Over the weekend I finally had the chance to sit down and watch M. Night Shyamalan's latest film "Trap (2024)", I was mostly intrigued as to why it had been given such a low score on sites like IMBD, I even read some reviews where there were quite a few complaints about this movie and well the truth is Shyamalan has been a bit risky lately, but this one made me feel pretty good. I'd rate it a 7/10, although a lot of people I've seen online don't seem to be that impressed, this movie in my opinion is something different, a not so much common scenario although not new, now days is hard to come up with new stories about murders and serial killers. But hey, that's the beauty of movies, right? Everyone has their own perspective on them and I don't think I'm too far off the mark when it comes to this movie, here's my opinion.
The movie almost immediately puts you in the middle of a pop concert with thousands of people and fans, and you find yourself in the middle of an FBI operation, I almost didn't wait for this to happen as that is what the trailer immediately tells you. We have Josh Hartnett as Cooper, a regular guy who is a father and takes his daughter Riley to see her favorite singer Lady Raven. But unknown to anyone, Cooper is actually a psychopath, a killer nicknamed "The Butcher" and the whole concert is a plot to capture him, possibly the worst family moment ever for him. We see Cooper trying to fool the FBI at every turn while at the same time trying to maintain the image of a kinda dumb, rude father. It's like a game of chess where no one can tell who is the master of the game. Shyamalan doesn't disappoint here, as he provides suspense that makes you doubt twice and even three times how things will happen, it's a bit predictable but doesn't go to the extreme either. You think you know what's going on and suddenly, out of nowhere. It does it to you one more time, you feel like you've been thrown off balance one more time.
I thought the cast and crew did a good job of creating a movie that is entertaining, maybe not perfect. Josh Hartnett, not seen since Oppenheimer, does a fantastic job playing Cooper, the all American guy who has a double life as an assassin, I think the actors have nothing more to ask for but the script of the film. Still, the biggest surprise for me was Saleka Night Shyamalan as Lady Raven. Yes, the director's daughter plays the pop star and, to be honest, she can sing quite well. The concert scenes are pretty good and at some point I noticed how my wife liked her music. She may not have been the best actress, but for the role she played, she looked good.
Ariel Donoghue, who plays Riley in the movie had a good performance playing Cooper's daughter. The father daughter relationship she has with Hartnett is quite believable, which makes it all the more uncomfortable when you remember that Cooper is almost not human. There's a scene where Riley stares at her father and you can see the trust and respect in hes eyes, and given what we know about Cooper it makes you think, poor his daughter if only she knew what her father does for a living.
As I had mentioned, the reviews on the internet are pretty divided but from my point of view I would recommend not to miss it anyway, at least that's my preference even when a movie is so divided in the reviews or they call it bad but I'm interested, I'd rather find out how bad it really is on my own. There are those who are enjoying it and have stated that this is Shyamalan's comeback movie and that the atmosphere is quite tense. I personally have problems with the plot because if it is true that it is a story created for the movie there are certain situations that are too predictable or too easy for Cooper as if the movie wants him to escape without problems from the concert even though it seems the opposite and it is almost impossible for him to get out without being caught.
At times the movie also feels exaggerated especially in the amount of security that was in place and they couldn't find Cooper, in fact they mistook him for other people and I can understand how this might be annoying for a part of the audience, I don't think Shyamalan intended it to be a realistic movie, but more of a thriller. I liked the fact that there is a certain black comedy running throughout the film, which I personally enjoyed. There is also the question of the pacing of the film, which also seems to be a controversial issue, here I also have a complaint that the concert scenes were too long and drawn out, but to me it seemed to help build tension, sometimes I am too kind to the flaws in a film but I just can't do anything about it and I have to finish watching it. The concert part in a movie theater maybe feels quite real, it becomes a strange combination when for a moment you feel the effect of the concert and out of nowhere you have Cooper trying to see the surveillance camera he has pointing at his kidnapped victim, tremendous combination of the visual of the concert and the drama of a killer worried about his daughter at the concert, the one he has kidnapped and getting caught by the police at the concert, I really liked this combination of elements.
