging between caring, goofy paternal figure to pure calculated chaos. He almost drags the movie to an above average grade himself.
Perhaps Trap is better viewed as a dark comedy, maybe even a meta-commentary on trapping viewers in a concert movie with the daughter of a famous director. But since Trap wants to clearly be more than this and abandons this approach for the final half-hour, the final on-screen product is as likely to shackle watchers to an unremarkable, dull viewing.
C-
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MMJ 
“It’s a sad feeling when one can pinpoint the exact moment when the air within the film’s proverbial balloon is let out” — well said. And weirdly enough, I had this sense with my experience with Longlegs, albeit more how it decides to wrap things up rather than how it overall plays out. There’s something about Trap though that is compelling me to go see it. I don’t know what it is, maybe just the idea that Shyamalan is still actually doing original stuff? For as much mockery as that man has received and/or earned, it’s hard to argue the guy at least tries to operate outside the studio system. That’s at least praiseworthy even when his efforts don’t always pay off
On the subject of Longlegs, I am interested in rewatching (more so to catch all of the visual shots of the one below) but count me in as another who fell for the hype.
Even if this feels at times an indulgent showcase of nepotism, it is still extremely original so I’ll give it that. It’s a fun movie for sure up until a point, and Hartnett in a much deserved starring role is worth the price of matinee admission.
I actually enjoyed Trap as a camp classic. Embracing its over-the-top elements and unique twists really made it a fun watch. The movie’s energy and quirks brought a lot of entertainment, but I get what you’re saying.
Could be possible I need to watch again in a few years and view it as more of a comedy camp with adjusted expectations. I did enjoy Hartnett a lot though.
Good review. For me, the movie had a good start and did build a suspense and thrills in a sort of “cat and mouse” game with thrown in concert moments to break the tension up. However, while the first half was good, the latter half of Trap is where the feature (to me, at least) fell apart and began to follow in the common tropes of a Shyamalan movie. Definitely not his worst, but nowhere near his best.