Ah, M Night Shyamalan. He’s one of my favorite filmmakers, but he’s also hit or miss, and his last few movies haven’t been great. It seems to be hope springing eternal that keeps people coming back whenever Night puts out a new movie, because there’s always the possibility that we could see the old Night again. Will Trap hit that spot, or does it join the ranks of Shyamalan’s Greatest Turkeys? Well, it’s a little bit of both. There will be a few spoilers, but I’ll try to keep them as minimal as possible.
What’s in the trailer, though, is obviously fair game, and it’s no secret that the movie is about a dad, Cooper, taking his daughter, Riley, to a Lady Raven concert. In the midst of all the excitement, there’s a manhunt going on for someone named The Butcher. We already know from the trailer that it’s Cooper they’re looking for. We also know that a mysterious gray-haired lady is in on the manhunt, only we don’t see her face right away.
What we don’t know as much about is what Cooper does to stay ahead of the Feds. I’m not going to ruin anything, but I’ll just say this: Cooper likes pushing the envelope and then pushing it again, and all the while he’s pretending to be the perfect dad taking his daughter to a concert.
It’s also not much of a secret who the gray-haired lady is in the trailer, especially once the opening credits roll. Hayley Mills plays profiler Dr. Josephine Grant, who has a spotless reputation for bringing murderers like Cooper to justice. She’s very stealthy. In fact, she’s afforded more secrecy at first than the guy she’s pursuing.
Trap has all the usual Shyamalan elements, and it’s all fairly entertaining. There’s suspense, there are twists, there’s a director cameo, and there are pretty pronounced builds in the stakes.
While the movie might hit all the elements we expect in a Shyamalan movie, it doesn’t hit them very hard. Part of that is because it tells us what’s going to happen before it actually does happen or while it’s happening. Dr. Josephine might say over the walkie-talkie system, “The Butcher will try to create chaos,” while Cooper contemplates pulling a fire alarm and then settles for turning up the frying oil in the snack bar.
What really makes it all fall flat, though, are some of the decisions on the part of law enforcement and the concert staff. Lady Raven, for instance, would not have gotten off her tour bus and walked into the venue in full view of her fans; she would have already been in the building doing sound check.
Jamie, the merch guy, should have gotten suspicious right off the bat when Cooper asks him too many questions, including getting him to tell him the security password. That alone should have set off alarm bells, not to mention Jamie would have gotten in big trouble for giving away proprietary information.
It doesn’t stop with Jamie, though. No one’s IDs have photos on them. No one raises the alarm or even notices if items go missing. All of that makes certain bits of Cooper’s cat-and-mouse game a whole lot easier, but none of it would happen in real life. Ideally, anyway.
Even if those dumb mistakes weren’t there, however, Cooper is still a garden-variety criminal who doesn’t do anything that will surprise real law enforcement or even true crime fans.
Saleka Shyamalan plays Lady Raven, and the concert aspect of the film is pretty impressive. The movie shows most of the concert from Cooper and the audience’s point of view, so we have a lot of time to look at what’s going on in that regard, plus Shyamalan apparently wrote her own music for the role. Her song game is strong; her acting, not so much, although she’s likable.
Josh Hartnett, on the other hand, plays a great psycho killer. He’s really good at faking smiles and saying what he needs to say, but once his mask has fallen, he’s pretty scary in a Joker kind of way. He holds the whole movie together.
In spite of being a slightly weak installment in the Shyamalan catalogue, Trap wasn’t bad. I found myself walking in Riley’s shoes for a bit, too. Imagine going to a concert with your dad, only to find out he’s a serial killer named The Butcher. Memories…
Trap is currently in theaters. Rated PG-13.
My grade: B+
Principal Cast: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills, Jonathan Langdon, Mark Bacolcol, Marnie McPhail, Kid Cudi, Russ, Marcia Bennett, Vanessa Smythe, M. Night Shyamalan, Lochlan Miller, Steve Boyle, David D’Lancy Wilson, James Gomez, Nadine Hyatt
Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan.