The Big Picture

M. Night Shyamalan’s
Trap
showcases glimpses of his former brilliance but ultimately falters with awkward choices and laughable moments.
Josh Hartnett shines in his role, portraying the character’s complex duality effectively despite questionable script decisions.
While
Trap
has moments of tension reminiscent of Shyamalan’s early work, overall, the film struggles to build fear and consistently falls short of its potential.

You’re in a movie theater and the trailer for an intriguing new film pops up. It seems mysterious, probably with a concept unlike any you’ve ever seen before. Everyone sitting around you is quiet as you lean forward, curious about this upcoming film. And then you see who it’s from: M. Night Shyamalan. The reaction to that name has vastly changed over the course of the writer-director’s career. In the early 2000s, Shyamalan meant something exciting, the Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Sixth Sense who seemed to be the second coming of Alfred Hitchcock was in his prime, presenting films like Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village—compelling ideas, each wrapped up with a twist. But soon after, the name Shyamalan meant ambitious disappointment, as the man behind The Happening, The Last Airbender, and After Earth could cause snickers in the audience. In less than a decade, Shyamalan went from an up-and-coming storytelling genius the likes of which we hadn’t seen in years, to the creator of some of the worst films of the 21st century.

Yet in the last decade, Shyamalan has almost found a middle ground between these two extremes. Since his comeback with 2015’s The Visit, Shyamalan’s ideas have mostly been curious concepts that can’t live up to their potential due to awkward choices and laughable situations. Split and his last film, 2023’s Knock at the Cabin, showed promise that the old Shyamalan was still there, even if they weren’t entirely at the level he once worked at, while Glass and Old started encouraging, then quickly went downhill. Shyamalan’s latest, Trap, is another film that succumbs to the failures of his recent works. It’s a film that shows glimpses of the director at his best, but in an ultimately flawed project. Instead of garnering oohs or ewws in the theater, Trap is the type of film that moves Shyamalan’s name showing up on a project closer and closer to an indifferent shrug.

Trap Trap is a film by writer-director M. Night Shyamalan under his Blinding Edge Pictures label. The film is part of a deal struck with Warner Bros for him to direct and produce several films under their banner. Release Date August 2, 2024 Cast Josh Hartnett , Hayley Mills , Marnie McPhail , Ariel Donoghue

What Is ‘Trap’ About?
When we first meet Cooper (Josh Hartnett), he’s taking his teen daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a concert performed by Lady Raven (Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka). Cooper is goofy and awkward, but in a charming dad way. He’s got his daughter floor seats for the concert because of her good grades, and despite Riley having some problems with her old friends at school, the two plan on celebrating with this pop concert. But Cooper starts to notice an intense police presence at the Philadelphia stadium, especially for a concert primarily attended by teen girls, and finds out that, as the name implies, the concert is actually…a trap!

The police are searching for a serial killer named The Butcher, who they have intel will be at this concert. The hunt, led by Dr. Grant (Hayley Mills), means that there’s no way out of the stadium without the police interacting with The Butcher. However, Shyamalan puts Trap’s twist at the beginning this time around, as we find out that Cooper is The Butcher, and he must find a way out of the concert without getting detected.

‘Trap’s Intriguing Premise Is Marred by Silly Choices

Once again, we have a solid Shyamalan conceit, complete with twists and turns and surprises. But unfortunately, his script is packed with too many odd choices, coincidences, and strange decisions that are more laughable than tense. For example, with a friendly smile and being in the right place at the right time, Cooper quickly has a police radio, an ID badge for the stadium, and knows the password to get past police barricades. While we’re told that Cooper is a criminal mastermind who won’t freak out under pressure, he consistently considers making foolish choices, like trying to convince his daughter to sneak under the heavily guarded stage while Lady Raven’s concert is occurring. We can see the intensity of Cooper when he’s silent and calculating, thanks to Hartnett’s performance, but when Shyamalan feels the need to put that into words, he fumbles the attempt.

But this is no fault of Hartnett, who seems delighted to have a role that he can sink his teeth into like this. Cooper talks about how he has two lives that he keeps separate, and some of Hartnett’s best moments are when we can tell these two are crashing together in his head, all while he has to keep his facade up with his daughter. Hartnett switches back and forth between these two identities in just a moment, and we can see him struggling with this new development in every scene.

M. Night Shyamalan Can’t Build the Tension Like He Used To

Yet the issues with Trap lie in the filmmaking, from the unusual choices these characters make that feel unlike how any human being has ever acted, to just an inability to build tension in any tangible way. In a stadium full of 20,642 people, every one of them acts like an idiot. Even though the world is collapsing around Cooper, we never feel any of that pressure as he tries to find an escape. But again, there are moments where that old Shyamalan pops up, either through an intense close-up on Hartnett, lit by glaring red lights, thanks to cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Call Me by Your Name, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives), or a few jarring moments where Cooper sees someone who can’t possibly be there. Unfortunately, these moments are too few and far between. While we’re at the concert, Shyamalan is more concerned with presenting his daughter performing on stage than he is with the mystery at hand.

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Without spoiling Trap, there is a moment where the film’s structure alters, and that’s particularly where the old Shyamalan starts to shine through. We can feel the claustrophobic nature that became so essential to his work in the early days, and the tension feels palpable for once. And while it seemed like Saleka might’ve only been in the film to showcase her singing career, in this section, she’s able to hold her own effectively, a wrench in an otherwise fairly rote film. When Trap shifts in this way, it’s easy to remember those Hitchcock comparisons he was once flooded with post-The Sixth Sense. We can start to feel the intensity and uncomfortable state that this film has clearly wanted us to be in throughout. It’s as if maybe, just maybe, the rest of the film had been a red herring for this, the real excitement of this film. But as is often the case, Shyamalan once again falters with silly decisions and laughable moments that negate the tension he’s finally building up. There’s promise, but it’s soon snatched out of our grasp.

Like Cooper himself, Trap always feels just slightly…off, as though this isn’t quite what it should be. There isn’t the building fear or tension that this film needs, and when it does seem close to hitting its potential, Shyamalan gets in his own way. For the man who used to be able to make Samuel L. Jackson or footage of an alien at a child’s birthday party a truly unnerving experience, he now struggles with making a trapped serial killer an intriguing affair. Trap isn’t Shyamalan’s worst by a longshot, and it certainly has its moments, but seeing those glimpses of the old Shyamalan almost makes things worse. At this point in his career, Shyamalan’s biggest twist is his inability to utilize the tools that once made him such a promising filmmaker.

REVIEW Trap Trap is another promising thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, but his filmmaking choices simply can’t do this conceit justice.ProsJosh Hartnett is having a ball playing a loving father who also happens to be a serial killer.A shift in the story shows Shyamalan’s strengths as a filmmaker. ConsBut there’s too many silly choices and awkward script moments that bring this story down.Shyamalan just can’t build tension the way a story like this truly needs.

Trap is now playing in theaters. Check below for showtimes near you.

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