Trap
Warner Bros. Pictures
Since his return to form effort in 2015's The Visit, M. Night Shyamalan has remained one of the more intriguing and confident voices working in film today. From his unique subversion of the comic book franchise in his double feature, Split and Glass, to his more personal meditations on fatherhood in Old and Knock at the Cabin, any concern that Shyamalan had lost the promising filmmaking ability showed in his early career has evaporated. For his 16th feature film, Shyamalan returns to the big screen with Trap.
Self-described with the pitch, "What if The Silence Of The Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?", Trap follows Philadelphia firefighter Cooper Adams (Josh Hartnett) as he takes his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan) concert to celebrate her good grades. While Riley is having the time of her life, Cooper begins to notice an increased police presence at the concert which sees them searching through the crowd clearly trying to find someone. It turns out that they are hunting The Butcher, a serial killer who they learned will be attending tonight's show which they have turned into a gigantic inescapable trap. For Cooper, this poses a unique problem as he is The Butcher. Cooper has to balance trying to find an opening for escape both without drawing too much attention to himself and without worrying his daughter and causing a bigger issue.
Rather than attempting to be a piece of elevated horror or gritty crime thriller, Trap excels as a cinematic roller coaster that asks the viewers to play along with every rise and drop. Rather than brewing a realistic psychological thriller, Trap plays a more fantastical and heightened game with a backbone of camp and entertainment that breathes a breath unique to the voice of M. Night Shyamalan as both director and screenwriter. While idiosyncratic cinematic voices have become something often celebrated and revealed for their individuality and identity, it is a shame to see so many look over this continued facet of Shyamalan's career as displayed throughout this film.
This unique tonal cinematic language is brought to life perfectly by the film's cast, headed by a possible career-best performance from Hartnett. An enigmatic ball of intensity and unpredictable power, Hartnett effortlessly transforms his presence and statue scene-by-scene to bring to life a villain that constantly keeps the audience on their toes. Framing him through the lens of being a father, it is easy for the audience to initially find themselves rooting for a happy ending for the character and his family, yet the true twisted and venomous underbelly of the character unravels throughout a quiet compelling journey that pulls the audience to the edge of their seats and keeps them engaged until the final moments of the film's runtime, a reality also helped by the film's masterful cinematography from Sayombhu Mukdeeprom who continues to build quite a body of work for himself. When the entire context of the feature is analyzed, it is clear that Hartnett has quite a difficult job to pull off, something the actor does perfectly. It is also noteworthy to mention Donoghue's role in this journey as it is her relationship with Hartnett that truly gives the film its most effective emotional angle.
In a somewhat shocking turn of events, Saleka Night Shyamalan also is given quite a leading spotlight by the end of the film as she transfers her attention as a side character performing on stage to a more involved party in the film's narrative. For an inexperienced actor, she does quite a strong job and manages to overcome some of the weakest writing of the film with her emotional capability as a performer. Rounding out the cast is Hayley Mills who plays Dr. Josephine Grant, a criminal profiler who is leading the charge against The Butcher. While Mills carries a strong enough on-screen presence, this is clearly the most underwritten section of the feature, almost feeling like a larger idea from a previous draft that got reduced to the point that it probably should have been cut. Her presence, and the larger connection it ties to within The Butcher's psychology, never feels overly compelling and fails to find a real meaningful point to justify its conclusion. These elements also help contribute to a seemingly mismanaged 105-minute runtime that at times can feel somewhat bloated and meandering, especially with a multitude of fake-out endings and plot developments in the film's third act.
While Trap might lack the emotional weight and gravitas of Old or Knock at the Cabin, the cinematic craft of Signs or The Village, or ultimately fails to reinvent the form it is taking like Split or Glass, the film remains a terrific new feature from Shyamalan who continues to prove that his current ability and momentum are here to stay. The film is wonderfully managed, being both an entertaining and thrilling ride. These identities, undeniably, are only elevated by the film's wonderful performances and direction.
