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Trap Is a Tense, Imperfect Concert in Shyamalan’s Late-Period Comeback Tour

By Brianna Zigler  |  August 2, 2024 | 4:06pm
Movies Reviews M. Night Shyamalan
Trap Is a Tense, Imperfect Concert in Shyamalan’s Late-Period Comeback Tour
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After my screening of M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, I discussed with a friend this idea that the director has shifted into utilizing something I’ve decided to call “Twist Lite.” At the dawn of his career, Shyamalan became famous for—and subsequently burdened by—the expectation that his films would climax with as smart and surprising of a plot twist as was first experienced in The Sixth Sense. As rewards continued to diminish with his films and their surprises in the former half of his career (I quite enjoy many of these films, even The Happening, and they’ve seen somewhat of a cult reappraisal among cinephiles), it feels as if Shyamalan has moved slightly away from the heights of “plants are causing everyone to commit suicide.” In films like Old, Knock at the Cabin and, now, Trap, which could be considered part of Shyamalan’s late-period comeback tour, the director opts for a film unburdened by a seismic shift, even if audiences are probably still expecting one. “Twist Lite” is a twist that isn’t really a twist, just a new piece of information delivered in the third act that comes across at least somewhat like an inevitability. What else could be going on at The Beach That Makes You Old other than magic or a science experiment? It had to be one of the two, like how Knock at the Cabin’s apocalypse had to be either real or fake.

And while Trap does have a Twist Lite towards the end, what could be considered a twist in another film is the overarching narrative of this one. A loving family man is actually a sociopathic serial killer named The Butcher, just an average guy trying to maintain his work-life balance. This bit of info is relayed point blank within the first 15 minutes (there was no obfuscation in the trailers, either), as the film follows part-time dad, part-time murderer Cooper (Josh Hartnett). Cooper attempts to evade the trap that’s been set for him at the concert of his tween daughter Riley’s (Ariel Donoghue) favorite pop star, a reward for her stellar report card. Cooper enthusiastically accompanies his daughter to see pop sensation Lady Raven, played by Shyamalan’s daughter and IRL musician, Saleka. Riley has been recently shunned by her group of friends in typical fickle adolescent girl fashion, and Cooper appears chuffed to offer embarrassing adult supervision. Still, as Shyamalan has always aspired to his role as the Good Dad, Riley and Cooper have an outwardly loving relationship. The young girl seems more than happy to have her father as her date to a concert, even as Hartnett chews up the role’s corny dad dialogue.

But a night where the most pressing complication should have otherwise amounted to the mother of one of Riley’s former friends, also at the concert, harassing and cornering Cooper about their children’s group conflict, turns into what Cooper realizes is an all-out chase for him. SWAT teams and local police officers flank every exit, rendering Cooper a mouse cornered by a squadron of cats. They’re led by the tiny, elderly Dr. Grant (Hayley Wells), a skilled profiler who’s looking for a tall, white, middle-aged man. In a venue overrun by tiny teen girls, Cooper fits that bill with unfortunate ease.

The first two acts of Trap see the shrewd ways in which the ever-intelligent Cooper attempts to worm his way closer to escape. Manipulating casual acts of kindness to bolster his appearance as the all-American family man, he snatches an employee card and police walkie-talkie to get him the intel he needs to stay one set ahead of his captors. Hartnett, marking a glorious and much-needed comeback (kicked off with Oppenheimer), is deliciously slithery as Cooper. The actor seamlessly alternates between saccharine friendliness to blank sociopathy with the flick of a wrist, and every close frame (shot unnervingly by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom) filled with his hollow grin sets off alarm bells. It’s a showcase for the former Virgin Suicides heartthrob.

In Trap, Hartnett carries the tight thriller with sickening aplomb, deploying typically goofy Shyamalan dialogue like a friendly weapon. Comparisons to Robert Mitchum in Charles Laughton’s Night of the Hunter are apt: like Harry Powell charms his way into violence under the guise of serving God, so too does Cooper exploit the average American’s affinity for a good dad. Americana used as a Trojan horse.

Cooper learns that all the public exits and entrances to the venue are manned by cops looking to pat down and question every tall white man who comes through, so he needs to find a way out, backstage. He comes across Saleka’s uncle (Shyamalan himself) in the crowd, to whom he feeds a lie about Riley recovering from leukemia in order to secure his daughter a spot performing on stage during Lady Raven’s fan-interactive song. It seems like Cooper’s home free, until he realizes that the backstage door has been surrounded as well. So, further backed into a corner, he plays his next hand the only way that he can. He gets Lady Raven alone and ensnares her in a bid for freedom, allowing a second party into the truth of his double life that comes with its own consequences. It’s here that Trap loses the strength it built up in the previous two-thirds. Shyamalan’s daughter, while not an outright bad actor, plainly does not have the gravitas or charm to be a phenom pop star. But the fact that her father gave her what essentially amounts to her own concert film is irrefutably endearing—Shyamalan ever the self-professed family man—and what she lacks in stage presence she makes up for in singing ability.

Ultimately, Cooper has to escape the arena at some point. But with so much of the film left, the tension deflates drastically, the story meandering into uncertain territory with a semi-satisfying payoff. It forces the atmosphere to linger in a frustrating purgatory, stalling between the highs delivered by the bulk of the film as we anticipate the grand finale. I won’t reveal the twist—but it’s really overstating things to call it a twist at all. Again, it’s Twist Lite. It’s just another wrinkle in the narrative. Shyamalan benefits greatly from moving away from his grander pivots, allowing his stories to work sufficiently on their own merits rather than over-relying on a big shock that makes or breaks the picture. Trap is a sturdy and fun little thriller despite its third act stumbles; a lean, simple story that taps into what one could glean is Shyamalan’s fear of being a bad father to his own daughters. Maybe that’s worse than even being a serial killer: losing the trust of someone who once loved you unconditionally.

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Writer: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Douglas, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills, Alison Pill
Release Date: August 2, 2024

Brianna Zigler is an entertainment writer based in middle-of-nowhere Massachusetts. Her work has appeared at Little White Lies, Film School Rejects, Thrillist, Bright Wall/Dark Room and more, and she writes a bi-monthly newsletter called That’s Weird. You can follow her on Twitter, where she likes to engage in stimulating discussions on films like Movie 43, Clifford, and Watchmen.

 
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