M. Night Shyamalan gets me man! As a longtime defender, I find his movies a joy every time. The criticisms people have (the odd line deliveries or unbelievable storylines) are things I really like about his movies. TRAP is facing some of the same criticism. This review is coming up late out of motivation to respond to the naysayers and give the film praise amidst the hate.
I think we all can agree the setup is incredible and is why so many people initially were excited to see TRAP. If you have not seen the trailer, it begins with a dad (Josh Hartnett) taking his daughter (Ariel Donoghue) to a famous teen pop musician. In this case, Lady Raven (played by M. Night’s daughter Saleka Shyamalen). As the concert is going on, Cooper notices an unusual amount of security who seem to be hunting for someone. The one they are hunting for is a well known serial killer. Cooper excuses himself from his daughter, goes to the bathroom, checks his phone to confirm through a camera that his next victim is in fact still securely tied and hidden away. Yes, Josh Hartnett’s Cooper, a loving father on a night out with his daughter, is in fact the serial killer that everyone is hunting for. This is not a spoiler as the reveal not only happens in the trailer and description, but also within the first fifteen minutes.
With one road block after another needing to be cleverly overcome, TRAP can’t help but be captivating as a sort of reverse prison escape movie. It’s important to suspend a sort of believability or simply be willing to believe in luck, fate, or faith when watching an M. Night movie. TRAP is no different. It brings up a lot of outlandish possibilities that are mostly improbable, but not necessarily impossible. As an audience member you have to buy into the fantastical, Twilight Zone scenarios. I absolutely do and love every minute of it. M. Night clearly is having fun and the things that others may not like, he purposefully enjoys in making entertainment. He likes his characters being a bit off kilter, explaining things directly to the camera and somewhat plainly at times.
Josh Hartnett is the other key to why this film is so great. He demands attention and controls every scene. His awkward delivery and unnerving looks especially when directly at the camera are charismatic and scary. It’s a joyful, hilarious eeriness that works perfectly for the entire tone of the film. I want more movies like TRAP, which unravel in different ways to where you almost are rooting for the bad guy to get away. TRAP is not serious, it’s well-crafted entertainment.
The under 2-hour runtime is a welcomed pace compared to most overlong movies these days. The first two acts work better than the third act, which leans into the absurdity, using foolish actions by our protagonist villain. But there is still a kind of wild B-movie type joy. It’s tough to explain, but TRAP seems to be having a bit of fun, which is something that I miss in movies. It’s okay to be over-the-top sometimes.
Ariel Donoghue and Alison Pill as Cooper’s daughter and wife are terrific. The wonderful Haley Mills shows up as a little wink and nod in a cleverly placed role to tell us M. Night is having a bit of fun. As I said, Saleka Shyamalan, M. Night’s daughter, plays the pop star, Lady Raven. A fact that I did not know until watching. She definitely is the least experienced, which caused me to look her up. Power to a director, who can make a movie and give his children breaks in life. Why not? Lady Raven becomes a bit more of a focal point and Saleka holds her own fine and if the writing toward the end was stronger, perhaps her moment to shine wouldn’t feel so much less. Nonetheless, Hartnett paves the way with a show-stealing performance of odd choices that of which I, frankly, want more. TRAP is the perfect mid-tier enjoyment movie that puts so many of our current strait to streaming films to shame.
