Trap, the new thriller from writer/director M. Night Shyamalan, is two movies. There is the first half about a serial killer taking his daughter to a pop concert not knowing that it was a set up by federal authorities to capture him. All of this was set up in the film’s marketing. But what that marketing does not hint at is the point of view shift the movie undergoes at roughly its midpoint. And that’s when the movie seemingly becomes an entirely different one in terms of quality, a much better, high tension thriller.
Cooper (Josh Hartnett) seems like a good-hearted dad taking his tween daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a concert of her favorite pop star, Lady Raven (Saleka Night Shyamalan, who also wrote all of her character’s pop songs). But as they head into the arena for the show, he continues to get distracted from his conversation with his daughter as he notices what seems to be a larger than needed police presence at the venue. He learns from a loose-lipped t-shirt vendor (Jonathan Langdon) that the FBI are hoping to catch a serial killer known as “the Butcher” whom they were tipped off would be in attendance. The thing is, Cooper, unbeknownst to his daughter, is the Butcher and now he has to find a way to outwit the Federal authorities without revealing his other identity to his daughter.
The first half of the film is told from Cooper’s viewpoint as he works to evade the dragnet drawing in around him. And his success comes in equal parts due to his quick thinking and just plain dumb luck. There are also a number of highly implausible moments that feel like script contrivances more than anything else. (See the aforementioned Loose-lipped t-shirt vendor.) As someone who has attended concerts as a reviewer for the better part of a decade and my entire adult life as a music fan, I am lead to as if Shyamalan has ever attended a concert as a number of things don’t ring true to my experiences. But as the first half of the film piles coincidences and quick escapes on top of each other, it becomes harder and harder for Shyamalan to sustain believability in the concept. If anything, it is only Hartnett’s performance that keeps everything together and the engages the audience as to whether Cooper will escape or be captured through this first half.
But there comes a point where Trap shifts from Cooper’s viewpoint to another character’s and that is where the movie really kicks into high gear. (And no, I am not going to spoil which character that is and how the story gets there.) The movie moves past what its marketing sold it as, taking the audience into the same uncharted territory that the new POV character finds themself in. It also gives us a chance to see Hartnett’s performance in a new light as it becomes more shaded with subtle menace. It is a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game and Shyamalan really feels much more on his game in this back half of the film.
