TRAP
(director/writer: M. Night Shyamalam; cinematographer: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom; editor: Noemi Katharina; music: Herdís Stefánsdóttir; cast: Josh Hartnett (Cooper Adams), Ariel Donoghue (Riley), Saleka Shyamalan (Lady Raven), Hayley Mills (Dr. Josephine Grant), Alison Pill (Rachel), Kid Cudi (The Thinker), Tim Russ (Parker Wayne), Marnie McPhail (Jody’s mom), Harley Ruznisky (Jody), Mark Bacolcol (Spencer), Vanessa Smythe (Tour Manager), Jonathan Langdon (T-shirt vendor); Runtime: 105; MPAA Rating: PG-13; producers: Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock, M. Night Shyamalan; A Warner Bros. Pictures release; 2024)
“The creepy performance by Hartnett does not make it a better film.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
M. Night Shyamalam (“The Sixth Sense”/”Unbreakable”) directs and scripts a strange Hitchcock-like psychological serial killer film whose story is contrived. It’s one of the celebrated filmmaker’s poorer efforts, but not his worst film.
The affable suburban city fireman Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett), happily married to Rachel (Alison Pill), takes his 13-year-old daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue), as a reward for a good report card, to see a Philly matinee concert, where he gets great floor level seats for her to catch her favorite singer, the diva Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan, the director’s real-life daughter, who sings the songs she wrote). But he notices there’s a big police presence in the theater that has drawn a crowd of 20,000, with mostly screaming fan girls.
The Feds have set a trap for the serial killer, known as “The Butcher,” knowing he’s in the audience from their veteran Brit profiler (Hayley Mills), who use the concert as a way to trap “The Butcher.”
It becomes a suspenseful cat and mouse game, as the serial killer (yep, it’s Cooper) uses his wits to try and get out of the trap, viewing all exits as escape routes, while also going to the rest room to keep track of his next vic, a man (Mark Bacolcol) he tied up in the basement who he views on his cell phone. This action in the theater takes place during the film’s first hour, where Lady Raven performs her Lady Gaga-like act and Riley is thrilled by the show.
Dad learns from the chatty T-shirt vendor (Jonathan Langdon) that the Feds believe their serial killer (who dismembered 12 vics over a period of 7 years) is in the audience.
Though mildly clever at times, it runs out of ideas by the third act and absurdly concludes as an illogical thriller without one of Night’s twisty endings settling things. Saleka Shyamalan is required to act but can’t pull it off as well as she does the diva routine, as the film goes outside the theater and it becomes bogged down as an inane head-scratcher. The creepy performance by Hartnett does not make it a better film.
REVIEWED ON 8/3/2024 GRADE: C+
dennisschwartzreviews.com