THE STORY – A man and his teenage daughter realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event while watching a concert.
THE CAST – Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills & Alison Pill
THE TEAM – M. Night Shyamalan (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 Minutes
At this point in M. Night Shyamalan’s 30-plus-year-long career, you’re either someone tuned into his one-of-a-kind filmmaking frequency, or you aren’t. There seems to be almost no middle ground between staunch supporters of his work and dismissive skeptics who can’t quite wrap their heads around his style. I, for one, have been a lifelong Shyamalan defender, at least as long as I’ve been aware of his oeuvre in the time between now and when I first saw “Signs” and “The Sixth Sense” on cable. On the other hand, the general public has a weird obsession with treating M Night’s movies—especially those released after “Unbreakable“—as if they are unintentionally hilarious or so bad that they come around to being enjoyable. In reality, his films during this ongoing period are, to varying degrees, often quite intentionally comedic—”Trap” might just be his funniest movie yet—and they always, always provide some of the best movie-going experiences of the year.
What makes Shyamalan’s movies tick isn’t just his acute attention to detail, his mind-boggling twists, or even his persistent willingness to experiment with the cinematic form (although these three characteristics are some of his biggest strengths as a certified auteur). Rather, Shyamalan’s devout commitment to the power of family and the belief that there is at least a little bit of good in everyone are the cruxes of his cinematic ventures. And even more so than any of his previous outings, “Trap” is a real Shyamalan family affair as his daughter, Saleka (a real-life RNB artist), plays Lady Raven, the central pop star in the movie. Saleka also wrote and performed all of the songs used by her fictional persona. Though she is noticeably more comfortable acting on stage than off, her presence in the movie is quite welcome, and her pop star character contemporises the film in ways sure to resonate with moviegoers.
Pitched as “What if ‘The Silence of the Lambs‘ happened at a Taylor Swift Concert,” “Trap” is a non-stop thrill ride, though rarely scary, that follows Cooper (Josh Hartnett) as he takes his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to an arena pop concert, only to find out that the entire concert is actually a trap set up to catch The Butcher, a notorious serial killer who also just so happens to be Cooper’s secret identity. The movie wastes no time getting to the point as it takes us through a rapid-fire first 15 minutes that dually functions to reveal the nature of Cooper’s hidden second life and to situate the viewer in the physical space of the concert venue. The spatial mapping of the venue is achieved through masterful cinematography from Sayombhu Mukdeeprom that makes extensive use of tracking shots, slow push-ins towards static subjects within the frame, and breathtaking shot composition that perfectly delineates between the metaphysical space of Cooper’s mind and the tangible space of the arena. Hartnett’s indelible performance, oozing with lovable dad charisma, is equally important in allowing the film to straddle those two arenas and pairs wonderfully with the cinematography, whether he’s center frame or his face is split right down the middle.
The story that ensues after the movie’s mesmerizing hook is part concert film, part cat & mouse thriller between Cooper and the profiler (Hayley Mills) leading the manhunt, all riotous good time. “Trap” boasts what is easily M. Night Shyamalan’s funniest script, deftly weaving together everyday situational humor with more out-there comedy built around the absurdity of the film’s premise but still leaving space for more serious moments. One of the most effective instances of this comedic mash-up comes when Cooper, in his patented paradoxical style of laid-back panicking, gets roped into an unwanted conversation with a fellow parent (Marnie McPhail) at the concert while he is trying to sow chaos in order to delay his discovery by the authorities. Anyone can relate to the mundane misfortune of being stuck in an unsolicited interaction. Still, the way Shyamalan writes the scene with a sense of comedic urgency plays so well that it feels fresh and new. The performance best suited to the comedic tilt of the script comes from Jonathan Langdon in his scene-stealing portrayal of an over-eager merch vendor whose true crime mania unwittingly leads him to assist Cooper. Shyamalan’s script, especially in scenes between the vendor and Cooper, is always telegraphing possible scenarios that Cooper could face but, much like the character of Cooper himself, exercises immense restraint in actually confronting these situations, keeping the viewer on their toes. The movie is shot almost entirely from Cooper’s perspective and works wonders in elevating the already rock-solid material. It does a great job of allowing the audience to understand who Cooper is as a person without seeing his actions as wholly predictable.
Aside from the aforementioned strengths that the cinematography and script bring to “Trap,” the movie is also helped immensely by its production design. Debbie DeVilla’s rendering of the concert venue, which encompasses everything from multiple different stage designs for the concert to merch stands in the outer hallways to storage closets to green rooms, lays the foundation for the larger atmosphere-building brought about through the culmination of the technical components of the movie.
Where “Trap” separates itself from a typical Shyamalan experience, however, is in the structure of its twists. What would be the central surprise in any other M. Night movie is revealed in “Trap’s” trailer. The film instead opts for multiple surprise turns throughout its 105-minute runtime that lead away from the concert setting and are much more subtle than what moviegoers have come to expect from the director. While this is certain to divide fans due to the lack of an explosive ending, these tamer choices primarily work to the film’s benefit by simultaneously deepening our understanding of the characters and subverting expectations in exciting ways to drive the plot. “Trap” never loses grip of its distinctly Shyamalanian charm thanks to the power of the director’s craftsmanship—there are some shots of Cooper at the concert that are incredible in how they reveal the character’s inner workings through the juxtaposition of Cooper with his surroundings—and the presence of themes that are constantly woven throughout his work. Most notably effused in Cooper’s commitment to his family, which is central to the drive of “Trap” and paints a picture of a father whose secret life has, up to a breaking point, no diminishing effect on his devotion to his family. “Trap” is sure to test the limits of audiences’ patience with Shyamalan’s belief in the inherent goodness of man.
Ultimately, “Trap” asks what happens to someone and the people around them when it becomes impossible to separate the two diametrically opposed facets of their personality despite all efforts to keep them apart. It is a movie wildly sympathetic to its main character, even in the face of his ultra-violent tendencies (almost all of which occur off-screen). It’s another high-quality entry into the fascinating filmography of one of the best and most polarizing American filmmakers working today.