Welcome back to the blog readers. If there is a genre of film that has been more hit and miss for me than thriller, then I would honestly be surprised. It has been a while since I have seen a genuinely fantastic thriller film, and the ones I have seen have diluted my excitement for this film. There are pieces in this puzzle I am a fan of, but my hesitation still exists. Would this be one of those fantastic thrillers or would this be another fallacy for the one they call Shamhammer? Stick around to find out.
Trap was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills, and Alison Pill. In the film, a serial killer takes his daughter to a concert only to realize that it is a setup to capture him, and he must find a way out of the arena before time runs out and the law catches up to him.
Obviously, everybody has their own special relationship with M. Night Shyamalan. Mine is more mixed since I have not seen his older work, which is more loved than his current material. And whatever you think of him, he is the man behind The Last Airbender (2010). Need I say more? But in terms of this film, I unfortunately did not get the fantastic thriller I was hoping for. I found this film to be average at best, held up by a genuinely fantastic performance from Josh Hartnett and some actually catchy music.
Josh Hartnett has been a figure, let me tell you. In his illustrious career, he has been in such films as Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor (both 2001), and Oppenheimer (2023), which were awesome. But he has also been in films like Wrath of Man (2021) and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023), which were...not as good. But I think this film may contain his best performance as an actor yet. As this serial killer, he does such a phenomenal job of showing off two different sides to him: a loving father that wants the best for his daughter, and the killer who is ruthless, cunning, and manipulative at every turn. I was completely captivated the entire time with him, and if a sequel ever gets made, I would love to see him again. I think this is one of my favorite performances of the year so far, if I am being honest.
I also want to briefly comment on the music in the film as well. The in-film artist known as Lady Raven is played by Saleka, who is the daughter of M. Night Shyamalan. As an artist herself, she has been kind of under the radar working on a few of her father's projects, but never on a scale such as this one. The fourteen songs that she wrote, produced, and performed for the film were all catchy as hell and some of them even work in the narrative of the film (one example being an issue Ariel Donoghue's character was having and how a song related to that issue). I was not a fan of how she was used after the concert, and that is something that I will talk about in a bit.
The story of this film (which is the next thing I want to talk about) is a story of two halves. The first half, that takes place at this arena where the concert was happening, was awesome. I loved the cat-and-mouse game that the serial killer Cooper was playing with literally everybody. From his merch stand friend (who had the best scene in the film in the mid-credits scene) to the police to other bystanders, it really felt like the thriller I had been waiting for. But once we leave the arena, that is where this plot gets messy. Scratch that, it happens once the concert is over and Cooper finds himself backstage. Everything after this point feels rushed, contrived, and nonsensical. And the added focus on Lady Raven after this point kind of took me out of the film a bit. Luckily it does not last too long, as it is over within 30 minutes.
To conclude my thoughts, Trap is a messy let-down with a two-halved story that is saved by a magnetic performance from Josh Hartnett and some catchy music from Saleka. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.
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