Trap

Director M. Night Shyamalan’s new thriller was pitched as Silence of the Lambs at a Taylor Swift concert. Trap sees doting dad Cooper (Josh Hartnett) taking his super-fan daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a pop concert featuring Shyamalan’s oldest daughter Saleka as singing sensation Lady Raven.

Before long, Cooper notices that security has been majorly tightened, with police, SWAT, and FBI everywhere. He asks a merchandise vendor (Jonathan Langdon, hilarious) what is going on, and the man discloses that a serial killer known as “The Butcher” is one of thousands of men in attendance. The concert is really a trap to ensnare the sociopath. It’s no spoiler to say that Cooper is the infamous Butcher.

Easily the best aspect of this film, especially in the first act, is Hartnett’s natural ability to change personalities. When he’s with Riley at the concert, he’s the fun, loving dad. Yet even during these scenes, we see Shyamalan’s lens zoom in for a close-up of subtle mannerisms of his menacing persona. Something as seemingly small as an eye twitch gives off uneasy feeling, reminiscent of James McAvoy’s effective role showcasing his wide range in Split and Glass. Donoghue (Wolf Like Me) is a talented young actress who is quite good as Riley.

Shyamalan uses a 35mm camera to shoot the film, with the concert scenes in particular standing out with bright lights that reflect Hartnett’s mindset at times. Cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom captures the characters and proceedings to impressive results. There is also some wonderful dark humor.

Credit where credit is due, Shyamalan’s daughter is a talented singer. In fact, she recorded fourteen songs for an album that was released alongside the film. Even seeing the promos and interviews, it becomes nakedly transparent that Trap is a case of nepotism. Shyamalan Sr. even appears in a gratuitous cameo to further prop her up, talking to Hartnett of all people.

Alas, his weak script fails her when it calls upon her to actually act in multiple scenes. Shyamalan’s cringeworthy dialogue certainly works in Hartnett’s favor in the first third—especially because he’s trying to maintain his killer dad side around his daughter—but the longer the film goes on, there are some painful exchanges and forced delivery. Everyone included eventually sounds like they are rehearsing lines written by AI.

In the start, even the premise requires some suspension of disbelief. The longer the film goes on, the more apparent the contrivances and gaping plot holes become until you are taken out of it completely. Characters make dumb decisions just so the next thing can happen. The security here is so laughably incompetent that you can’t take them seriously.

We never actually understand what makes the main characters tick, especially Cooper, and that’s a shame. Instead of settling on a satisfying conclusion, the director drags out the feature for at least half-an-hour too long. The mid-credits scene did get a laugh out of me, and if you invest your time and money, it’s worth seeing. A serial-killer story needed a more restrictive rating, which would allow for a higher body count. It doesn’t help that Shyamalan is unable to build the same tension here that made his earlier films so effective.

The biggest problem is that Shyamalan couldn’t decide whether to make a vanity project for his daughter with a concert or a cat-and-mouse chase following a serial killer. The result is a tonally uneven project that feels like both ideas at war. His best movies, such as The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable, and Split have surprise twists that reframe the entire story in a satisfying way. While not as bad as his losing streak following The Village and better than his last two, Old and Knock at the Cabin, Trap is a messy affair that not even Josh Hartnett’s performance can save. Much like The Butcher, Shyamalan lures us in with a promising hook and then traps us.

105 minutes