Movie Reviews
TRAP Review
By revealing the killer’s identity early, TRAP turns upside down Shyamalan’s usual formula of waiting until the end to deliver a big twist. This change enables the knife-sharp script to dish out a treasure trove of surprises the rest of the way, especially in the third act. Josh Hartnett delivers a knockout performance in the lead role. TRAP has only a few strong obscenities and profanities. Also, much of the violence is implied and offscreen. However, the scary ending alternates between some nice moral resolutions and a surprisingly dark, disappointing final twist.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Mixed pagan, moral worldview as police and others heroically try to stop a serial killer and there is a beautifully done moment of redemption for a side character, but the movie also has a surprisingly dark twist that shows bad forces winning at another moment;
Foul Language:
Five obscenities (including one “f” word), one GD profanity, 18 light profanities (mostly OMGs);
Violence:
A man trips a drunk woman so that she falls hard down some concrete steps, a man is seen in scary peril several times, and a man is tasered in a long and intense scene, but most of the other violence is just discussed or unseen.
Sex:
No sex;
Nudity:
A man is shirtless in one scene in a non-sexual context;
Alcohol Use:
Woman is briefly shown stumbling drunkenly;
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
No smoking or drugs; and,
Miscellaneous Immorality:
A man uses deception and threats throughout the movie and has been living a double life as a serial killer while lying to his wife and children for many years.
TRAP is the latest thriller with a twist from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan (THE SIXTH SENSE, SIGNS). It centers on a seemingly nice and perfect suburban dad named Cooper (Josh Hartnett), who takes his tween daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see her favorite pop singer, Lady Raven (Saleka Shyamalan) in concert. Cooper discovers the arena is swarming with police and FBI agents who have locked the concert down as a trap to catch a brutal serial killer called “The Butcher.”
The movie breaks the usual Shyamalan formula by not just having a huge twist near the end, but actually giving away a big surprise just 15 minutes into the movie. That’s when Cooper goes into a bathroom stall and looks intensely at a livestreamed video of a young man named Spencer, who’s chained up in a basement and screaming for help.
Cooper doesn’t offer help, because the movie reveals he’s actually the Butcher. So now viewers are taken along for a nail-biting ride, as Cooper tries to figure out how to outwit the cops and federal agents in numerous clever ways to try to make it out of the concert without being caught.
You may think that that’s the entire point of the rest of the movie, but it’s just the starting point for an incredible amount of twists that take the movie in new directions seemingly every few minutes, leaving viewers rattled as their expectations are upended over and over. Rather than having just one big twist, TRAP has at least a dozen of them. Some of these twists might seem far-fetched as they happen to some viewers. However, some stunning revelations and twists in the third act make everything come together.
Josh Hartnett had a few shots at stardom in the early 2000s that never quite took off at that time. He’s largely been off the radar for well over a decade. Here, however, he makes a tremendous comeback with what might be the best role of his career, as he perfectly crosses the lines between sweet family man and psychopath with ease. His too-large grin and gee-whiz attitude in his moments of trying to appear like an innocent, average dad bring some clever dark humor to the story.
Saleka Shyamalan is the filmmaker’s daughter and portrays the pop singer, Lady Raven. This might seem like an obvious nepotistic showcase, but she delivers a surprisingly strong acting turn. As her character’s drawn into the action in the third act, the young actress gives a smart and compassionate performance that helps keep the movie running strong.
Also, the movie’s pop songs fit the musical genre well. They sound like they could actually play on the radio alongside Taylor Swift. This helps give the movie some extra plausibility that was sorely lacking in the laughably bad songs in Harry Connick, Jr’s current movie FIND ME FALLING on Netflix. That said, the movie’s weak spots lie in two slow segments that drag out concert scenes unnecessarily for five minutes apiece. Despite these annoying scenes, the intensity of the main story overcomes this problem.
TRAP should be commended for having a minimal amount of obscenities. However, it does have one “f” word, a strong profanity and a bunch of light profanities. The movie is incredibly intense the further it delves into the serial killer’s battle against the police. However, much of the violence is implied and unseen. This is a truly impressive feat for a movie that’s sometimes full-on frightening.
TRAP has no sexual content or explicit nudity. However, it has a mixed worldview. Without giving anything away, the movie alternates between some nice moral resolutions and a surprisingly dark final twist. The mixed ending in TRAP makes the movie slightly excessive.