Trap
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Alison Pill
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Not to get too weighed down by backstory but I’ve been predicting the Josh Hartnett renaissance for years. YEARS, I tell you! The man is too talented to not be gracing us with his presence on the silver screen. “This is his year!”, I’d tell my friends with no Josh Hartnett anywhere in sight. But with recent appearances in Oppenheimer, The Bear, Black Mirror, and a leading role in Trap, I feel pretty validated in that prediction. Is Trap the leading role Hartnett fans have been waiting for? Well…that’s up for debate.
Trap is written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, a sentence that feels like a loaded gun to type. Shyamalan has made some pretty great films with eerie atmospheres that I genuinely love including The Sixth Sense, Signs, and The Village (many will argue The Village isn’t as strong, but I think it’s generally quite good.) However, some of his work like The Happening, Old, and After Earth is downright baffling. Granted, few directors would dare even approach the subject, “What if there was a beach that made you old?” But he took that concept, ran with it, and the results were not great. Props for trying out the concept though! Now every time I’m on a beach I think to myself, “What if this beach made me really old?”
I was hopeful that Trap would be a true return to form for Shyamalan. The film follows Cooper (Josh Hartnett) and his daughter, Riley (Ariel Donoghue), as they go to a massive concert for her favorite artist, Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan). Think Taylor Swift - Eras Tour level big. It’s the best day ever for Riley and the thousands of teen girls surrounding her. As a devoted dad, Cooper is glad to see his daughter so happy. There’s a caveat. Police and SWAT surround the venue to catch The Butcher, a local serial killer on the loose. They got a tip he would be at the Lady Raven concert. They were right. Cooper is the Butcher. The entire concert becomes a game of cat and mouse. Will the police catch him? Or will Cooper outsmart them all?
First of all, this movie did entertain me. It’s not boring by any stretch of the imagination. So, at least it has that working in its favor. However, the script is insane. As someone who tries to suspend disbelief for a lot of movies, it gets to a point where it’s not possible anymore. Before I get into issues with the plot, I have to talk about the concert itself. I fear M. Night Shyamalan has never been to one. None of the characters in Trap behave like they’re at a concert. Including the lead singer. The concert starts at 1 in the afternoon. What is this, Kidz Bop on tour? While performing, Lady Raven takes at least 3 intermissions. Never in my 29 years of concert going have I ever witnessed a singer take so many breaks.
Ok, moving away from the concert logistics, how would the police go about catching a serial killer when they have no defining characteristics? They go into this concert saying they are positive The Butcher is male. Ok, that narrows it down! They arrest practically every other man in the concert except for Cooper who is acting about as obvious as Ted Bundy. He might as well walk up to the lead investigator and say “Hey, by the way, did you know I’m The Butcher?” There’s a strange theme throughout the movie that insinuates Cooper is a genius psychopath who outsmarts everyone around him. However, that kind of backfires as the movie inadvertently falls victim to a narrative that everyone surrounding this man is an idiot. Borderline dumbest human beings you’ve ever seen. Speaking of the lead investigator, the role is truly bizarre. I appreciate that Shyamalan cast Hayley Mills (of original Parent Trap fame) but she just does not behave like a real human. This woman might as well be a character you created in the Sims. She says things like “There are 27,000 people here. 3,000 of them are men. 1 of those men is the Butcher.” Nice deductive reasoning skills, Sherlock Holmes! Can I please have your job? The market is tough right now and I think I could have a knack for it.
Trap also exists as a way for Shyamalan to promote his daughter’s singing career. All of the concert sequences display Salekah Shyamalan's self-written music! Honestly, compared to the script, the music didn’t bother me. As much as nepo-baby discourse surrounds Hollywood, it’s nice that M. Night Shyamalan wants to showcase his daughter’s talent. She seems like a pretty good singer. I will say, there’s a point in the movie where Lady Raven starts interacting with Cooper and Riley and it’s clear Shyamalan was writing specifically for his daughter to play the role. It comes across like straight-up fan fiction. No world-famous pop star would ever go to the lengths that she does. This girl is supposed to be on the same level of fame as Taylor Swift, it’s absurd to think any of the events in this movie would ever take place. Also, let’s be real, the Swifties would mobilize and catch The Butcher before Taylor even graced the stage.
Josh Hartnett completely carries this movie. He turns Cooper into an American Psycho-style Patrick Bateman type with over-the-top charismatic mannerisms that are sinister beneath the surface. He deserves a better script than this.
Trap is a wildly unbelievable movie with an unhinged script that will make you question everyone’s decision-making and basic concert etiquette.
My Rating: 4/10