Trap (2024) Review: Josh Hartnett Evades Police in M. Night Shyamalan's Awkward Concert Film

Trap is Directed by M. Night Shyamalan and Stars Josh Hartnett

Review: There is some fun to be had with M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, but it’s hard to tell how intentionally awkward and cheeky much of the script is. Josh Hartnett is the quirky glue that kinda holds it together, but the plot unfolds in a clunky fashion and morphs into something completely different in the third act. A middling Shyamalan film.

trap 2024 movie — Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donoghue in Trap (2024), directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Trap Review

Trap is the quintessential M. Night Shyamalan movie. It has all of the common highlights and lowlights he’s established within his own career for decades and showcases why he’s been the poster child for mid-budget genre work during that time. And while Trap may contain many of Shyamalan‘s most endearing moments in years, it succumbs to lousy plot decisions the same way many of his previous works have, as well as a few hiccups along the way.

Including a few aspects he’s been criticized of since he rose to prominence in the 1990s. The dialogue in Trap is hilariously stilted and weird, continuing to make you wonder whether Shyamalan has ever interacted with individuals in everyday life. It leads to a few performances that I don’t think entirely work, but I recognize the willingness to try something new. The movie stars Josh Hartnett as Cooper, an elusive serial killer being hunted down by the FBI at a concert for a pop star idolized by teens (she’s meant to be a similar in popularity to Taylor Swift or Olivia Rodrigo).

At the very least, Hartnett is having fun in the role. His ongoing antics as he tries to evade the police make up the bulk of the first two acts. There’s a feeling to his character that he’s trying to hold his world together as it comes crumbling down. He’s at the concert with his daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue), whom he’s constantly trying to seek recognition from. The relationship seems fraught, as if Hartnett’s overbearing OCD and control issues have taken a toll on their family.

And that’s apparent during the course of Trap, where Cooper oscillates between spending time with his daughter and searching for an escape exit from the trap set by the FBI. The concert is for a pop artist named Lady Raven, who is played by Shyamalan’s daughter Saleka. The movie comes across as a showcase for her talent as a singer and actress, although neither aspect is all the fascinating or intriguing. The music is passable but forgettable, and her work as an actress is hard to judge as the script takes a hard pivot in the third act to include her, only to crumble because of illogical choices and a ridiculously corny script. I’ve never been that much of a critique of Shyamalan’s writing style, but it is hard to identify how intentional it is from the writer. Is he playing into the style so many have criticized him for? I’m not too sure.

And that hard pivot in the third act is where I bump up with the movie the most. As the cast of characters leave the stadium, we’re introduced to the rest of Cooper’s family. You’d expect some new revelations to occur during this section as Shyamalan is known for a third act twist, but Trap plays out in a rather conventional fashion. It’s a surprising pairing with the ending for Knock at the Cabin, where Shyamalan doesn’t provide the twist and lets his movie whimper out more than leaving a strong impact.

There is some fun to be had with Trap, but it’s hard to tell how intentionally awkward and cheeky much of the script is. Josh Hartnett is the quirky glue that kinda holds it together, but the plot unfolds in a clunky fashion and morphs into something completely different in the third act – all without the signature M. Night Shyamalan twist. It’s a middling effort in his filmography, but it’s right in line with recent works of his.

Score: 5/10

Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Trap (2024) is available to watch on VOD

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