Title – Trap (2024) 

Director – M. Night Shyamalan (The Happening) 

Cast – Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Alison Pill, Saleka Shyamalan, Kid Cudi

Plot – At a concert for popstar Lady Raven (Shyamalan), father and daughter duo Cooper (Hartnett) and Riley (Donoghue) discover that this is no ordinary arena show with the police and special forces using it as a trap to catch infamous killer The Butcher.  

“There’s no way to get out of here”

Review by Eddie on 02/08/2024

M. Night Shyamalan movies really are like boxes of chocolate, you never know what you’re going to get. 

For every The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable there’s a The Happening or Avatar: The Last Airbender, with the divisive director’s newest original offering Trap the latest addition to the assorted collection of films the filmmaker has unleashed on us since his smash hit debut in 1999. 

Pitched by Shyamalan to studios as “setting The Silence of the Lambs at a Taylor Swift concert”, there’s no doubt this high concept thriller, that see’s Josh Hartnett in a rare leading man turn as family man Cooper, centred around Hartnett’s Cooper who is in fact a vicious murderer that’s being hunted by authorities is an idea with loads of potential but as has become the normal for many of Shyamalan’s works, Trap is riddled with mediocre elements and delivery that hold it back from being anything close to a must-see. 

Full credit to the marketing team behind Trap, as they’ve done a bang on job ensuring that what we’ve seen in the seemingly spoiler-filled trailers hasn’t given all of Shyamalan’s tale away with a few surprises in store for viewers going in blind but despite some neat twists, some early foreboding and a strong turn from Hartnett who appears to be set for a late career renaissance, Trap’s inability to justify its many plot holes, conveniences, terrible decision making by characters, poor script work and incessance by Shyamalan to put himself and family members into his films for no real reason holds it back in big ways. 

Starting out like a modern day Hitchcockian offering that could from the early stages lead onto many possibilities, Trap has more than a few lulls and eye-rolling moments before the half way mark as we spend a majority of our time listening to Lady Raven/Saleka Shyamalan’s auto-tuned songs before things really start going off the rails once we hit the hour mark of this cat and mouse like affair. 

Saying too much more would be a disservice to those wanting to experience Trap with fresh eyes but it’s going too be hard for anyone with their brain not switched off to be frustrated with what starts to happen in Trap as Shyamalan seems content to overlook many instances of hard to believe and hard to take incidents that squander the work of Hartnett as our main point of focus. 

Playing a nice role in last years smash hit Oppenheimer, a role that felt like the first time in years Hartnett was allowed to do anything much of note, it’s fantastic to see the early 2000’s heartthrob getting a chance to showcase his often undervalued screen presence as his easily the best part of Trap as his cocksure persona soon starts to give way to a man under pressure to keep the illusion of normality alive in front of those he holds dear. 

You can’t accuse Shyamalan of not trying, as is too be expected the director knows how to conjure up original ideas off otherwise generic bases but Trap can’t be regarded as a film that hits with its many misses combining to create a frustrating experience that is watchable to an extent but annoying above all else. 

Final Say – 

Despite a few scattered scenes that create suspense and intrigue and a committed leading man turn from Hartnett, Trap is a film that’s hard too love and another one of those Shyamalan films that need far more time to cook before being unleashed on the public for consumption. 

2 fryers out of 5