Trap Movie Review

Trap (2024)

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Written by: M. Night Shyamalan
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Alison Pill
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
A father and his teen daughter attend a pop concert only to realize they've entered the center of a dark and sinister event.

Verdict
I like that this doesn't try to hold on to the secret. It's revealed very early what this father is about. The question is, how does he get out of this trap. The problem with this is that he's so incredibly lucky. It's contrived how he manages to skirt the cops while always on the brink of capture. Despite that it's an intense movie, though when we leave the arena it loses energy. I could no longer suspend my disbelief, and you have to with this movie. Almost everything about it will cause you to ask questions if you think about it for more than a moment. The very premise has flaws. and the last third of the movie only gives you more time to think about the issues.
It depends.

Review
Cooper (Josh Hartnett) is taking his daughter to a Lady Raven concert. If you're watching this movie, you probably know the premise but that's what adds to the intrigue. We wonder how Cooper became a killer and can seem like such a devoted father while harboring a dark secret. There's a lot of police at this concert, and Cooper notices that. He also notices dads being pulled from the crowd by police. I wondered what the probable cause for that was. When is this going to concern Cooper? Even if you didn't know Cooper's secret, the movie lets us know ten minutes in. I appreciate that this doesn't try to hide the fact for too long. This movie is about his escape, not that he's hiding his criminal activities.

Josh Hartnett plays Cooper

How did the cops know Cooper would be at the concert? We're told early that this was a special concert. Did the cops set it up just for this guy? If they did, how'd they make sure he would attend? How can they know 'the Butcher' will show up and yet not know who he is?

An exchange with a vendor provides all the exposition Cooper needs. The vendor tells him why the cops are there. It's a big exposition dump, but the exchange is odd in the closeups during the conversation. Cooper's facial expression seems like an exaggeration. I wondered if that was a detail of a sociopath trying to blend into normal society and accentuating his disconnect from what's normal. Hartnett does a great job.

It's better to be lucky than good, and Cooper gets lucky several times. It's beyond belief that he is so close to being caught but comes up with the right information to get him out of each situation. This is a movie where you shouldn't ask too many questions and just enjoy the ride. As Cooper tries to avoid police and plan an escape route, he's also stringing along his daughter. The amount of luck he has defies belief. It's so contrived. Alternatively, one man will do anything to escape a pop star's concert.

I didn't expect for this to leave the arena, and unfortunately that's also where this starts to lose the thread. The contrivances keep piling up, and in a bigger setting it's even more difficult to ignore.

Seleka Shyamalan plays Lady Raven

Being set at a concert, that music is believable. Lady Raven is played by M. Night Shyamalan's daughter Seleka Shyamalan, and the last third of the movie seems like a vehicle specifically for her. She takes on a more prominent role, and for some reason the FBI told her a lot about Cooper's mental profile. That seems unlikely.

This loses suspense outside of the arena and it also gets a bit long. With the slower pace I began thinking about this concert. We're told it was a special concert as Lady Raven's other concerts had sold out. This was a special concert to catch Cooper, but they knew he'd be there as he had bought a ticket. Hold on. The cops found a scrap of a ticket stub and then staged a concert to nab him? How'd he buy a ticket to a concert that didn't exist before they found the stub?

Shortening this and possibly not leaving the arena would help. Once this left the arena, the flaws became more difficult to ignore. The movie should have cut it shorter. It wouldn't fix everything, but it would help.