TRAP (2024)
A Horror Thriller in the Classic Sense
Grade: A-
(**Major Spoiler Alert!!**)
Say “M. Night Shyamalan,” and people will think about that writer/director who made a timeless classic with The Sixth Sense (1999) before embarking on a wildly uneven film career. His tropes have been noted and made fun of for years, such as the (often infuriating) plot twist, the director’s cameo, the awkward dialogue, and shots of characters staring straight into the camera. His latest venture, Trap, definitely features those last three, but it also displays something that has been largely forgotten: that he also is a master of nail-biting suspense. Here he takes a fading star, Josh Hartnett, and makes him the center of a good old-fashioned thriller which, despite a protracted third act, ultimately emerges as a truly effective thriller.
Trap opens with Cooper Adams (Hartnett) taking his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a concert for pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan, the director's daughter). Amid the excited crowds, Cooper notices a heightened security force, including an FBI team led by profiler Dr. Grant (Hayley Mills). He learns from a vendor named Jamie (Jonathan Langdon) that the FBI is using the concert as a trap for “The Butcher,” a serial killer who has been stalking Philadelphia for years. As the concert goes on, Cooper starts exhibiting strange behavior, and it soon becomes clear that he is up to no good….
Shyamalan makes Hartnett the center of ever-mounting tension. We are by his side as he observes the security, scopes out the stadium, and plots countless schemes to avoid detection. This makes Trap somewhat reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943), which also featured a serial killer who was also close to his family and hid in plain sight, giving off telltale signs of instability. Other character types and plot devices are skillfully woven into the plot as well, such as a killer with a traumatic childhood, an FBI agent determined to bring him down, victims who try to outsmart him, and of course a final showdown with the authorities. Through it all, the terror levels are high.
Opposite Hartnett is a supporting cast of excellent actors. Donoghue is pitch perfect as Cooper’s daughter, always overjoyed as so many (seemingly) wonderful things happen to her at the concert. Singer/Songwriter Saleka gets to demonstrate her acting chops to good effect, as Lady Raven ultimately emerges as an intelligent character. And Alison Pill, as Cooper’s wife Rachel, exhibits genuine terror in the climax. Mills doesn’t get much screen time or development as Dr. Grant, but she makes good use of the time she’s given.
If there is one thing that holds Trap back, it is that it just doesn’t know when to stop. Shyamalan seems to be so caught up with paying homage to movies such as this that he piles climax upon climax. In fact, even when the movie ends it still doesn’t want to end, resorting to the tried-and-tired cliche of trying to up a sequel. And although well-made, these scenes become increasingly familiar to audiences who are used to these kinds of movies. But this doesn’t ruin the film-in fact, compared to other mistakes Shyamalan is famous for, it is downright tame-and it allows the actors to shine.
Trap is apparently being given an overall mixed response right now, with a “Rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes. Shyamalan’s track record is so checkered that a certain YouTube channel brazenly pointed out their belief weeks ago in a video thumbnail that one of the characters was not the killer. I knew this going in, and I was waiting to be disappointed, but it soon became clear that this belief was unjustified. Thus, the movie frees itself from the worst of M. Night’s tropes to become a high mark on the director’s career.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Screenplay: M. Night Shyamalan
Producers: M. Night Shyamalan, Marc Bienstock, Ashwin Rajan
Cast: Josh Hartnett (Cooper Adams), Ariel Donoghue (Riley), Saleka Shyamalan (Lady Raven), Alison Pill (Rachel), Hayley Mills (Dr. Josephine Grant), Jonathan Langdon (Jamie), Mark Bacolcol (Spencer), Marnie McPhail (Jodie's Mom), Kid Cudi (The Thinker), Russ (Parker Wayne)
Rated: PG-13 (For some violent content and brief strong language)
Comments