“Trap” Review
Josh Hartnett stars in “Trap” as Cooper, a serial killer attending a concert with his daughter who must find a way out when faced with capture by law enforcement.
Since the 1970s, many American filmmakers have achieved a celebrity status equal to the nation’s most popular movie stars with names like Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Greta Gerwig being well-renowned. This wasn’t always the case as, before the New Hollywood, very few people in the American public were as familiar with names like Victor Fleming, Preston Sturges and Michael Curtiz (although some names like Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford are exceptions). I say all of this because, nowadays, when a certain filmmaker’s name is uttered, the public has a generally good idea of what they can expect in terms of story and quality. With Scorsese, you can expect morally ambiguous characters and a dark storyline in a film of exceptional quality. With Michael Bay, you’re going to get an over-the-top action extravaganza with many of his films proving to be dull trips. Then there’s M. Night Shyamalan.
To this day, I cannot provide a clear label on Shyamalan because his filmography has continuously resided classification. At the beginning of his career, Shyamalan was the toast of Hollywood with films like “The Sixth Sense”, “Unbreakable” and “Signs”. He was even called “the next Spielberg” by Newsweek. Then came films like “Lady in the Water”, “The Happening” and “The Last Airbender” that made his name feel like poison. Now, he’s made a massive comeback with films like “The Visit”, “Split” and “Knock at the Cabin” showcasing his talents. Of course, he has also continued to befuddle audiences with his bizarre style with films like “Old”. He’s impossible to classify but, between his mainly original ideas and his independence from the Hollywood studio system, it’s hard not to admire the man. Now, just over a year after the critical and box office success of “Knock at the Cabin”, Shyamalan has returned with “Trap”, a fairly engaging thriller with a charismatic lead that has a flawed but endearing execution.
In Philadelphia, Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett) is taking his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donaghue) to a concert of her favorite pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan). While Cooper is glad to be there enjoying the music with Riley, he senses that something isn’t right about the massive amount of police and SWAT presence at the arena. His suspicions are confirmed when he discovers that the entire concert was planned as a sting operation to catch a notorious serial killer simply known as “The Butcher”. Matters are made even more complicated by the fact that this murderer is Cooper himself. Knowing that he’s trapped, Cooper must find a way to escape the arena while also keeping his psychotic double life hidden from the people that mean the most to him.
Right off the bat, Shyamalan is asking a lot from his audience by having us root for a man who has murdered a dozen people and who is currently holding a man hostage. However, “Trap” does pull this off and a lot of that rests on the charm of Josh Hartnett. This is brilliant casting because Hartnett really does a good job of being a charming dorky dad while also being a clever psychopath who is fixated on his self-preservation. He creates a character that not only feels interesting but is also more like real serial killers. It’s very reminiscent of the terrifying performance John Lithgow gave when he guest-starred on “Dexter”. The more natural a killer is, the more scary he becomes. There is a strong part of you that wants him to get out of this arena and to continue living life as a family man because, for all of his faults (like killing), he is a good father. That part of you is pretty intriguing to deal with because you have to ask yourself “why do I want him to get out?”
M. Night Shyamalan takes great advantage of the film’s setting, which was most definitely inspired by Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, and his direction during the film’s concert sequences keeps us in the perspective of Cooper and Riley. It would have been so easy to make part of this film feel like a massive concert film for Saleka Night Shyamalan but the direction keeps the camera as distant from the stage as the characters. Speaking of Saleka Night Shyamalan, her performance as Lady Raven caught me off guard because I didn’t expect her to have as big of a role in “Trap”. Her performance does have some good surprises and I also enjoyed the album’s worth of songs that she made for the soundtrack.
For the first two acts of the film, “Trap” feels like M. Night Shyamalan in his element. While the idea of having all of this manpower to catch one guy might seem ludicrous, I think it contains the right amount of creativity and entertainment to make for a decent thriller. A lot of Shyamalan’s directorial quirks also work quite well with the material. A classic Shyamalan staple is having people look directly into the camera when they talk so that he cut back and forth between their stares and it really adds to the off-putting situation. Even though Cooper seems like a nice guy, the fact that he’s looking directly into the lens does tell us something is off even before it’s revealed who he really is.
Director of Photography Sayombhu Mukdeeprom also has this weird way of framing certain shots that, once again, adds to the narrative. Instead of having Cooper in a spot that your eye will immediately gravitate towards, Mukdeeprom will hide Hartnett in certain shots so you have to really look to find him. This is another smart form of visual storytelling since Cooper is trying to blend into the crowd and doesn’t want to be noticed unless it’s on his own terms.
But as much fun as I was having with the first portion of the film, the third act is where things start to go astray. This is mainly due to the fact that Shyamalan just couldn’t find a good spot to end this film. Inside of “Trap’s” 105 minute runtime is a solid 90 minutes that could have made for a tight thriller but the film just never takes the right exit despite having ample opportunities. On top of that, the third act loses steam and contains the tropes of Shyamalan that are less enjoyable like clunky exposition. I didn’t really need to know about Cooper’s motivations or how the FBI got wind that he’d be at the concert. I think the simplicity of the film's first half was enough. However, the last third of “Trap” still kept me engaged thanks to Hartnett and the goodwill that the film had built up.
While I don’t see “Trap” being anyone’s favorite M. Night Shyamalan film, I do think it’s effective in what it’s trying to accomplish. The setting is creatively used, Hartnett gives the role his all and I found myself going back-and-forth between rooting for and against the protagonist in a way that was intentional. It’s not a powerhouse like Shyamalan’s most acclaimed work but it’s sure one big leap from Mark Whalberg talking to a plastic plant afraid that it’s going to kill him.
