What if a serial killer was surrounded by police at a concert of a Taylor Swift-like music star? That is the promising premise to M. Night Shyamalan's latest movie Trap, but unfortunately one that the movie doesn't end up pulling off despite game efforts from its director and leading man, Josh Hartnett.
The story revolves around Cooper (Hartnett), who is taking his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to the concert of her favorite pop singer, Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan). However, we quickly learn that Cooper is no ordinary, nerdy dad; rather he is a methodical serial killer, with his latest victim chained and hidden away somewhere, who Cooper monitors via his phone. One thing Cooper did not count on though is that the FBI received a tip he was going to be at the concert (though his exact identity is still unknown), surrounding the building and making it nearly impossible for him to get out. That's when Cooper gets to work.
Trap has enough going for it to be mildly entertaining, but the movie starts to wear thin and the trademark Shyamalan twists that could provide a high for audiences leaving the theater are too slight to make any strong impact.
That's a bit of Shyamalan's curse — movie fans are always waiting for the other shoe to drop, creating an expectation that can detract from the first half of the movie and then leave us underwhelmed at the end if it disappoints or feels overly contrived. In the case of Trap, the problem is that there are honestly too many twists, but none of them end up being a big enough shock to leave audiences gasping.
Shyamalan also doesn't take full advantage of the setting — a packed concert with police and screaming fangirls everywhere. Hartnett's Cooper practically never feels on edge during everything. Sure, he's definitely a twistedly brilliant, methodical criminal, but he goes about everything with so little resistance and a cool demeanor (except when dealing with a fellow parent that is definitely a Karen) that the first hour of the movie offers no real challenges for him.
Part of that is also Hartnett's performance, who plays Cooper as the dorky dad even as he has this dark secret, which is honestly just as creepy if he was trying to be Hannibal Lecter. That helps when Hartnett eventually does have to go dark. All in all, it's a solid performance from the former teen heartthrob, but I'm not sure it's going to launch a renaissance of him as a leading man (though it's always fun to see him pop up in supporting roles like in Oppenheimer and The Bear season 3).
When we get into the final act that's really when the movie hits its low point. There are just too many twists and near misses that it ultimately becomes repetitive. How many near misses can the movie have before fans feel tapped out?
To its credit though, despite the underwhelming ending, the movie does send audiences out on a high note with a surprising comedic bit (don't worry, it plays immediately after the initial end credits, so you won't have to wait long to see it).
Trap falls in the middle of the pack in M. Night Shyamalan's filmography, with its biggest flaw being that it doesn't have anything specific to make it truly special.
Here's how to watch Trap, now playing exclusively in US movie theaters; releasing in the UK on August 9.
