Trap (2024)

Dir: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan, Hayley Mills, Alison Pill

Once highly touted, the prolific M. Night Shyamalan continues to frustrate as he once again fails to deliver on his latest original and initially promising story.

In the lead up to the new millennium, Hollywood was crying out for some fresh young blood to reinvigorate a tiring industry that was still heavily reliant on veteran filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood. However, at the Academy Awards in 2000, there was a refreshingly unfamiliar line-up amongst the directing candidates, which included the likes of young, up-and-coming filmmakers Spike Jonze and Sam Mendes, the latter of which taking home the coveted Oscar for his debut feature “American Beauty”. Another inclusion in the director nominees that year was as a then 29 year-old M. Night Shyamalan, whose breakout feature, the psychological chiller “The Sixth Sense”, was a huge commercial and critical success.

Shyamalan’s debut recieved six nominations in total and grossed a whopping $672 million worldwide, only being surpassed by George Lucas‘ long awaited Star Wars prequel “The Phantom Menace” in 1999. The film’s success established Shyamalan as a wunderkind overnight, making him one of the most exciting young filmmakers in the industry. The Indian born director would go onto repeat this success with the release of “Unbreakable” the following year and “Signs” in 2002, however, the writer-director’s next few theatrical releases would see his Hollywood stock plummet drastically.

Following his early career success, there was much anticipation built around any given project that Shyamalan was down to direct, but following a string of critically panned releases including: “The Village” (2004), “The Lady in the Water” (2006), “The Happening” (2008), “The Last Airbender” (2010) and “After Earth” (2013), Shyamalan would go on to struggle to secure large financial backing for his projects, despite often netting impressive returns regardless of negative reviews. To progress his career, Shyamalan resorted to funding his projects himself through his own production company Blinding Edge, resulting in considerable budget constraints. Working within budgetary limitations in recent years has seen Shyamalan steadily getting back to his best, with him focusing more on the character work and high concept, original storytelling that made him a household name two decades ago. The filmmaker has also remained prolific in this time, with his latest venture, “Trap”, being his sixth feature in nine years following the releases of the low budget thrillers: “The Visit” (2015), “Split” (2016), “Glass” (2019), “Old” (2021) and “Knock at the Cabin” (2023).

The star of Shyamalan’s “Trap” is another once highly sought after Hollywood talent currently going through a resurgence of his own, Josh Hartnett, who after several years away from the big screen has made an impressive comeback of late having appeared in the Guy Ritchie flicks “Wrath of Man” and “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre”, as well as Christopher Nolan‘s Oscar winning powerhouse “Oppenheimer”.

Hartnett stars as Philadelphia firefighter Cooper, who takes his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a concert of her favourite pop star, Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan),as a result of her good grades. During the concert, Cooper notices the unusually high police presence and learns from a vendor named Jamie (Jonathan Langdon) that the FBI plans to catch a well known serial killer known as “The Butcher”, having learned he will be in attendance.

Cooper is revealed to be the “The Butcher” himself, secretly checking footage of his latest victim, Spencer (Mark Bacolcol), who he has trapped in a basement. Having been caught in the authorities’ trap and with every man who attempts to leave being stopped and put in front of criminal profiler Dr. Grant (Hayley Mills), Cooper continuously attempts to evade capture by exploring every possible avenue out of the concert, whilst keeping up his good natured, parental façade in front of his daughter.

I was part of the majority that fell out of love with Shyamalan in the early to late 2000’s, with the filmmaker becoming increasingly reliant on his signature twist ending gimmick, a staple of his dating all the way back to “The Sixth Sense” all those years ago. However, Shyamalan remains one of the few filmmakers in the industry who continuously produces original content, and in an oversaturated market laden with remakes, sequels and comic book adaptations, he continues to excite and intrigue me whenever he announces a new project. The quality of Shyamalan’s work has improved significantly since he has largely self funded his movies, however, he does continue to frustrate me as his writing skills often hamper his storytelling and visual flair, “Trap” unfortunately is no exception.

There is plenty to enjoy with what Shyamalan sets up here, including its novel location of an accurately realised modern pop concert. Not many feature films are set primarily in an arena, with the only notable example springing to mind being Brian De Palma‘s underappreciated 1998 thriller “Snake Eyes”. “Trap” is undoubtedly at its best throughout the first half of its brisk runtime, as we follow the increasingly desperate Cooper as he tries to wriggle his way out of the FBI’s thorough but occasionally inept clutches. As I witnessed Cooper don multiple outfits and cause distractions to access unauthorised areas in a bid to escape a densely populated setting, I could not help think that the first act of “Trap” is the most accurate recreation of the “Hitman” video game series we have had to date, which is mad to think considering we have already had two studio backed “Hitman” adaptations in the past.

The undoing of “Trap” comes in the second half when the narrative breaches the walls of Philadelphia’s Tanaka Arena, and Cooper’s loving relationship with his daughter (despite his homicidal instincts), is largely side-lined for a number of less interesting sub-plots, that either feel rushed or unwarranted. This includes the introduction of Cooper’s wife Rachel (Alison Pill), who is set up to be the foil in Cooper’s plans despite being completely absent for the first hour of runtime. Cooper’s composure and strategic thinking slowly becomes undone throughout the movie’s second half, but not by the FBI or Hayley Mills as their completely uncast profiler, but by his own wife and also Shyamalan’s own daughter Saleka, who is given a surprisingly meaty role as fictional pop star Lady Raven.

Saleka is no actress by any stretch of the imagination but considering her lack of experience, she is relatively solid throughout her acting screentime, despite her off stage inclusion coming at a price with Donoghue’s character Riley being largely forgotten about until the final moments. Where Saleka truly shines though is with her music, which is to be expected given her background. Saleka has provided music for a couple of her father’s previous works but Hollywood nepotism is able to fully showcase her musical talents as she manages to write and perform a fully believable modern pop music set. It may not be the music I am into personally but her original songs that run continuously throughout the movie’s superior first half provide much needed realism in what is otherwise a rather silly, but fun, setup.

Hartnett does not do his own renaissance any harm here with a fun, dual performance as a psychotic killer and a awkward but affectionate father to Riley. He manages to tread the line rather convincingly in making you believe Cooper to be a good dad, but also has that slight look in his eye that would not leave you surprised if he were to be a killer. He does not have much to work with as Shyamalan’s dialogue has always been his weakest trait, but helps ground the film along with Saleka’s on stage performance, preventing it from becoming too nonsensical.

He may have improved in recent years, but M. Night Shyamalan once again falls short in delivering an interesting and original idea. While it will be seen more favourable to his worst work, there is still plenty for the filmmaker to work on if he is to get back to the heights he fell from twenty years ago.

Trap is now showing in UK Cinemas

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