Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap follows Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett), a serial killer dubbed “The Butcher”, who joins his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) at a concert for pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan) before realizing the event is a trap set by police to catch him.
Shyamalan is back for another year with another film and I couldn’t be happier to see him still around and still working. For any potential newcomers reading this, I have always been a big supporter of M. Night Shyamalan as a director because I have always believed him to be an extremely talented and passionate filmmaker who always aims to make something unique, even if it has a 50/50 chance of success. I give every one of his films a fair shot and sometimes I end up loving or liking ones that everyone hates and then disliking or hating ones that everyone loves. Last year I really liked Knock at the Cabin, and I was eager to see what he would come up with next. Which brings us to this film, which I will say is very different compared to all of his previous work both in good and mixed ways.
Trap is a straightforward psychological thriller with a unique premise that is maybe too simple in terms of execution but I still personally found to be enjoyable in certain ways. It’s not overly complex or even as crazy in comparison to some of Shyamalan’s past work, which may end up being enjoyable for some but disappointing for others who perhaps wanted something more radical.
This film reminds me of some simple thrillers, like Red Eye and Unhinged, that are not necessarily deep or thematic but are a lot of fun and provide a great amount of genuine thrills to keep you engaged. Trap definitely has some weaknesses that hold it back but it also has a lot of strengths going for it that kept me completely invested from start to end.
The first and perhaps greatest strength of the film is our lead character played by Josh Hartnett who was absolutely brilliant! It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen him be the lead in a major film, and I have to say this is quite the comeback role as a truly disturbing and unhinged yet intelligent individual who was legitimately terrifying.
Josh Hartnett doesn’t often play villains but this may be his best one yet as he truly captures the psychological elements of this character extremely well with his performance, bringing humanity to a dark character and making audiences feel invested in him in a conflicted way. You want him to get caught and be brought to justice for his heinous crimes but at the same time you feel eager to see how he tries to get out of this extreme situation with cunning tactics even with immense odds stacked against him.
The rest of the cast does a good job in this film with their respective roles but most of them pale in comparison to Josh Hartnett’s performance with one exception being Saleka Shyamalan as Lady Raven.
Going into this film I was expecting Saleka Shyamalan to only have a very light role as the pop star of the concert but as the film progresses she actually becomes more integral to the plot, and as a result she ends up having a surprising amount of moments where she delivers a fantastic performance full of various emotions. I always knew Saleka to be a great singer as demonstrated in this film with all the awesome songs she wrote and performed, but I definitely did not expect her to be a great actress too. To be honest, I hope she gets more work outside of her father’s projects because I see big potential from her after seeing her in this film.
As mentioned before this film is a straightforward psychological thriller that, while simple in execution, is made up for with effective thrills and tension that I personally enjoyed. Like Red Eye and Unhinged it doesn’t take itself too seriously as it embraces its unique premise and has fun with it, but still manages to have you on the edge of your seat for a majority of the film thanks largely in part to Shyamalan’s ability to create genuine thrills in this clever game of cat and mouse full of paranoia and nail-biting suspense.
I will say though while the first two acts of the film are strong the third act is where things fizzle out a little, and some of the immense levels of suspense end up decreasing a bit. I was kind of expecting things to go absolutely bonkers at this point, similar to some of Shyamalan’s previous films, but it surprisingly never goes that far. There’s still a good amount of fun tension present in the third act but it never goes over the top and shows a surprising amount of restraint on what it could have done that would have either led to ruining the film or potentially making it better. I can see people either liking or disliking this choice of restraint for various reasons and while I am personally mixed on the third act I did end up liking the ending.
Now what about that classic Shyamalan twist you may ask? Truth be told there isn’t one. There is certainly a revelation that occurs in the film that explains a part of the plot, but I would hardly call it a twist that shakes up everything compared to Shyamalan’s previous films. So I guess if you are someone who has been tired of seeing Shyamalan’s plot twists in every one of his films then you’ll probably be happy with this one.
When it comes to technical elements this film looks and sounds absolutely amazing from start to end, which once again proves how talented of a director Shyamalan can be from a technical standpoint. He absolutely nails down the concert aesthetic in terms of how crowded and chaotic it can be, which in turn enhances the thrills and suspense of the film as a whole.
The cinematography is absolutely stellar and creates a lot of unique visuals that give this film an identity much like Shyamalan’s other works, it really captures the sense of paranoia that our lead character is feeling as he desperately tries to escape the situation he’s in. There are a few odd close-ups here and there with certain scenes, but then there are some intense ones with Cooper that I found to be extremely effective in terms of being unsettling and sinister.
When it comes to music Saleka Shyamalan’s songs are awesome but it is the score by Herdís Stefánsdóttir that truly shines in this film, elevating various suspense scenes and keeping you on edge.
I can see this film being another one of M. Night Shyamalan’s divisive entries where people are going to either love or hate it depending on what they are looking for. I personally am a bit more in the middle with this film though I do lean more toward the positive side because there are a lot of things I did like and overall I had fun. It’s a decent thriller that I recommend giving a go, especially for Josh Hartnett’s performance, which I feel is worth the price of admission alone. Check it out and see what you think. I’m going to give Trap a B = 86.
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