We know the drill with M. Night Shyamalan by now, right? His reputation proceeds him by this point and he’s been the premiere poster child for a filmmaker’s rise and fall from grace. His resurgence has resulted in him finding some common, middle ground between the two extremes which is why it’s surprising to me that “Trap” was the first movie of his in a long while…..I legitimately wanted to see.
My curiosity unfortunately could not be satiated.
Shyamalan doesn’t squeeze any more out of this premise than he has to but his direction, at best, is just drab and muted for something this preposterously silly and, at worst, runs firmly on autopilot and I hate hate HATE IT when a director goes autopilot in navigating a project from scene to scene. There are glimpses of his brilliance sprinkled throughout but it mostly feels buried.
Tightly constructed isn’t how I would describe the production design; I can see how the setting could be utilized cleverly in someone like Shyamalan’s hands but very little is done to take full advantage of the geography of and around the space. Everything is made clear but it’s nothing different compared to other generic set spaces where maneuvering is required. The 35mm lens framing gives a better illusion of claustrophobia in every frame than the production design does and the simplistic cinematography boosts that clear distortion for a little bit, even if its litany of shots get repetitive quickly and the editing plays a part in mucking up the structure.
Saleka Shyamalan’s music is honestly pretty ok to me; easy on the ears, smooth silky voice and it definitely makes up for an otherwise score. Plus, it has some thematic relevance over the supposed deeper meanings the film looked to capitalize on but just couldn’t. Costumes are pretty basic with a few noticeable exceptions and many of its comedic moments fail when it’s trying to be funny in contrast to when it’s not.
Josh Hartnett is clearly enjoying himself in this off-kilter portrayal, effortlessly flipping between two different personas and two different masks on the same coin but for this being her film debut, Saleka was pretty ok too. The rest of the cast do their best. Then again, I say that when the dialogue they’re stuck with makes for a point of contention yet again. A good half of what’s said here barely even feels natural and the rest continue to tread that cornball, painfully generic valley Shyamalan keeps finding himself stuck in.
All things considered, this narrative thriller is your typical cat-and-mouse endeavor and not the usual twist-heavy affair we normally receive from Shyamalan. For all the times we revel in the complicated trappings of unlocking and unearthing a kidnapping or murder mystery, it’s just as enthralling watching from the other side of the chase, and Trap knows this. It does revel in the numerous scenarios the killers finds himself in, turning into MacGyver to unleash distractions and manipulate others to escape the mess he caused for himself and even the events after the concert illustrate how self-aware of own its bombastic nature it is, using whatever moments it sees fit to embrace it. But even that wicked adrenaline high wears off and the momentum gets lost once you realize Shyamalan put this whole thing together specifically to give his daughter a concert movie.
Yeah, the nepotism is strong with this one.
Putting that to one side, it keeps building and building towards something resembling a tense standoff before making a U-turn towards a rather bold yet deflating switcharoo, which I’m almost convinced was done strictly to pad out the runtime. The plot doesn’t reset so to speak but the perspective switching between one character we’ve spent the vast majority of time on with two others betrays the lack of tighter pacing, and kinda reinforces how thin the premise was to begin with and how far they had to stretch it out. Our killer’s motivation is very by-the-books and a less captivating version of Norman Bates from Pyscho, not to mention it doesn’t make for a poignant character study as he’s more lucky than intimidating. And all the other characters around him are begrudgingly dumb and inept.
Therein lies the tale of this entire movie: it starts its high concept aiming for a Hitchcockian psychological manhunt but negates that tension following misguided and misaligned payoffs and its inability to justify its many plot holes and conveniences means it inevitably loses its way. Nearly everything that happens after they leave the concert (and even some bits before) is illogical and unbelievable to the point that even though the courtesy of my suspension of disbelief wasn’t entirely shattered or taken for granted, it came dangerously close.
It keeps nudging towards and at its own stupidity but stubbornly sticks to this mindset of painting itself as smarter than it actually is and jeopardizes itself at every turn.
In a day and age where he continues to either hit a game winning home run or strike out on three pitches, this is yet another disposable M.Night Shyamalan project that came OH SO CLOSE to becoming something. Getting by in its set-up for a little while, it falters and falls short of its potential.
