TRAP (2024) – Very underwhelming. One of Shyamalan’s worst films in recent years

Let me say up front that I am a fan of M Night Shyamalan ever since his debut classic The Sixth Sense way back in 1999. Granted his subsequent efforts has had its ups and downs with some getting really bad reviews, but every die-hard Shyamalan fan has the hope that we get to witness his genius again in every new venture that he embarks on whether it be cinema or TV (as with the case of the excellent series Servant). So, it is without hesitation and dare I say, optimism and heightened anticipation that I approached this latest entry in his filmography. Sadly, any hope of Trap being another showcase of Shyamalan’s immense talents in creating thriller with twists soon evaporates, as the film stretches our patience, and plunders into plot holes and uncomfortable level of common sense.

Trap has a simple premise about a father and his teenage daughter attending the concert of a super star, but ends up playing a cat and mouse game within the concert as the father turns out to be a serial killer and the whole convert venue is being set up as a “trap” to capture him!! This is admittedly somewhat hare-brained but it could had been pulled off decently if done well. Unfortunately, Shyamalan failed to convince the audience of the authenticity of the situation by allowing the viewers to begin questioning the logic about what unfolds. This gets worst as the film progresses as one preposterous thing happens after another allowing the father to avoid detection by the heavily policed stadium, while also convincing his daughter he is enjoying the concert. In a Shyamalan movie, the final plot twist is something we expect not to see coming, and to surprise us. However, by the time the final act takes place, there is little that this Shyamalan trademark gimmick of a plot twist, that could save the movie.

Shyamalan seem to have a serious budget constraint with this. The big concert event of a mega pop star was poorly visualised. The stage looked boring and cheap, while the camera kept mainly on closed up shots to avoid the need to show what we expect should be a massively huge and packed stadium. Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, takes on the role of the pop singer Lady Raven. Despite her efforts to shine singing her own original songs her stage presence was never really felt as she was kept mostly in the background. The recent TV series The Idol did this so well and so convincingly with Lily-Rose Depp where she really shone with her own singing as well and some dynamic songs accompanied by killer dance choreography. The Idol’s final concert scene was also filled with an actually packed Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles. Everything here was done in a really small scale and felt like something one would expect from a made for TV movie.

Shyamalan’s casting choice is perhaps the most interesting thing about Trap. Josh Hartnett whose career was at the peak in the late 1990’s and early 2000s is the main star here playing the role of the father and serial killer. I would say that he is probably the best thing about the movie as he manages to make his character interesting to watch in spite of all the movie’s shortcomings. Even though he is in effect the film’s villain, we end up rooting for him. Then there is Hayley Mills best known as the child actress in the 1960’s Disney movies. She takes on the rather thankless role of some sort of FBI hotshot Dr Joephine Grant who oversees the whole plan to capture Hartnett. Here she does little beyond making all sorts of bad calls and being always a few steps behind Hartnett. Finally, you get to see M Night Shyamalan himself in a bit role, as his trademark to always play a small part in all his films.

While I am really disappointed with this Shyamalan movie, I have to confess that despite all its flaws, the movie was reasonably entertaining and I stayed on without walking out of the theater before it ended. And I will still be first in line for Shyamalan’s next project with the hope that it would be his latest and best.