Movie Review: Trap is another M. Night Shyamalan piece of shit that we don’t recommend
Making films today is indeed a difficult task for many filmmakers. On the one hand, there is a lack of originality in the stories, and on the other, the poor work on the scripts and execution. The results have left much to be desired. There are very few who have managed to stand out and provide quality entertainment.
In 1999, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan presented a project that seemed novel and somewhat original. The Sixth Sense quickly became a cult film among fans of the genre. It was a film that was sold as something it was not, and despite this, it has had a success to this day that has faded over the years but is still current.
After this success came Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002), The Village (2004), Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010), After Earth (2013), The Visit (2015), Split (2016), Glass (2019), Old (2021), Knock at the Cabin (2023) and now in 2024 he presents us with Trap, a psychological thriller in which he addresses a different subject that moves away from that fantasy and horror.
What is Trap about?
Cooper (Josh Hartnett) and his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) attend a concert by pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan) where they realize they are at the center of a dark and sinister event, a team of police officers is closing all the entrances to catch a serial killer who is in the audience.
The idea that it is a trap at a concert to catch a serial killer called “the butcher” can be interesting if the story is somewhat concrete and well carried out, a story from which more than one subplot can be developed that connects everything and puts us as spectators in a good point of tension.
We know that the films of this screenwriter, producer, and director have had more downs than ups, with very few of his productions having had the success that the studios expected, in general his works have been a complete disappointment for everyone, good ideas that go from bad to terribly executed, completely diluting the original idea that if well approached could have been a success.
Trap is no exception, it was on the verge of becoming an interesting thriller with a good plot, a film that is less like many of his fantastic adventures and that lacks that basic element that is needed to generate suspense and tension, most of the film takes place in a place that can be truly terrifying for a contemporary parent at a pop superstar concert, in this case it is Lady Raven, a musical celebrity formed in the image of someone real, Saleka Night Shyamalan who plays her wrote and performed most of the music to make this first act a whole experience.
This Lady Raven show in Philadelphia is attended by a normal guy named Cooper and his teenage daughter Riley, all are excited and nervous about being there, shortly after his arrival Cooper notices an unusual police movement in the place that includes heavily armed elements at all the entrances to the venue, by a brief act of courtesy he gains the trust and sympathy of Jamie (Jonathan Langdon) a salesman who secretly tells him that the police and the feds are there because they know that the serial killer called “The Butcher” is in the building and as we saw from the trailer, Cooper is that man.
The police’s brilliant plan is to arrest all the men who leave the place and put them in front of the profiler Dr. Grant (Hayley Mills) to identify the killer and thus be able to arrest him, and this is where the failures and the nonsense begin, unfortunately, the script written by Shyamalan himself does not give the characters the opportunity for a more concrete development, for example, his central character Cooper should be an exceptionally cunning genius, someone who has kept his double identity a secret and just has to do it for a little longer and use all the resources he has at hand to escape being captured.
Shyamalan makes this character more comical and unfortunate, helped a lot by chance and cinematic magic, while we see long segments of a boring pop star’s concert, songs that are way below commercial value from a performer who has zero charisma, with a show of deficient quality, it is very difficult to believe that someone like that could be popular among the youth or rather among a bunch of extras who are there just to fill a space.
Although the setting is intended to be intelligent and interesting for a thriller and where most of its first act occurs, it is incomprehensible how this father enters and leaves the concert as if it were nothing. I have to go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back, I’m going to get something to eat, are the meaningless phrases he uses to make his getaways and plan his escape, long scenes that end in something simple helped by the chance that things happen for the benefit of a poorly made script, dialogues that fall more into cliché and the commitment to try to make the characters empathize with each other.
At the same time that we see this, we are told that Riley has been bullied at her school by other students, while we continue to explore with Cooper the geography of space. This environment never transmits a claustrophobic atmosphere where others are in imminent danger, we just wait to see what stupidity Shyamalan comes up with so that we move on to the next act, the cinematography is strangely designed so that at all times we see the artist on stage through giant screens making Lady Raven’s actual performance feel and look mediocre.
All this is resolved because they have already identified Cooper and the easiest thing to do is to invite his daughter on stage so they can keep an eye on him, a performance in which these 2 characters do not have the slightest chemistry, in a song in which each one on their own desperately tries to connect with a non-existent audience that does not care what happens, after this and to end the concert the singer’s team invites them backstage with the pop star, it is inexplicable how it is the father who speaks privately with her and not the daughter who is the fan.
In another of the absurdities of the escape plan, Cooper reveals it to this singer and that is to get them out of there in his limo that evidently will not be inspected by the police to blackmail her he shows her a video where he has a man captive who he is going to poison with carbon monoxide, it is such a stupid idea that only Shyamalan could have, despite everything she accepts and the second act begins, in another equally stupid move this star offers to take them to her house and have dinner with them to gain time and be able to notify the police and save the hostage, so now it is this character who will be the heroine of the story.
At home, you never believe the family, who are excited to have such a star living with them. In a moment of carelessness, he takes Cooper’s cell phone and locks himself in the bathroom to talk to the hostage and tell all his fans what is happening while Cooper does everything possible to recover his device. These moments are completely devoid of tension, and this is where the film completely falls apart in credibility and even more in tension and suspense.
By the third and final act, we are already waiting for all this to end because we have reached the point where everything seems more like a joke than something that could surprise us. We have already lost all interest in knowing what will happen, but there will be more revelations that are no longer relevant because we no longer care what happens to the characters. In a desperate attempt, Cooper tries to flee with the star in his truck but is intercepted by the family, who has escaped from the room where he had them locked up, this is where the police arrive and catch him for the first time.
Subdued and with the hostage safe, Cooper locks himself in the limo and manages to escape again to return home, such stupidity, where he plans to kill his wife and flee with his children, he is again intercepted by the police who reveal to us that Cooper has a compulsive obsession and a trauma caused by his mother, he is arrested once again but manages to grab one of the wires that are in a bicycle rim, already arrested he manages to free himself again to escape, in a scene halfway through the credits Jamie finds out Cooper’s identity while watching the news and that’s how this film ends.
Once again Shyamalan surprises us with a film that could have been more and that falls into the absurdity and stupidity of a bad script and a terrible execution. Here none of the characters matter more than his daughter who makes her debut as a singer, a pretext to promote her nascent career rather than to develop a coherent and interesting story that puts us at the level of tension that is needed, not to mention the plot holes and other nonsense that there is because in reality they do not matter or help.
It is strange and more than a predictable film that is not based on a pre-existing intellectual property, we are in an era in which everything is developed based on very few original ideas, it is a shame that productions like these are distributed by a studio and reaches movie theaters, many times it has been said and I have commented that they should no longer give money to this man to continue making this shit but he is the one who now produces with his money everything we see, it would be the last straw if something like this was financed by studios that are now in a severe crisis.
It’s more of a shame that this comes to pretend that it is something current and a story that can involve new generations with a message like that of bullying and a moral discourse where even if he is a serial killer, fatherly love can do everything, the importance of family and facing the consequences, not of the murders of which we neither see nor know absolutely anything, there is no flashback or previous baggage that gives us the background that this man is a true monster at the level of Hannibal Lecter, but what does it matter if what is intended here is for his daughter to shine.
3 acts in which none of them connect, in which none of them manage to have a linear coherence, subplots that are mentioned and concluded with something simple like, oh my daughter is being bullied so I take her to a concert of her favorite pop star so she’ll be happy, no consequence matters or redeems and much less develops the plot, the characters, or that there is a good resolution in all this, if Shyamalan intends to pull out of his sleeve a new trilogy starting with this we can already see the result of everything, yes, one more failure in his not-so-ascending career.
The wasted and very poorly chosen cast is made up of Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Hayley Mills, Alison Pill, and Saleka Night Shyamalan, a waste of talent where each one does what they can with what they have, limited performances that fall into mediocrity and laughter, Hartnett could have been a more notable character if it weren’t for how poorly directed he is and the terrible dialogues he has.
The music composed by Herdís Stefánsdóttir is perhaps the most redeemable, simple pieces that manage to put a little tension and help the scenes to seem more striking, the songs composed and performed by Saleka Night Shyamalan are more than forced, one of the worst ideas to promote a poor material in its production and that needs daddy to make a movie for it to stand out.
In conclusion, Trap is one more piece of shit made by a director who lost his place as a credible filmmaker years ago, a film that is more of a poorly made music video than a work that manages to make the mix between the 2 things work and contribute more to the genre it occupies, one more opportunity that is lost and that certifies once again that this does not even comply with the rule of entertaining.
Trap is already available in movie theaters in our country and we do not recommend it.
