Review: Trap
Review: Trap
3,000 Fans. 300 Cops. 1 Serial Killer. No Escape.
INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film Trap. Keep in mind this is but one of the many movies I watch every year, and that whatever initial grade I come up for this film could change for better or worse with time. To better keep up to date with both my thoughts on other movies and if my feelings on this film changed, follow me on Letterboxd.
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THE PLOT
Via Letterboxd: A father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.
QUICK REVIEW
Here we are again with a new M. Night Shyamalan film. The director who at one point was being compared to the likes of Stephen Spielberg or Alfred Hitchcock, was nominated for Oscars, and had a movie that got a nomination for Best Picture. But these days he’s one of the more divisive directors in the industry, telling whatever stories he wants to tell and damn the pressure to live up to the kind of product he pumped out earlier in his career. And as I stated in my written review of his last film, Knock At The Cabin, I actually kinda’ respect that.
Since I began being a full-blown film critic I have reviewed three of his films. In 2021 I ended up liking Old much more than I anticipated and last year with the aforementioned Knock At The Cabin I came away mixed-to-positive. And now we have Trap, where Shyamalan sort-of tries hand at his own M - a masterpiece from 1931 that was among my top films from the 1930s. Like that movie, we follow the point of view of a serial killer as the walls begin to close in around him. With the twist that he is a girl-dad taking his daughter to a concert for a beloved pop singer - who just so happens to be played by the director’s own daughter (Saleka).
The anchor of this film is the lead, our serial killer in question, played by Josh Harnett who is coming straight off his part in last year’s Oppenheimer. While he is by no means Peter Lorre in M, I do think he holds up this movie even through some of the choppy waters it hits (more on that later). Though for a cool, calm, and collected killer he does show a lot of moments where I would find him suspicious if I were a fellow concert go-er.
There is the major surprise that is Hayley Mills of all people playing the profiler who is behind this manhunt. Mills might go overlooked by the younger audiences when they see this, but I remember watching her old sixties Disney films as a kid when the Disney Channel had Vault Disney. And with the little screen time she has, she does do a great job with her small role.
The movie’s cat-and-mouse plot really makes this a very enjoyable watch during the first half. Even with some convoluted stuff there, watching Harnett try and avoid capture while drawing off suspicion makes this a thrilling experience. This part of the movie is easily the strongest section of what it has to offer.
However the movie’s weaknesses really start to hit in the second half when it goes a completely different route and goes into territory absolutely no trailer hinted at. Its the mini-twist and it’s when the movie starts to make me question my ability to disbelief. We go from a thrilling movie in which we have to follow a protagonist with a dark secret avoiding capture, to a cheap horror film in which a killer starts to pull off near supernatural abilities to avoid the police. There is a moment in the movie I murmured to myself, “When did he start having Michael Myers powers?”
There’s also a decision by M. Night to feature his daughter more prominently in a way that destroys the POV we had gotten used to in the first half. The father-daughter dynamic is thrown away and instead we watch M. Night doing almost an entirely different movie. Plus, there’s some moments of humor that are meant to be comedic relief; but they clash with the overall tone in the movie in a way that made me feel like they could’ve been left on the cutting room floor.
I can’t go deeper without getting into spoiler territory but basically Trap is two movies. The first half is a solid B+ thriller that is bordering on A-tier territory. The second is a cheap C-tier movie that starts to overstay its welcome. Overall I was frustrated with the writing of the movie, and the turn it takes in the second half; but I can’t deny I enjoyed myself more than not - though the movie started to dare me to hate it during the final five minutes. I give Trap an initial grade of B-. The second half really does a disservice to what should’ve been a much better movie, but I can’t say I left my screening upset I gave this a try either.
INITIAL GRADING
