TRASH IN MY EYE No. 46 of 2024 (No. 1990) by Leroy Douresseaux
Trap (2024)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPA – PG-13 for some violent content and brief strong language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: M. Night Shyamalan
PRODUCERS: Marc Bienstock, Ashwin Rajan, and M. Night Shyamalan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Noemi Preiswerk
COMPOSER: Herdis Stefansdottir
THRILLER/HORROR
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills, Jonathan Langdon, Mark Bacolcol, Marnie McPhail, Scott Mescudi, Russell “Russ” Vitale, Lochlan Miller, Steve Boyle, David D'Lancy Wilson, and M. Night Shyamalan
Trap is a 2024 psychological thriller and horror film from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan. The film focuses on a father who takes his teen daughter to a special pop concert and then realizes that he and his child have entered a dark and sinister trap.
Trap opens in Philadelphia. There, we meet firefighter Cooper Abbott (Josh Hartnett) . He is taking his teenage daughter, Riley (Ariel Donoghue), to a special afternoon concert performance by pop star Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan). Once inside the concert venue, Cooper notices an unusually high police presence on all levels of the building. Doing his own investigating, Cooper soon discovers that he and his daughter are at the center of a dark and sinister event. Who is “the Butcher” and why does law enforcement insist that he is one of the 3000 men attending the concert?
Despite the disaster that was M. Night Shyamalan's 2023 thriller, Knock at the Cabin, I immediately wanted to see Trap as soon as I heard about it sometime last year. I was sure the friend I dragged along with me to see Knock at the Cabin back in early February 2023 would also join me for Trap. Unfortunately, Trap did play at either of the two local theaters, so I just watched it on the “Max” streaming service.
By now, many people know all about Trap's twists and turns, and it is a very twisty, very strange, very weird, and very crazy movie. Still, I'm not doing the spoiler thing, but you, dear readers, would need detailed spoilers to keep up with all of this film's twists and contortions. It's as if writer-director M. Night Shyamalan drew straws to decide the fate of Trap's various subplots and plot twists. The result is a thriller zesty with the unexpected.
Speak of Mr. M: he makes his usual appearance as an actor in his own films, but his daughter, Saleka Night Shyamalan, an actual pop singer and recording artist, has a big role in Trap as the pop star, “Lady Raven.” Saleka's second studio album, Lady Raven, acts as the soundtrack album for Trap. Nepotism aside, Saleka's songs add a haunting layer to Herdis Stefansdottir's film score for Trap, and, believe me, Saleka is quite game when it comes to acting.
The film's primary wackiness comes from Josh Hartnett's performance as Cooper Abbott. Hartnett mixes paranoia with subtly when he is not being hilariously over the top and disturbingly calm. I can't say that other actors would not have been better at playing Cooper than Hartnett, but at least, Hartnett has his own method of bat-shit craziness.
Trap is disarmingly entertaining. I actually always thought that it would be a good and enjoyable film, but I'm shocked that I like it as much as I do. I can't believe that I consider its many nonsensical story elements to be quite endearing and even alluring, at times. The scenes that take place at the concert are excellent, but the film doesn't lose its cockamamie mojo when it moves the action to other venues. I am giving Trap a high rating because I can't think of a reason not to do so. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't think that it is a hugely entertaining and attractively offbeat thriller film. I'm trapped in a closet... with Trap.
8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars
Sunday, November 3, 2024
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