- Release Date:02/08/2024
- Cast: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills
- Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Josh Hartnett’s captivating performance cannot rescue Shyamalan’s Trap from succumbing to its inherent logical flaws and inconsistencies
M. Night Shyamalan always comes up with some of the most outrageous and brilliant ideas for his films. That is something you have to give him credit for. He was in top form when it came to realizing those ideas and executing his films accordingly from start to finish at the beginning of his career. Films like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs and The Village not only established him as one of the most exciting new directors of Hollywood but also inspired many filmmakers to think and do things differently regarding thrillers and horror films. Then came films like After Earth and The Happening, and his downward spiral into cinematic mediocrity began. Even with a few good films in between, Shyamalan’s dive into poor cinema hasn’t been halted completely.
I absolutely loved Split, and even though Glass ended with a subversion of my expectations that I didn’t entirely appreciate, it was still a step in the right direction. He again got things wrong with Old, which felt like a great idea on paper but whose execution didn’t live up to its potential. Knock at the Cabin was good enough for me, even though it had the potential to be much more.
A Tale of Missed Opportunities and Plot Inconsistencies:
Sadly, for me and all other Shyamalan fans, Trap ends up being yet another massive missed opportunity. I knew what the film was going to be about, and I was fascinated by the idea of a serial killer on the loose in the middle of a crowd of 30,000 people in a concert arranged to arrest him. The only way he could escape was by creating chaos and misdirection. I was excited to see what Shyamalan’s mind could bring to the table—what he would have his serial killer do and how he would attempt to escape the situation. How many lives would be lost, and how depraved would the killer choose to be to save himself? It was also interesting to note that his daughter was in the midst of it all. I wanted the film to explore this angle and show us the impact of her presence on the killer and his actions. What would happen when reality dawned on the girl? Would she be harmed or would she come to terms with her father’s reality? Some many other similar questions and scenarios could have been explored to make for an impactful and thrilling cinematic experience.
Unfortunately, Shyamalan doesn’t even scratch the surface of these issues and presents us with a predictable, unremarkable and bland film that oscillates violently between being mildly engaging and being awfully over-the-top and unrealistic. Once the basic premise is set up, we see the killer move around the hall doing things that make little sense and are borderline absurd. The entire hall is covered with cameras, and an FBI profiler is scanning the movements of every person in the building, looking for signs of the killer to arrest them immediately. With such scrutiny, it is almost laughable how the killer does some extremely questionable and alarming things without ever being noticed or stopped.
The most baffling situation occurs in one scene where the killer literally stands and listens as a group of law enforcement officers are briefed about his profile. He then makes his way through the group, picks up coffee, offers it to the officers, finds sugar in a cupboard he shouldn’t know about, and walks out of the room—not before stealing a walkie-talkie from one of the officers. Astonishingly, the officer never notices his walkie-talkie is missing, allowing the killer to eavesdrop on the information passed along the same frequency for the rest of the film. Wouldn’t the officer notice that his walkie-talkie was stolen and at least ask the others to change the frequency in case the killer was listening in? Wouldn’t they try to track the device and find the killer in the process? Wouldn’t they check the camera feed to identify who had taken the device?
These are questions that needed answering, but Shyamalan was so cavalier with his writing that he assumed the audience would just go along with it. Shockingly, similar inconsistencies kept happening throughout, and the director showed little care or respect for the audience’s intellect by atleast trying to be a little more realistic and believable with his storytelling let alone ensure suspension of disbelief that was of paramount importance in a story of this nature. The saddest part is that Shyamalan could have easily written a few more drafts to nail down these issues. Instead, we get a story so riddled with plot holes that it can hardly contain the suspense, intrigue, and drama necessary for a story of this nature to have the slightest impact.
A Stellar Performance Amidst a Flawed Narrative:
The only standout aspect of the film turned out to be Josh Hartnett’s fantastic performance as the serial killer who doubles as a good father. His seamless switching between being a loving and sweet father and displaying the true beast that he was, was nothing short of fascinating. As the story progresses, we see him toggle between these two wildly different facets of his personality even more frequently, which greatly elevates Hartnett’s performance. He is successful in bringing an odd charm to the character that at many junctures made me feel like taking his side even though I knew what monstrous things he was doing to his victims.
He is wonderfully supported by Ariel Donoghue as the daughter, who senses something is wrong with her father but is so enamoured by the star and the concert that she focuses on the greatest moment of her life instead of pressing her father for more answers. Her performance was believable, and she proved to be the perfect foil for Hartnett’s character.
Hayley Mills and Alison Pill have brief cameos, but they make sense and have some impact. I wish I could say the same for the character played by Saleka Shyamalan, who neither looks nor feels like the pop diva she portrays. As the film progresses and her character assumes greater importance, it becomes clear how desperate Shyamalan is to depict her as one of the major players, which ends up doing a disservice to the film as Saleka neither has the charm nor the acting chops to carry a character of that nature.
An Unfulfilled Climax and Disappointing Finale:
I was hoping for something strange to happen in the climax of the film. Shyamalan is famous for delivering some of the most satisfying and bizarre finales, as well as some of the most frustrating ones. This film definitely falls into the latter category. The way the killer escapes from the concert and what happens afterwards felt so different from the rest of the film that I was getting increasingly frustrated with every subsequent scene. Once again, the issues with the writing became apparent as the killer performed actions and escaped from situations that were completely illogical and blatantly flawed. I was hoping for a twist at the end of the film, and while there was one, it wasn’t enough to make the film special. Had it not been for the strong performances of Josh Hartnett and Alison Pill in these sequences, they would have been nearly unwatchable. Everything about the finale felt like a director’s last-ditch effort to quickly wrap up a film that he had grown bored and tired of.
Potential Squandered: A Letdown for Shyamalan Fans:
Trap had a fantastic premise that could have resulted in one of the most intriguing and thrilling movie-watching experiences of the year. Shyamalan was the right man for the job, but he hasn’t been in his element lately, and it was evident in how he approached the film, the direction he took the story, and how he ended it. The performances from the ensemble cast, especially Josh Hartnett, managed to invoke some interest in the narrative, but that wasn’t enough to save this film from being unremarkable and disengaging—a quality that is fast becoming unique to M. Night Shyamalan. I was very hopeful about this outing from the master, but he disappointed me once again. Now the wait begins for the next Shyamalan film, just as I’m still waiting for the next great superhero film from Marvel or DC.
Rating: 2/5 (2 out of 5 Stars)
The views expressed in this article are that of the reviewer and do not reflect EastMojo’s position.
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