Trap Review: M. Night Shyamalan's Silly, Self-Aware Thriller Is A Messy Tale Of Two Movies

It was supposed to be the Summer of Shyamalan. After spending the last decade scratching and clawing his way out of director's jail with one self-financed hit at the box office after another, M. Night Shyamalan must've had 2024 circled on the calendar of his comeback tour for quite some time. The one-two punch of "Old" (starring 2022's biggest Best Supporting Actor snub, the Beach That Makes You Grow Old) and "Knock at the Cabin" felt like a return to the auteur's minimalist roots, but a quirk of timing meant moviegoing audiences would be introduced to the next generation of Shyamalans in little more than a two-month span. In June, his younger daughter Ishana unveiled her directorial debut while his eldest, Saleka, comes to the forefront this August with her acting debut in M. Night's latest. "The Watchers" ultimately produced an uneven, if promising glimpse into the future. As for the latter, well, let's just say "Trap" likely won't win over any new converts nor rank among his greatest efforts.

Yet for those who identify as among the Shyamalan-pilled — the ones on the right side of cinematic history, in other words – this summer might not be a lost cause, after all.

"Trap" is many things at once: a cleverly-constructed thriller centered on the unlikeliest of protagonists, a darkly comedic lark that's much sillier (complimentary) than many will expect, and a twisty genre film verging on B-movie/exploitation territory. It's also a high-concept premise that runs out of steam awfully early, accompanied by a script that's much less involving by the end than it is to start — a delineation marked by a plot point far too specific to spoil, but one that feels unmistakable in the moment as all the air is let out of the room. Above all else, however, it's another deliciously complicated addition to a filmography that simply refuses to fit into any neat and tidy boxes.

Is this a lot of words to say that "Trap" is kind of a disappointment? Maybe, but since when has that stopped the more open-minded of us from meeting a film halfway and on its own terms? Messy and destined to divide audiences as it may be, this is one summertime "Trap" (mostly) worth springing.

"We're not gonna break any laws." "Don't let people fool you."

With early lines of dialogue like the ones above, nobody can accuse Shyamalan of not being in on his own joke. That much should've been readily apparent from the moment "The Visit" (typically regarded as the beginning of his comeback tour) dropped the dweebiest, whitest tween rapper on us ever captured on film or when "Old" featured characters such as "Mid-Sized Sedan" and Shyamalan's own extended cameo, where he happened to play a major villain in the story. In "Trap," that wry and deceptively self-aware sense of humor is back on display as soon as the film opens on a shot of Saleka Shyamalan's world-famous pop star, Lady Raven, on a T-shirt worn by Riley (Abigail Donoghue). Having dragged her father Cooper (Josh Hartnett) along to the concert she's been dying to see, the young stan is downright giddy with excitement — an infectious energy that's only matched by Cooper's overcompensating dad jokes and aw-shucks goofiness. Everything here lives or dies by Hartnett's performance, and his many, many sure-to-be polarizing acting choices make him a worthy addition to Shyamalan's canon of off-kilter leads.

Long before editor Noemi Katharina Preiswerk cuts away to recurring images of cops standing at the ready and SWAT teams descending on the venue, it's clear that Shyamalan is purposefully toying with our expectations and assumptions. That's because this is the rare movie where the twist has been spelled out beforehand: Cooper is, of course, secretly the serial killer known as "The Butcher," responsible for the deaths of at least 12 victims, and the entire event has been turned into a sprawling manhunt designed to capture him specifically. As absurd as it sounds, this is actually based loosely on a real historical event, though that's been otherwise transformed into a pulpy, boiling-pot premise fit for a Shyamalan thriller.

True to form, the writer/director knows exactly when and how to ramp up the tension in the early going. He does so by confining much of the action within the interior of this fictional, Philadelphia-set arena. As we wait to see what this sociopathic and increasingly desperate villain will do to get out of this inescapable mess, we're firmly trapped in his point of view for almost the entirety of the runtime — an intentionally suffocating decision reflected by cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom ("Call Me By Your Name," "Suspiria," "Challengers"), whose roving camerawork represents an extension of Cooper's own perspective as the walls close in around him.

It's an issue that has plagued even some of the greatest one-location movies ever made: How do you maintain a high level of stakes and momentum throughout every minute of a story that takes place largely in the same place? Without spoiling anything, it's difficult to dissect exactly how "Trap" approaches this conundrum and ultimately fails to take full advantage of its premise. For much of the first hour or so, Shyamalan derives plenty of tension (and a surprising amount of laughs) out of Cooper finding excuses to leave his daughter, avoid the authorities, and frantically search for a way out. The moments where he turns into Jason Bourne, surreptitiously entering employee-only zones and stealing police walkie-talkies to listen in on their operation, are only bested by his bursts of MacGyver-like improvisation to cause sudden feints and distractions. This first act even builds to a gasp-inducing climax and a point of no return — one of the boldest plot turns (if not necessarily a "twist") I can remember in any recent genre movie.

Once the plot progresses beyond this, however, viewers might end up with the sinking feeling that Shyamalan has just shown the ace up his sleeve — one that maybe shouldn't have been played so soon.

Up to that narrative pivot, the script had at least offered some food for thought in terms of theme. Aspects of modern life such as social media, the prevalence (and many different uses) of phones, and the connections we foster as a result feed naturally into the film's more pulpier concerns. All throughout the concert, the incredibly precise framing and blocking of Cooper and Riley (as remarked upon on Twitter by Shyamalan himself), dwarfed by the massive screens projecting Lady Raven to the masses from the stage, add an unsettlingly effective layer of artifice to the proceedings. And, yes, fans have another hilariously meta Shyamalan cameo to look forward to, which provides one of the best laughs in the entire film. But when the film quite literally runs out of plot, only the filmmaker's sheer determination and commitment to the bit manage to salvage an ending that throws logic and reason out the door several times over. Provided you haven't mentally checked out by this point, however, it might just leave you rooting for the villain.

Whether that's Cooper or Shyamalan himself, one thing's for certain. The Summer of Shyamalan is about to heat up several degrees, and we wouldn't want it any other way.

/Film Rating 6 out of 10

'Trap" releases in theaters August 2, 2024.