As the current blockbuster era descends into mediocrity, film buffs often complain about Hollywood’s allergy to original movies. Thirty years ago, the box office charts were full of new stories that balanced mainstream entertainment value with (at least in some cases) real artistic merit. Now those charts are dominated by $200 million sequels and recycled franchise IP, to the point where fresh ideas struggle to get their due. M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap is a textbook example; the gleefully entertaining thriller, made by a director at the top of his game, was overshadowed by tentpole releases like Deadpool & Wolverine. If you missed it this summer, Trap’s arrival on Max is a welcome opportunity to correct that mistake.
A twisted take on the cat-and-mouse genre, Trap stars Josh Hartnett as Cooper, a lovable dad who lives a secret double life as a serial killer. Shyamalan's approach to serial killer tropes is openly cartoonish, giving Cooper an amusingly straightforward nickname (“the Butcher”) and motivations rooted in Psycho-era cliché. Catering to its PG-13 rating, the film avoids depicting his crimes in detail. Instead, most of the action takes place at a pop concert as Cooper accompanies his daughter Riley (Arial Donoghue) to see her idol Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan) amid a crowd of shrieking teenage girls.
This, of course, is where the trap comes in. Law enforcement received a tip that the Butcher will attend Lady Raven’s show, and as soon as Cooper and Riley step through the arena’s doors, they’re surrounded by a well-oiled machine of SWAT teams and FBI profilers, all working to identify which audience member is a serial killer in disguise.
Like Cooper’s meticulously orchestrated double life, this whole concept is based on a heightened brand of Hollywood nonsense. It’s a fantasy where law enforcement is full of wiley investigators commanding highly trained teams, deployed at vast expense to take down a single criminal mastermind. Meanwhile, Cooper soon establishes himself as a perversely charming antihero, vacillating between his goofy dad persona and showcasing his skillset as a ruthlessly quick-thinking strategist.
Shyamalan has decades of experience crafting well-paced thrillers, quickly getting us invested in the stakes of Cooper, an objectively bad guy, dodging the FBI. Cooper’s problem-solving taps into the same appeal as heist movies like Ocean’s Eleven, while his relationship with his daughter gives us an emotional reason to root for his success.
At the same time, Trap is often straight-up hilarious. Much of its humor hinges on Hartnett’s fantastically committed performance, playing up the absurdity of Cooper’s situation. There’s an obvious element of dark comedy to him fighting for his life at an ersatz Taylor Swift concert, and for a few brief but memorable scenes, we get to see a bewigged Kid Cudi chew the scenery as Lady Raven’s histrionic pop star mentor.
This deft combination of tension, comedy, and emotional weight is why Shyamalan has been a consistent commercial success for over 20 years, but that almost undersells the skill required to stick the landing on a movie like Trap. Embracing the ridiculousness of its own premise, it never feels ironic or self-conscious. Hartnett plays Cooper to the hilt, even during moments that come across as a punchline. And from a technical perspective, Trap is far more thoughtful than the average contemporary blockbuster.
Shot by acclaimed cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Call Me By Your Name, Challengers), Trap is full of bold visual choices that energize a deceptively static environment. Its most memorable image is probably the extreme closeups of Hartnett’s face, showing Cooper’s eyes flickering between paternal affection, steely calculation, and soulless rage. Then there are the clever little details, like Shyamalan’s framing of the stage. Emphasizing Lady Raven’s role as an untouchable celebrity, we’re only ever allowed to see her from Cooper and Riley’s perspective in the audience.
Despite its mixed reception (a woeful 52% average on Metacritic), Trap will eventually get its due. That’s certainly been the case for several other Shyamalan movies that started out with dubious reviews but have since been reappraised as critics warmed to his brand of storytelling. Neither a serious art film nor disposable franchise sludge, Trap represents the middle ground that’s been gradually squeezed out of American cinema. It’s a trashy but original crowd-pleaser, made with genuine skill and respect for its audience. Shyamalan understands the appeal of an elaborate thriller starring an implausibly competent hunk, and he also believes that story should be told with panache. If you choose to miss out on that winning formula, you only have yourself to blame.
